Next Coach Up

Posted: February 12th, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 52 Comments »

After losing Frank Reich to the Colts and John DeFilippo to the Vikings in recent days, the Eagles appear to have finally made a move to begin replacing them. Nothing is official yet, but this is a pretty credible source.

This move makes sense. You always want to promote from within when possible. Taylor worked with the QBs over the last two years. He has played a part in their success and saw up close what DeFilippo did that worked. This won’t be an intrusive change. You want continuity when you’re trying to keep a good thing going so this move is good for Doug Pederson, the other offensive coaches and the players.

Taylor was hired back in 2013 by Chip Kelly. He was the offensive quality control coach for three years. He kept that title under Pederson, but also became the assistant QBs coach.

You could say that Taylor was born for this role. His father is a football coach. His brother, Zac, played QB at Nebraska and is now the QBs coach for the Los Angeles Rams. Press played QB at Marshall and then became a graduate assistant at Tulsa, most famously turning G.J. Kinne from mere mortal to Eagles preseason legend. While at Tulsa, they didn’t have a full-time QBs coach so the head coach let Taylor work with them. The head coach was technically in charge of the QBs, but couldn’t run every meeting or film session so he leaned on Taylor to help out.

Taylor’s claim to fame right now is coming up with the idea for Philly Special.

Reich told me the kernel of the idea originated from an industrious Eagles quality-control coach, Press Taylor. Said Reich: “Press has this, what we call this vault of trick plays. It’s an immense vault, so every week we go into Press’s vault looking for plays.” Taylor, it appears, found the play in a meaningless Week 17 game in 2016. At 1:10 this morning, The MMQB’s Kalyn Kahler found a play from the Chicago-Minnesota game that doubtless led to Target left bunch, Philly special. Bears running back Jeremy Langford took a direct snap from center, quarterback Matt Barkley lined up behind the right tackle, and wideout Cam Meredith circled back behind Langford and took a pitch from him. Barkley leaked out of the backfield into the end zone. No one covered him. At the 11-yard line, Meredith tossed the ball to Barkley, two yards deep in the end zone. Touchdown. Watch that play and keep it in mind. You’ll need it. “We’re fine with ideas coming from anywhere,” Reich said. “Doug loves ideas.”

I love this story. Pederson uses every resource he can. He coaches with an open mind. Why not steal plays from all over football? Instead of trying to be the smartest guy, collect great ideas and find a way to make them work for your team.

No update on the OC job yet.

*****

Great piece here from Peter King on the game-winning TD in the Super Bowl. He got Pederson, Reich and Mike Groh to explain exactly where the play came from and how it worked. Here is one small sample. Make sure you go read the whole piece.

Reich paused the Ertz completion. “So now we showed you this motion three different times,” Reich said. “One time it went to Sproles. One time it went to Torrey Smith up the seam versus zone, now it’s to Ertz on a crossing route. We hit three different areas of the field with the same motion. So every time we are using the motion for a different reason. And there’s a different pass concept with it every time.”

“The Patriots break down this motion and don’t see you do the same thing,” I said.

“Exactly,” Reich said. “The sample size is too small to figure out what the next move is.”

“The other thing,” Pederson said, “and this is sort of a philosophy that I’ve brought here a little bit. I like to create plays or unique formations and motions like this in multiples of three. You have a drop back pass, you might have a screen, you might have a run, off of the same shift in motion.”

“He’s always preaching that,” Reich said.

Pederson: “Because those are unique things. Teams are too smart on defense. Coordinators are too smart on defense. So they always see that same formation, same motion, and they can scheme it up. Well, what we’ve been able to do, sort of collaboratively here, is to take those same unique formations, shifts and motions and try to do it in multiples of three. This is the off-balance thing we try to create.”

Thank god for Doug Pederson. His ability to coach his players and his coaches is what brought the Lombardi Trophy to friggin’ Broad Street. That level of preparation and maximizing of resources is just tremendous.

It was no accident the Eagles were so great this year. They had big time talent on the field, but also a staff that knew how to help them out in a big way.

_


52 Comments on “Next Coach Up”

  1. 1 SteveH said at 11:08 PM on February 12th, 2018:

    Peter King must be choking on the fact that he has to interview the Eagles about their brilliance instead of writing about Little Tom and Darth hoodie’s magnificent magnificence.

  2. 2 SteveH said at 11:15 PM on February 12th, 2018:

    Wow, nevermind. Just read the piece and King makes sure to praise Belichick way more than the Eagles.

  3. 3 A_T_G said at 6:45 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Yep, a wily collection of minds worked tirelessly to devise a single plan that exposed a chink in the champion’s armor and stole victory from the rightful king.

  4. 4 anon said at 7:00 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    That’s how I feel about each of our playoffs losses

  5. 5 Masked Man said at 7:01 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Yes. Doug Pederson, Frank Reich, Mike Groh, Press Taylor…

  6. 6 Reservedly Optimistic said at 11:17 PM on February 12th, 2018:

    This is where Reid was challenged: replacing great staff members that moved on. It’s crazy to think Doug’s already started his coaching tree! Doug has earned our trust to promote from within, I hope he can fill other positions with high quality coaches.

