Reich to the Colts
Posted: February 11th, 2018 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 209 Comments »
The next shoe has fallen.
Frank Reich will be the Colts’ new coach. Five-year deal with the team has been agreed to and about to be finalized, source says. @espn reported earlier he was the fave.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 11, 2018
Congrats to Frank. He was a terrific assistant for the Eagles, helping to develop star QBs and build a championship offense.
Doug Pederson now has a major challenge, trying to replace his offensive coordinator and QBs coach. Let’s start by talking about internal candidates.
Many people have asked about Duce Staley moving into the role of OC. I don’t think that is likely. He has never run an offense or had extensive experience with building a gameplan. Staley is highly regarded by the Eagles for his ability to manage his RBs and for his leadership skills. Gameplanning isn’t his area of expertise. Even with the run game, Jeff Stoutland is the one who really puts those plays together and then works with Pederson and the OC.
Staley had a long NFL career and has been a good assistant coach for a while. It is possible that Pederson could feel Staley is ready for the challenge of being the OC. Pederson isn’t afraid to take chances, with his players or staff. I don’t see this as likely, but it certainly isn’t impossible.
Mike Groh was an OC at the college level. He played QB in college and has a good offensive mind. Moving him to OC would be a steep promotion, but after he just did a brilliant job with the WRs nothing is out of the question. As with Staley, this doesn’t feel like a likely move.
If Pederson does decide to move Groh to being the QBs coach, that could affect his thinking on the rest of the staff. If he made Staley the OC, he would be making significant changes to several positions. That doesn’t seem like a wise scenario for a team that wants to compete for another title. You would have a new OC, QB, WR and RBs coach in that scenario. That’s too much movement in my mind.
The more you think about it, the more it makes sense to bring in an outsider to be the OC. Darrell Bevell makes the most sense. He was just let go by Seattle, but did have success there, helping them to win a Super Bowl and just miss out on another. Bevell worked for the Packers from 2000-2005. He worked directly with Pederson from 2001-2004. Bevell then went to the Vikings from 2006-2010, before moving on to Seattle, where he had his most success.
Bevell wouldn’t come here to call plays. He would be here to help design gameplans and to work on whatever specific situations Pederson assigned him (3rd downs for example). Bevell knows Pederson and has plenty of NFL experience.
Mike Shula could be another name of interest. He and Pederson crossed paths with the Dolphins in the early 1990s. Shula struggled to get the Panthers offense to perform at a consistent level, but certainly was creative and did some good things with Cam Newton and that offense. They led the NFL in scoring in 2015.
Todd Downing would be someone to check out, for either OC or QBs coach. He did a great job with Derek Carr in 2015 and 2016. Downing was made the OC in 2017 and the offense struggled. Not all of that is on him, but it appeared play-calling wasn’t his strength. That wouldn’t be an issue in Philly, where Pederson runs the show on Sundays. Downing is a good coach and certainly knows how to prepare for games.
I wonder if John Morton could be a target. He did an excellent job with a very questionable Jets offense this past season, but then was fired at the end of the year. That leaves plenty of tough questions. He has experience working with WRs and could be a possibility for that role if Mike Groh does get the QBs position.
I would give Bevell and Shula an advantage here because Pederson seems to like former QBs for his staff. Bevell was excellent at Wisconsin, but never got a shot in the NFL so he went right into coaching. Shula was good at Alabama and did get an NFL shot, but moved to coaching after just one season.
One thing to keep in mind, Pederson will be looking for the right fit as much as the right resume. Nobody from the NFL was throwing jobs at Reich and Flip when the Eagles hired them. Flip had just gotten fired by the Cleveland Browns (thank you, Hue Jackson)!
These are good problems to have. They are problems, but so much better than “How do I turn 7-9 into 13-3?”.
This is a key time for Pederson. He needs to make the right hires so this team can continue to play at a championship level in the future.
_
Congrats to Frank!
(Hey… This is my first FIRST!)
Masked Man: 1
Sean E: 1
Westpaceagle: 1
Xeynon: 1
Everybody Else: 0
CrackSammich: -1 (Penalty for calling attention to it).
RobNE: -1
GENETiC-FREAK: -2 (Penalty for calling attention to it. Second penalty for whining).
Spread the wealth? Everybody eats? Hahaha!
By giving Flip his release 10 days early, instead of waiting to see what happened with Reich, it was clear they didn’t want Flip as OC. I was surprised by that move.
Flip wasn’t under contract. We couldn’t delay him from going to the Vikings.
My point was that his contact didn’t expire for 10 more days. They could have prevented the signing for a few days to see what happened with Reich.
I’m wondering along the same lives as you. . Is BBD thinking he can find plenty of good coaches out there ..
I thought the eagles were under the impression the colts position was filled by mcdaniels at the time flip went to minnesota.
Flip probably wants to call plays. In MINN he’s going to have full control of the offense as Zimmer is a defensive guy.
He wasnt getting that type of control here.
Certainly, that is one possibility. OTOH, Wentz and Foles is a much better QB situation then currently exists in Minn where one guy hasn’t thrown a pass in two years, another is always hurt, a third is average at best and none are under contract for next year. Also, our OL is far superior. I think Flip would have a better chance to field a high scoring offense in Phila.
He still wouldn’t be in charge. He will have complete autonomy in Minnesota. For some people thats more important.
Maybe he likes Keenum or maybe he has his eyes on another QB. Im sure the guy has a plan in mind.
Let them send us another 1st for our spare QB. That would be hilarious.
Thanks for those names Tommy. Today’s column, as usual, provides a little backdrop to the scene.
Tommy —
What a fantastic write up.
Agreed x 10
Tommy seems to be channeling his inner Doug – strong post for sure
Tom Clements, who was just let go in Greenbay in their coaching clear out, was Aaron Rogers QB coach for 10 years and Rogers has spoken consistently about how much he likes him. Could be an interesting QB coaching option.
It’s a good idea. I’m just struck by how superficial “Aaron Rodgers likes him ” seems compared to the likes of Tommy’s depth. It’s not criticism of you , moreso generally thinking about how little the public can know about such things
i think itll be duce
Personally I like Darrell Bevell. Not a Shula fan. And I don’t know the other names mentioned, so I’m open with the choices. But I like Bevell.
Mike Groh was awesome with receivers and QB coach would be a nice next step to broaden his coaching experience. He was a QB before. I think Duce is a great coach, but not much experience with QBs and passing game.
Doug may want to give Staley a chance and I would support it. From outside the situation though, it seems like he needs more seasoning. Would hate to lose him to New York though.
Go CHAMPS! Go EAGLES!
When you consider Doug does the playcalling, Duce is a real possibility, however a lot might depend on how much of the game plan comes from the coordinator. It sounds as if Duce, as well as other position coaches, has already been involved in game planning. Therefore, no matter who takes what coaching position, Doug will seek out others that have something new to bring to the table. In other words, quality as well as quantity are both important moving forward.
Agree on not liking Shula. He ran low grade gimmick BS in Carolina that got exposed, BADLY, by Wade Phillips.
Think about how far and fast Frank Reich has come since being kicked to the curb by the Chargers after 2015.
Joins BBD’s staff 1 month later as OC.
Wins SB in Y-2.
1 week later he’s a HC
Any offensive coaches on skid-row looking to rehabilitate quickly …
They should be running for a chance to work for BBD.
I’m confused, he joined Bell Biv DeVoe’s staff? That would surely be poison;-)
Wonder how that makes Schwartz feel.
One thing is certain though, with Wentz at QB, Pederson as Head Coach, and Lurie as owner, these 2 positions should be highly coveted.
Can bell biv or d vo run an offense ?
No, but Boys II Men can…
I apologize. Satellite radio has been killing it as I work on my house and I keep hearing early 90s boy bands.
Well if Bell Biv or Devoe are still in touch with BB as in Bobby Brown then the other Reid kid wants to traffic ‘football’ w him
ACV using BBD is awe SOME
Sorry, what is BBD?
Big Balls Doug
One the one hand, with the loss of Flipp and Reich, it’s a bit disconcerting.
On the other hand, BBD has a chance to bring in some new (read: experienced) blood to keep the offense fresh with ideas — very exciting.
That’s something Andy Reid doesn’t do, very consciously apparently.
Because AR’s ego ??
Maybe.
On the other hand, that was also the Bill Walsh – Mike Holmgren way (I’m thinking).
Holmgren another multi millionaire with far too much praise for his 1 ring …
You hit that nail on the head. Andy had Brad Childress as his spread-game coordinator for 5 years in KC. Brad to would study the college game specifically and report to Andy what he saw and how they could incorporate it in the pro game.
Ohhh…. That explains why Chicago just hired Childress as an “offensive consultant.”
They want to mix in the spread offense with Mitch Trubisky. Wondered why the Bears looked to old Brad.
I wonder how Andy feels about his protege not only getting a SB, but doing it in only 2 years… You would think (hope) it gives him pause for reflection, but he is oh so stubborn, so probably not.
Then again, Andy’s coaching tree is pretty strong, so maybe his guys are good at plucking all the good things from him and leaving the other stuff behind.
Have nothing against Andy and wish him well, but I am SO glad he is some other city’s frustration and not ours.
On the third hand, at least we won the Super Bowl before our good assistant coaches started getting hired!
And before the NFL/country/world ends
Ok, I will take the cheese.. .What does BBD mean? I also want to give a shot out to Eagles fans everywhere! I have been a fan since the late 80’s and living in NC is was tough to see games especially when the Eagles were not a household name (from losing) until Big Red came to town. However I made sure to drive up from Charlotte to attend the Championship Parade and it is something I will always remember and cherish! Also I am not sure if it is the norm in the NFL, but I am sure not being able to call plays takes a bit of humility. So I would think a bevell or Shula would actually look forward to it (and agree that deflippo would have wanted more control). That way they could join a winner and build their image back up!
Big Balls Doug?
that is correct
I call Bull… These guys were the first Philly Special.
https://resources.tidal.com/images/62eb9ef8/e2e3/4760/9701/e2772fa8e890/320×320.jpg
I thought it was “Bill Belichick Destroyer!” Ha!
Maybe promote Duce to “assistant OC” or something to start his move up the ladder.
Hey, this is my first #22nd post. Serendipity for Duce? I think so!
Doug seems like an out-of-the-box thinker. I wouldn’t be shocked if he hired a college coach.