  7. 7 daveH said at 11:25 PM on February 12th, 2018:

    ACV says AR does this on purpose … now why would a duplicitous ego maniac do such a thing intentionally …??

  8. 8 Reservedly Optimistic said at 4:06 PM on February 13th, 2018:

    Weird if did that on purpose…I doubt that he did. He made some odd choices while in Philly but put together a really good staff to start with in KC

  9. 9 anon said at 3:00 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    one thing we didn’t talk about was doug’s time management skills

  10. 10 Reservedly Optimistic said at 4:04 PM on February 13th, 2018:

    Definitely better than AR this second year in time management

  11. 11 Masked Man said at 12:04 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Already announced by Ryan Rambo. However it deserves another promo.

    “What They’re Saying About the Eagles” is a BGN Series by fan poster TBEisen.

    He pours through all the fan posts from all the NFL teams on SB Nation. Then he compiles any that relate to the Eagles game. This week is the Super Bowl edition.

    Today is part 1 which is a review of all the media pregame predictions and the fan comments around the league through end of the first quarter. And it’s got some priceless commentary.

    Give it a half hour or 45 minutes and check it out. Great stuff from TBEisen and BGN. Here’s the link:

    https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2018/2/12/17000110/what-theyre-saying-super-bowl-edition-q1

  12. 12 Dan in Philly said at 1:42 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    In the 2 weeks of BB kissing up by the sports reporting media I remember one time when I listened to two talking head speculate what’s the worst QB that he could win the Superbowl with? The point being he was such a good coach he could take any QB and win.
    Reminder, he never won a Superbowl without Tom Brady and I believe actually has a losing record without him as a starter. Doug just won it with a backup QB.

  13. 13 Donald Kalinowski said at 10:46 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    He went 11-5 with Matt Cassell and won the AFC Championship game with Drew Bledsoe after Brady got injured in that game. Secondly Brady has been healthy and productive for 18 friggin years. Is Bellichick supposed to aplogize for that?

  14. 14 PudgyPanda said at 4:29 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Funny how many contributors to the winning of the Super Bowl are here because of Chip.

  15. 15 sonofdman said at 5:32 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    He only had full control for one year. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t get rid of all our good players in that short amount of time.

  16. 16 anon said at 6:59 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    None of those other guys were necessary apparently

  17. 17 sonofdman said at 9:29 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    That is because of the amazing job Howie has done in the past two years.

  18. 18 BlindChow said at 8:17 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    He literally traded away the Super Bowl MVP.

  19. 19 ChoTime said at 10:47 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Oh come on, we’d have two Superbowls if Bradford’s knee would hold up. #imrichbeyach

  20. 20 knighn said at 11:14 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    I couldn’t help myself. I went a little more detailed with the reply.

  21. 21 knighn said at 11:11 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    So that’s your argument now? Chip helped contribute to the Eagles Super Bowl?

    That’s funny because most everyone else credits the Eagles for moving on from the disasters that Chip created (predictable play-calling; lack of franchise QB; lack of O-line depth / draft picks; “3-4 defense”; horrible CBs; bad contracts; cut / traded / failed to keep good players; and most ironically: a bad culture). Is he the villain in your story? Like, “the heroes couldn’t have been heroes without the bad guy” kind of argument?

    Because that’s about the only way anyone giving credit to Chip makes sense right now. He left far more holes and issues than contributors. Was he all bad? Probably not. Mostly bad? Clearly. That’s why he doesn’t have a job in the NFL anymore. But thanks for your continuing shtick.

    Please note: if you’re here to be an Eagles fan, please move on from Chip. We already have. If Chip is your only thing: please just move on.

  22. 22 CrackSammich said at 11:35 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Funny how many contributors to the winning of the Super Bowl are here because of Julius Caesar’s successful campaign in Carthage.

  23. 23 Reservedly Optimistic said at 4:09 PM on February 13th, 2018:

    Sign of a good coach. Chip took this team to the playoffs his first year, so he had talent to work with. Too bad (for him) that he blew it up and blew his chance for long term success.

    Good for us we got underrated Doug!

  24. 24 Guy Media said at 5:06 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    #teamGroh for OC

  25. 25 Dragon_Eagle said at 5:43 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    #teamDuce for OC.

  26. 26 Anders said at 6:17 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    I really wonder what is going to happen to Groh. Guy has now been passed twice to become the QB coach (first with that Bears, then now with the Eagles).
    I hope its because he is the new OC or they split OC up between Duce and Groh

  27. 27 Ryan Rambo said at 6:22 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Maybe Groh and Duce could get the titles Passing/Running game coordinators. I’m sure they’d both love to be THE guy. Has either had any experience calling plays? I know Doug is in charge of that here. Just wondering what the reqs are to be a OC.

  28. 28 BlindChow said at 8:27 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Stoutland is basically the “running game coordinator” right now.