Look what Gundy did at Oklahoma State with Shippensburg’s Mike Yurcich. Not saying Doug would bring in a DII coach, but I could see this search taking some time.
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/255510020/oklahoma-state-offense-mike-yurcich-background
Somebody somewhere was talking about Ty Detmer.
He’s no Koy though. Could you imagine how ape shit this city would be if Ty was the OC and Koy the QB coach.
Ape shit happy, or ape shit pissed? Don’t know his legacy in Phila (seemed like just a guy to me)
That whip motion he busted off in Favre’s face was an all timer.
Ape shit happy! Koy is a legend.
It comes down to whom was more valuable in developing the Eagles offense. Undoubtedly, all three (Pederson, Reich, DeFillipo) all played an important role in the Eagles success, along with other coaches. However, the question remains who brought more to the table? If it was Reich and/or DeFillipo then the Eagles have a problem. However, if as I suspect, the most knowledgeable of the trio was Pederson, the Eagles will be fine. As long as knowledgeable people are brought into the mix, and you have to believe Doug has a good feel on what he’s looking for in a coach, anyone new will not only add their knowledge, but benefit greatly from Pederson’s.
This goes a few different ways though when you think about it a bit more. Doug hired the coordinators. He chose them and gave them influence. Even if Flip and Reich WERE the main engineers of the offensive concepts or the execution, Doug was the one who hand picked them among all the options and hired them and then trusted them to do the job. This goes to his credit as well. Which is just another way of saying that, what we need is not necessarily that Doug was the genuis behind the offensive gameplans all along, but rather that he was a genius at hiring the right candidates and put them into position to thrive. He clearly did this the first time around, and we have reason to believe that it was just dumb luck. So I feel fairly good about him going out and finding suitable replacements and get the most out of them. And this time around he can have his pick, since the job is even more attractive to young up-and-comers.
Reid hired a great initial staff, but his replacements were not of the same calibre. You are giving Doug a lot of credit which may not be justified. I think the front office had a lot of influence in the first staff as evidenced by all Chip’s coaches who were retained.
That is a good point. Although, Reid also hired a bunch of good coaches since, like Bowles (probably right?) Pederson and Nagy. I guess we will see. Reids downfall seem to be that he wants full control and is not very good at getting help and outside cousel to cover his weaknesses or blind spots. From what we hear about Pederson he is very willing to get inputs and ideas and rely on his own staff to level him out – from the analytics guy in his ear to the reported relationship with Reich whom he appear to have used as a personal coach to keep himself in check. We will see. But I feel pretty good about Pedersons ability to bring good guys on board to replace the ones we lose, at least on the offensive side of the ball.
I was hoping to only lose one of those guys. Pederson definitely has to rebuild his offensive braintrust. It’s great that we have such a natural, intuitive playcaller in BBD, but Reich and DeFillipo played key support roles in building the game plan.
I see Reich as being the easiest person to replace on this coaching staff/front office.
Much more concerning if Schwartz or Fipp left along with some people in the Scouting Dept. including Douglas.
From several reports, Pederson used Reich as his personal coach in order to have someone around to keep him informed of his own tendencies and blind spots. If true, this is incredible self awareness on Pedersens part, which we should feel great about. But it also means that Reich might have played a larger role on Pedersons development as a HC than we realise, and he could be hard to replace.
“Many people have asked about Duce Staley moving into the role of OC. I don’t think that is likely. He has never run an offense or had extensive experience with building a gameplan. Staley is highly regarded by the Eagles for his ability to manage his RBs and for his leadership skills. Gameplanning isn’t his area of expertise. Even with the run game, Jeff Stoutland is the one who really puts those plays together and then works with Pederson and the OC.”
Excellently stated at 110% correct.
Is Luck actually healthy and going to be ready to play next year?
Don’t focus the Colts closely and it seems like there have been conflicting reports for months since the regular season ended.
That’s a pretty big concern and makes me think Reich just took an impossible job.
Yeah. If he isn’t a Top 10 QB anymore, all of the cap space and #3 pick this year aren’t going to be enough to overcome that.
Luck isn’t a young QB anymore either. He’ll be 29 in Sept.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Colts take a QB with the #3 pick either.
If they take a QB then Luck’s arm must have fallen off. With QBs playing more into their late 30s I think Luck has some time if they can finally keep him upright.
That might take longer than Luck can survive for.
Taking Barkley at 3 could help.
If he doesn’t go before that!
Giants? They would be foolish to pass up a QB unless they are really prepared to die with Eli
I don’t know what assurances were made to Eli by ownership about his status and/or the plans with the pick at 2.
If thats the case do you take Barkely, Chub, or Nelson?
None; I have a trade down auction with any and all interested QB needy parties.
I wonder who takes the bait. AZ. NYJ.
That’s a great question.
If Luck in any way demonstrate full recovery prior to the draft, I’d be tempted to trade him for a king’s ransom and do a total roster blowup.
If there’s any real doubt about Luck’s return, Colts should take a QB and see what plays out from there. Never know when you’ll get a shot at top QB.
Every year if you’re Cle
We can’t all be Cleveland.
He’ll need to play this year before any team gives up king’s ransom.
That’s probably the case, so Reich has his work cut out for him here.
Also, we know Wentz is a film junky, and he even got them to incorporate some of his plays from NDS. Not sure how much input he has had on weekly gameplans, but he’s obviously still on board.
Losing top assistants isn’t ideal, but in a way Reich and DeFillipo were the training wheels on the Pederson / Wentz tandem bike. The sheer level of dumb things done by both Pederson and Wentz rapidly diminished entering year two, so moving forward we’re not going to need the exact same type of guys as assistants. We’ll need more great coaches for sure, but they won’t have to necessarily be of the same regard as Reich and DeFillipo.
Thanks, Tommy. This is easier to handle after reading about good options out there. Who knows, maybe a fresh perspective means all the offseason strategizing NY, DAL, and WAS do will be wasted because of a few new wrinkles.
A lot of people are wanting Duce to become the OC, but I would prefer someone from the outside. Fresh eyes, preferably someone with a experience and i’m not sure Duce is ready. Obviously, Douggy P knows better as I really have no idea, but i’d prefer an OC similar to Reich, even if its a guy who isn’t really expected to stay for long and the plan obviously is giving Duce the run-game coordinator title and promoting him the OC position after another year or 2 of grooming.
I’d also prefer to keep Groh as WR coach, even if that means Reich or Flip poaches Press Taylor for that position with their new teams. The development and strength of our WRs makes me anxious to remove Groh from that equation.
Great point on Groh as we need to get Mack Daddy and Shelton Gibson further improved headed into their 2nd years.
Groh would still be in the building and working with the WR’s on a daily basis. It’s not like he’s going to ignore a guy who isn’t stemming his route properly.
The Eagles will probably prevent Taylor from interviewing with another team.
Shocker; Reuben Frank is the primary person knob slobbing Duce for the OC job. Thank God we have people like Tommy not making job recs based on who texts them “insider” tips.
I’d like Bevell. And not only because of his CV, but because he brings experience with different styles, coaches and backrounds with him. I think that was the Eagles biggest strenght this season. Bevell has seen a lot. If he’d be the one calling plays I’d be more sceptical. And no, not because of the pass play in the Super Bowl. That was actually smarter than most people think, imo. But with Dougie P calling the offense, he’d be a fine choice as a right hand man. And I think the Eagles would get him. Time is running out for him to get a job this season. And the Eagles showed that this job can give you a HC gig if you work good.
At QB coach, Tom Clements (former Packer) would be nice. Fufina brought him up in this thread.
It’s sad that this great staff lost two valuable members. But if they get two replacement like Bevell and Clement, along with Doug and Stoutland as unofficial run game coordinator, they should be fine.
I’m against promoting Duce. Last year was the first season I actually thought he did a really good job. Developing Clement was big. He was able to teach Ajayi the Offense pretty quickly. But before this season, where did you see great coaching from him? His RB rotation during the Chip era sucked.
Darrell Bevell…
1. Has a Championship ring.
2. Has beat the Pats in the Super Bowl.
3. Has coached Russ Wilson in the offense.
4. Has worked for a coaching legend in Pete Carroll.
So he’s a big time candidate fit for a Super Bowl champion.
Beat Del Rio / Broncos, not Patriots.
yep gotcha
Marshawn had a suggestion on how to beat the Patriots, but was overruled.
I think you’re harsh with Duce.
A RBs coach is not always going to stand out and he’s had McCoy, Sproles and Murray and Blount so what do you want him to do exactly? He can’t develop a young guy if there’s vets to use. Smallwood had injury woes.
Ryan Mathews looked great at times. He averaged 5.1 ypc. What did you want him to do about a back made of glass?
Sproles averaged 5.8 ypc . He and Shady and Polk had their moments in ’14.
What more can you ask than what Duce did with Shady in ’13? It’s not like there’s an opportunity for him to develop an unknown guy when Shady gets 2,147 receiving and rushing yards.
Stoutland’s OL was as bad as the RBs. Look what the OL did under Pederson. Stoutland looked much better.
Kelly’s offense was figured out his last year. He was telegraphing running plays …the whole stadium knew what plays he was running too often. He ran that same idiotic delayed read option handoff to Murray EVERYONE KNEW Kelly had no clue how to use Murray. He wasn’t a read option back.
Agree with the many commenters who questioned the promotion of Duce to the OC position, but just wondering, what should he have done from a career perspective in order to put himself in a better position at this point?
And given where he is now, if the Eagles don’t promote him, what do you tell him to do in order to position himself for other NFL opportunities down the road?
Maybe he’s just a really good career RBs coach and should stick with that. I haven’t heard of one other team asking to poach him as their OC. His name never comes up strongly in external rumors. That tells me a lot.
You said the same thing about Doug Pederson.
The fuck I did. How on earth are you presupposing that? I was “wait and see” on Pederson, certainly not a big fan, but didn’t hate it either. I was clearly insisting on getting Pederson support in that role, which was done well by Howie. But I’m not sure where the fuck you get off putting words in my mouth.
Who else was a suitor for Pederson? A lot of people said that about him in here and many places when he was interviewed by the Eagles and hired.
I don’t recall folks critical of Pederson’s hiring using his lack of rep as a major part of questions with that move. I could totally be misremembering this, but I think he’d been referenced as an ascending coach in KC over his time as OC there, even if he wasn’t calling the plays.