    Fans are really trying to make Duce happen, but I haven’t seen any kind of hard reasoning as to why. Just “the team really likes him.”

  29. 29 FairOaks said at 8:44 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Probably because he was interviewed as HC before, and has paid some dues. But so have other coaches. For a King MMQB article, it was Pederson, Reich and Groh who showed up to discuss the Ertz TD catch play, because Groh was the one behind that play. So he may have been more involved in that type of game planning more than Staley, which may make him a more likely OC candidate.

  30. 30 Ryan Rambo said at 9:02 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    I agree. I trust Doug to make the tough, but right call for the team.

  31. 31 Mi2os said at 9:30 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    we as fans like him because he is Duce. outside of that we have no basis of evaluation. its impossible without being in the RB Room with him, watching film, teaching technique on practice field. How much of the unselfish nature of our running backs was cuz of Duce? or Identifying Ajayi as a viable target for Howie? how could we know? we must trust the process

  32. 32 anon said at 6:59 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Sometime when a person is good at their job they should stay in that job, maybe get paid more. Not every wr coach needs to be oc….

    Half of these coordinators don’t need to be coaches

  33. 33 Anders said at 7:11 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Groh has said he wants to coach QBs (he is a former college QB and have been a QB coach in college) and now he was just passed again.
    Clearly Doug have talked with Groh about it, but we risk losing him when his contract is up or before because he feels disrepected

  34. 34 Ryan Rambo said at 6:23 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8cc1694acc0fec2c1fbc5982b99dbe62a96b4f9d231192c474caf365d0cd139c.jpg

  35. 35 A_T_G said at 6:47 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    So, promotions will lead to Duce as the number two of the offense looking to Groh? The word play is falling nicely into place.

  36. 36 anon said at 6:57 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Duce HC interview looks like a crappy way to fill Rooney rule – hope it wasn’t that

  37. 37 ColorSgt said at 7:28 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Maybe, but Duce was liked by players to the point Kelly was forced to keep him. That might have been a big part why Lurie wanted to kick the tires after Chip lost the locker room. My issue with Duce is that he was never a qb, and never coached qbs or wrs. So maybe he can grow into a OC position as an assistant OC, but I think he needs more experience in the passing game.

  38. 38 BlindChow said at 8:13 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Kelly was “forced to keep him”? Kelly promoted him from quality control to RB coach. Doesn’t sound like his arm was being twisted.

  39. 39 ColorSgt said at 8:51 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Maybe he wasn’t forced, but I thought part of the reason Duce stayed was to keep McCoy happy. Chip got rid of every single other coach. So that’s why I was under the impression that Chip backed into that decision, but maybe that wasn’t the case.

  40. 40 A_T_G said at 9:27 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Maybe it went REALLY poorly?

  41. 41 Mi2os said at 9:33 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    not at all. the experience of preparing for the interview is a great opportunity for Duce, all the more so that he can talk with real life evaluators afterwards about how he did. Duce wasn’t ready to be an HC and Duce knew this but that experience will be invaluable when he is indeed ready.

  42. 42 ColorSgt said at 7:32 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    (You don’t want Duce to get stuck taking #2.)

  43. 43 FairOaks said at 8:32 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    The Patriots ran the “Philly Special” against the Eagles in 2015. Pederson was not here, but Taylor sure was. Guess Chicago also used it in 2016, but… I think the Patriots took it right from Clemson, since that is what Brady called the play. The Eagles won that 2015 game.

    http://dailysnark.com/wow-patriots-ran-philly-special-eagles-2015/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXuZSj9BtJg

  44. 44 Ryan Rambo said at 9:02 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    I remember that.

  45. 45 Dragon_Eagle said at 12:46 PM on February 13th, 2018:

    Chip Kelly’s luckiest day ever. The Pats outplayed us badly, but we caught a lot of breaks. Was a brief bright spot in the midst of an awful season.

  46. 46 anon said at 4:02 PM on February 13th, 2018:

    great game

  47. 47 CrackSammich said at 11:37 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Well, I’m never getting that time back that I just spent reading a MMQB column.

  48. 48 CrackSammich said at 11:39 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    So now that we’ve won, I have to ask the question: In the grand scheme, does this count as a SB win for Wentz? How about for something like Peters’ or Sproles’ chances at a HoF bid?

  49. 49 cshav10 said at 11:44 AM on February 13th, 2018:

    Love the article, but wish DP would be more tight-lipped. Having said that, he’s got such a good feel for the game, he’s shown he can go back to the same exact play and throw a defense off balance and get big gains.

  50. 50 CrackSammich said at 1:07 PM on February 13th, 2018:

    Elliot or Sturgis? I feel like Elliot should be the no-brainer, but then he keeps missing the easy ones.

  51. 51 anon said at 4:01 PM on February 13th, 2018:

    elliot for over 40, sturgis under 40 + xps

  52. 52 levdog said at 8:24 PM on February 13th, 2018:

    Elliot all the way, the ones he misses are always in the first half, but when the game is on the line- super clutch!