Who else was a suitor for Pederson?
I honestly can’t recall, but I’m pretty sure the Eagles pursuit of his wasn’t the first time his name had come up places. But that also may have been due to local media.
His name had come up as a possibility in a general sense I’m pretty sure, but I don’t think he even interviewed with any other team that year.
On the other hand, I seem to recall Doug being named the “favorite” before any interviews had taken place, so he may have well been at the top of the Eagles list initially (he certainly was an early interview). It was after that interview that the Eagles seemed to look around more forcefully, so maybe that didn’t go so well, but ended up going back to him.
I remember people said no other team was going to go after Pederson so why not wait until after the championship games to interview McDermott and others…Pederson’s name didn’t come up in strong rumors besides us.
He was just rumored to be a candidate for the job of Giants’ OC.
Dummies in the NY media strike again!
From what I remember, I wasn’t too fond of Duce’s rotations of RBs. Too often the guy with the hot hand got pulled out too early.
Xeynon and I got into that, heavily, two articles ago. I’m with you on that, but not everybody agrees.
It did get better in the playoffs (sort of) but still it was questionable. I don’t trust Duce to run an offense just based on his tendency of not feeding the hot hand.
Looks as if he’s been busy feeding himself instead………..
Pederson stated that Duce isn’t the one who controls the RB rotations, he is.
So to the extent that not playing the “hot hand” is a problem (I disagree with the premise that it is), it’s on Doug, not Duce.
He said it was a group effort between the players, coaches, and he had final say. You’re ignoring his Chip Kelly years where he had the final say.
I didn’t have a problem with his RB rotations during the Chip Kelly years.
Even if I had, that was when he was just starting out as a coach – not going to weight them too heavily now.
How much was it because Ajayi didn’t know the offense and were saving Ajayi too?
It was part of it but what about the years where he had full control of the RBs? I’m not saying that he can’t get better but I don’t want someone who can’t adjust on the fly.
Don’t know about Andrew Luck’s status. But Reich just did an awesome job with the Eagles backup QB in a playoff run and a Super Bowl win. Some guy named Nicky Foles.
So maybe Indy is paying attention to that. Luck could be back strong. But maybe the key guy is QB Jacoby Brissett along with a top round RB draft pick.
Or maybe the guy is Nick Foles.
Foles back to the AFC? I wonder what the Colts would offer..?
Not sure if mentioned but if the Eagles knew Reich was likely to leave, why didnt htey try to keep Flip as OC?
D3 and others explained this well; He’ll have play calling duties and complete autonomy in Minnesota, he would not have that here with Pederson.
From what I read, flip contract was up and he wanted to call plays which Doug does here
Off topic (takes a break, it was tiring to type that all out):
Ugh, does anyone else remember when a lot of people wanted Ruben Foster?
Yes and that was awful for someone who desperately wanted it to not happen.
He was a guy who IIRC had major character questions about him in the period leading up to the draft, so this isn’t a huge shock. Glad to have passed on him.
Howie can right a wrong by trading Eagles legend Nick Foles to Reich for Eagles legend Frank Gore.
I think Mike Groh gets moved to QB coach. From what I’ve read, that’s his next step to keep climbing the coaching ladder and left a previous job after getting passed over the job on a different team. I’m not entirely sure who you hire then for WR coach.
I’ve been back and forth on Duce as OC, but he probably wouldn’t be the primary guy in charge of game planning. That all comes down to Pederson. So while I don’t think Duce is the right hire for that, I don’t know that his lack of experience is a huge concern.
I expect the new OC will be someone outside the organization but the QB coach will be promoted from within.
Mike Groh listed below makes a lot of sense.
I think they give Groh his promotion. He has earned it and he left the Bears because he got passed.
Whoever Pederson brings in for these jobs, I’m going to reserve judgment and give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s earned it.
That’s 100% fair, but if anything goes wrong I reserve the right to scapegoat whichever hire I like least.
Me too but the guys they bring in must be cool with going for it on fourth and down all the time.
That’s a must! Good call.
At least there seems to be options for the OC and QB coach spots.
I am going to form an ill-informed opinion based mostly on the first article I read, then cling to it in the face of mounting, contradictory evidence.
Keep that up and they might give you a job at Philly Com.
Anyone?
What if Doug gets punch drunk on power and names Al the 64-old game usher from Section 224 because he suggested to Doug that he ‘needed to run it a bit more’ last offseason.
If he names the defensive line coach as OC, then I’ll worry. Short of that…
Obviously within reason. I don’t think we have to worry about Doug going Caligula and naming his horse OC.
OK Guys hear me out……
What about BEN MCADOO?
I don’t mind him honestly. Its hard to run a functioning offense when you don’t have an offensive line, and i was actually impressed with how the Giants tried to scheme around having no OL, no healthy WR’s, trash at RB and Eli as your QB… he wasn’t a great head coach, i didnt rate him as a game manager, but i think he can do the X’s and O’s of running an offense.
Seen the BGN boys bring him up. Could be good option. Dont like how he throws players under bus and that greased ball hairdo though. Then again he’ll just be an OC not the HC.
He should go work for UCLA.
I honestly don’t see what he adds.
Are you serious? Have you not seen his hair? He would bring swag to the offensive side of the ball.
“Doug Doug Doug Doug Doug”
“JFC WHAT DO YOU WANT BEN? DID YOU GET A SUIT THAT FITS OR A HAIRCUT YET?”
“Call slant-flat”
“Heard you the first 12 times asshole”
BEN MCADON’T
Normally, your suggestion might make sense because failing as a head coach doesn’t suddenly make you a bad coordinator if that’s was you excelled at in the past. However, McAdoo did the unthinkable and that was lose the trust of his players which is the last type of person we want in the Eagles lockeroom.
I think Mr. Lurie might conclude that Ben McAdoo lacks emotional intelligence TBH. He lost the locker room in NY worse than Chip did around here.
If there is one thing that stands out about Pedersons Eagles it is the emphasis on personality and character, and that goes for players as well as coaches. I don’t see McAdoo being a fit on this staff at all. He comes across as meek, resentful, out of touch with his players, stubborn, divisive, etc. You’d be hard pressed to see a coach coming off a playoff run and winning season completely lose his team and the respect of his players in just a few weeks the way McAdoo did last year. I don’t want him anywhere near our group of good guys.
Andy promoted his RB coach Eric Bieniemy in January to OC, Granted, he was the OC at Colorado for 2 seasons…over 5 years ago.
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/chiefs-promote-running-backs-coach-eric-bieniemy-to-offensive-coordinator/
Bienemy replaces Matt Nagy who became the Bears head coach. This doesn’t even ring a bell , I don’t remember this guy at all:
Nagy was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles on August 10, 2009 after an injury to backup quarterback Kevin Kolb. Nagy had been working for the Eagles as a coaching intern prior to his signing. The NFL disapproved his contract the following day because it was found he was still under contract with the AFL, even though the league had folded.[4] Philadelphia disclosed at a press conference that they would not pursue a re-signing of Nagy, but that he would continue to be a coaching intern for the team. He was promoted to coaches assistant on February 9, 2010.[5] He was promoted to offensive quality control coach on March 2, 2011.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Nagy
Thanks to Flip and Frank for their hard work and excellence in helping develop our QB and offense. Good luck in their new adventures.
I like Bevell and would support him becoming OC. Groh as QB coach makes sense too. Staley’s next jump would seemingly be a OC position, but I do not see the chance here now. Love Duce, but do not see much evidence he is irreplaceable or so good that a promotion is required yet.
So I’m prob the 1000th person to say it.. but if we knew we were losing Frank, couldn’t we get flip to hold on? Did he want more autonomy at Min?
My guess is the Eagles did just that. They probably asked him to wait, but let him make the decision. Remember, he only had a week to go on his contract and the last thing the Eagles need is a reputation for holding back coaches from better jobs. They probably said to wait and see, but the risk to DeFillipo was that the Vikings didn’t want to wait. Also, you might be right in that DeFillipo preferred the Vikings because he will more control.
As I recall, they blocked DeFillipo from talking to teams last year. Can’t really do that two years in a row, and they probably figured that Wentz has come along really quickly and will still prosper even without him.
They did, and can’t block him this year.
Just strange that we lose Frank and John doesn’t fill the role. Either 1. We royally screwed the pooch 2. John / and or Eagles don’t want him in OC role here 3. Losing Frank was a total blind side.
I can see John wanting to really run the offense, and I’ll go with that notion for now. Doug calls plays in Philly, and you know that aint gonna change this year.
colts job wasn’t in play until the last minute, john probably already made a decision
1. Minnesota is a better job for his HC prospects.
2. It’s a more involved job in general.
3. If you block him for 10 days he’s going to tell you to GFY on day 11 when he’s out of contract.
Apparently, I might be the only one thinking this, but I wish Jim Schwartz was one of the coaches to move on. Also, I find it interesting that with all the rumors flying around, he apparently was never taken seriously. I realize that many teams were looking for offensive minded coaches, but we are talking about a guy that was the DC for the team that won the Super Bowl.
Maybe it was my imagination, but then again maybe I wasn’t the only one seeing receivers wide open on virtually every play.
Before you jump down my throat by defending Schwartz, some of you might remember me as someone that was thrilled when he first came to the Eagles, while so many others saw Act 2 of Jim Washburn.
All the head coaches were hired well before the Super Bowl, so performance there had nothing to do with being hired or not. Our defense was fantastic against the Falcons and Vikings. There are some QB types that may have his number (Eli/Brady) but overall they did quite well this year. Not sure who we’d get to replace him either, so happy he’s staying.
The defense in the Super Bowl was … not good, obviously, but it sure seemed liked the offenses were playing at a high level. We actually did get a bunch of pressure in the first half, which affected a number of plays and was a big reason they only gave up 12 points. Second half was abysmal until the sack though.
If it was only the Super Bowl I wouldn’t be that concerned. I think if you go through the schedule, any decent QB seemed to figure Schwartz out. He depends on his defensive front, which is fine, but when there isn’t any pass rush a good QB seems to find receivers wide open. When I say wide open, last week was the perfect example. Where Foles had to throw constant perfect passes for completions, Brady rarely had to worry about making the perfect pass.
I know I seem to be making this argument by myself, but it’s an argument I have been making since the Seahawks game.
Most glaring thing to me is that Schwartz doesn’t seem to make adjustments well during the course of a game/half which was one of the big criticisms of his tenure in Detroit as the head coach.
Exactly, it’s probably is inability to make adjustments that concerns me the most.
The idea that Schwartz doesn’t make adjustments is weird when you look at the stats. This defense has been extraordinairy in the second half of games, especially in the fourth Q. I dont remember exactly, but I believe they lead the league in 4th Q points against.
Our CBs are not great at all. That remains a problem. Schwartz patched that problem over well enough for our offense, but playing with second-year Mills and rookies can be pretty tough. Darby helped a lot, at least the half of the season he wasn’t injured, as did P-Rob, but that position was still the weak link. They are susceptible to double-moves. We need to hope Sidney Jones is as advertised; having one near-shutdown guy can help loads.
It was not a dominant defense, but they were still good. Yes, the Seahawks game was frustrating, but the Falcons and Vikings were no slouches offensively and they got shut down pretty good come playoff time. Against Brady… yeah, pressure is your only hope there.
I guess part of my concern is what type of coach is considered a good defensive coordinator, one who needs players to fit his system or one that designs his system around the strengths of his players. Schwartz seems to be the latter.
Yes, the defense did well against the Falcons and Vikings, but I think Ryan was effected by the wind and Keenum had problems with the pressure.
I read that the Eagles gave up over 600 yards in offense last week. Before the Super Bowl there were 41 games in NFL history (including the regular season and playoffs) that a team gave up that many yards and each time that team lost. That’s right, the Eagles win in the Super Bowl was the first time in 42 games that a team gave up that many yards and won. To me not only is that an astonishing statistic, but it indicates the Eagles won despite its defense.
That game set a record for most yards of offense, both teams, in NFL history. The Eagles were not far behind the Patriots (538 yards of offense). Brady threw for 500 yards and lost, Patriots never punted yet lost, etc. Not a defensive gem to be sure, but true for both sides. Just sort of that type of game. There were a couple plays on each side with terrible tackling, but that wasn’t usually the problem. Patriot’s hurry-up offense was effective in the second half, with very little pressure, and Brady was deadly. He burned the Eagles on multiple slant-and-go’s, and got the ball out quickly in the first half when the Eagles were getting pressure (though he was rushed into a few key incompletions). They made adjustments with Gronk and the Eagles really couldn’t cover him. Eagles D gave up yards in the first half, but were holding on somewhat reasonably (and there were a couple penalties which kept Patriots drives alive). Second half, they were eviscerated. Patriots kept them badly off-balance. Eagles flat-out needed better CBs against Brady, and even that would not have stopped them. Patriots are just good.
Really, Eagles made the only big defensive play of the game, and it stood out because of that. Even the Foles INT was a complete fluke; Patriots got a gift there.
Eagles big advantage on D is their pressure from the DL. After that, they are just OK on defense. If there is a QB who can avoid the pressure, or get the ball out, they are vulnerable. Unsure if that is the scheme’s fault, or just a talent thing. The DL covers up a lot of problems against lesser QBs.
Yeah but who would take over for him?
Far from a Schwartz supporter and he strikes me as a guy with a limited shelf life unless the team wins.
Either the teams promote from within despite not seemingly having a candidate on hand or bring in a new DC who tweaks the scheme.
If the Eagles had lost, Schwartz would have been eviscerated this offseason by the media even if the defense had played well including 2 very strong performances vs Falcons/Vikings.
Good question, who? I was trying to see what decent DCS were are available, but it seems that of them either use a 3-4 or just signed a new contract like Gus Bradley and Mike Pettine. The only other coaches I could think of are Jack Del Rio and John Fox and who knows if they are even interested in going back to a coordinator job after being a head coach.
I am not arguing that Schwartz should have been replaced or even considered to be replaced if the Eagles had lost the Super Bowl.
That would be as foolhardy a reaction as say firing Pederson last year or starting Sudfeld vs Falcons if Foles had really struggled in the 1st half.
Schwartz strikes me as a really bright guy who doesn’t have a particular high ’emotional IQ’ as a manager though. His defiant and headstrong approach works as long as the unit does well & the team wins.
If things don’t go particularly well or as planned, managers like that tend to need to move on sooner than later.
Also, as far as his success against the Falcons and Vikings, in the Falcons game I think Ryan, as was Foles, was effected by the wind. In the Vikings game, the Saints showed a week earlier that Kennum struggles under pressure and to Schwartz’s credit he took advantage of what he saw on film.
Don’t lose sight of the fact that the Eagles are built to defend the pass by getting pressure from the front 4 and the Patriots were allowed to hold our pass rushers on every snap.
The Pats had a great game plan, double Fletch all day and consistently have the backs/TEs/WRs chip the defensive ends. Almost every play they had 6 to 7 blockers on 4 defensive players.
I wouldn’t just chalk it up to holding calls not made. The Patriots were up at the line very quickly the whole game long. They didn’t huddle much. The Eagles have struggled with QB’s who keep the pace quick and get the ball out even quicker. Eli probably had his two best games this year against the Eagles.
What was the defense like before the Schwartz era?
Ah, the Billy Davis era, preceded by the one year of Juan Castillo and Sean McDermott before that. Some bad years there after the sad death of the great JJ.
Outside of Jenkins, our pass game success was smoke and mirrors masked by the success of the pass rush.
I’ve gotten hammered on this over and over again this year, but Mills is not that good. IMO, Mills stole snaps and hindered the development of Rasul.
Darby has been maddening. He has the talent but sometimes looks completely lost.
McLeod has been a disappointment. He is a poor tackler and not much of a threat to intercept the ball.
I understand Schwartz had them playing off to avoid getting beat deep all season, but I wonder if their lack of game experience actually having to cover receivers without giving huge cushions hindered their development in this area.
Reasons for optimism: Sydney Jones proves to be an elite corner, shoving everybody else a step down the depth chart while taking care of the opposing teams WR1. Darby has a full year in the scheme and benefits greatly from the familiarity which allows him to finally put all that speed and athleticism to good use. And he gets the WR2 now. Mills then moves to the slot where he excels with his physicality up at the LOS. In time he becomes what Jenkins is for us today: a safety who can move up and cover RBs and TEs who dont have elite speed. I actually believe that they will make him our Jenkins of the future. Rasul is a quality backup in 2018 and maybe replaces Darby in 2019 if he doesnt improve or becomes a cap casualty.
We good.
I agree with everything you said with exception to the Mills/Jenkins comparison and benching Rasul for another season.
Jenkins was considered one of the top 2 defensive backs in the 2009 draft. He ran a 4.5.1, which is considered slow for a CB but faster than the 4.61 Mills ran. Many felt Jenkin’s best position was safety. Jenkins was drafted #14 overall for a reason.
I think you are overvaluing Mills. Heck, Douglas is bigger, stronger and faster and excelled at press-man coverage in college. He led the nation in interceptions his senior year and has shown to have ball skills at the pro level.
Relegating Mills to the slot and Rasul to the bench next year is probably what Schwartz will do. I strongly believe that if Mills did not play for Schwartz, he would not be starting.
Multi-year starter at LSU, at multiple positions. One year starter in the Big 12. Let’s not act like Douglas has the better college pedigree.
As far as big fast strong CBs with a handful of nice plays in a small sample size as a rookie? Eric Rowe sucks bro.
Go fucking troll somebody else.
Keep slobbing rasul’s knob w/o merit and I’ll gladly continue
I can’t agree with that. Mills has proven to be at least a starting caliber CB. Yes, he is not a shutdown dude, but people forget he has effectively been our CB1 all year – he went up against Keenan Allen, Julio Jones, Odell Beckham, Damarius Thomas, Dez Bryant, Sammy Watkins and Adam Thielen this year. He gave up some plays to those guys. But overall he has done fairly well. I think you are overrating the level of CB play around the league if you think that he Mills would not be a CB 2 on the vast majority of them. About his speed, Mills has shown that he plays faster than 4.61 on the field. People get hung up on the combine number way too much – you could easily find that 1/10 of a second of difference just in the way he gets out of his sprinting stance if he practiced running the 40 with a track coach in stead of practicing football. Just as you can easily give up 1/10 if you are just a tad slow to get your hands up/down from the initial contact with the WR on the go route. They are not running 40’ies on the field.
I respect your opinion but still disagree.
We’ll see what happens next season.
Oh yea I mean, what do I know right. I do think that it is all going to be different this year, just like it was last year. Some players are going to come out of nowhere and impress (like Agholar) and some are going to fall back and disappoint greatly. It is pretty easy to imagine a scenario where players like Curry, Kendricks, Long, Jernigan, McLeod and Mills fall back and disappoint us this year. Defensive dominance is famously difficult to sustain from year to year.
Mills was the best CB on the team in the playoffs, by a fairly wide margin.
Recency bias. His SB gameplan was garbage, but the defense was great overall this year. Probably the best we’ve seen in a decade.
Exactly. They struggled in the SB against a great QB who kept them off balance by keeping a fast pace and getting the ball out quickly. They also struggled with that this year when Eli Manning did the same thing. Something to work on in the offseason.
Schwartz’s defense won them the Oakland and Atlanta games and turned around the Minnesota game and helped make it a laugher.
They weren’t good in the SB. While at least some of that is due to the Patriots being really good, it’s unquestionable that they didn’t play well.
I’m not going to crucify him for one bad game though.
I wasn’t around for the Oakland or Dallas games, but my friend insisted that Foles problems both days were effected by the weather. He said the same conditions existed in the first quarter of the Dallas game. Yet, he told me the Eagles defense played vey well. I can’t help but conclude that the wind helped the defense.
In the Atlanta game, the wind was also a factor, not to mention the Eagles were able to sustain a rush throughout the game against an immobile QB.
I was very concerned on how the defense would do against the Vikings because Keenum was a mobil QB. However, as the Saints proved the previous week, Keenum had problems under pressure.
My concern is largely based on situations when the defense faces a good QB and can’t produce a pass rush. I expect a good QB to have a certain measure of success in those situations, but not constantly see receivers wide open. The Eagles offense was successful against the Patriots, buy the difference was that more often than not our receivers were covered forcing Foles to make perfect passes.
The bottom line is my problem isn’t so much the completions, but the fact that guys were wide open. Maybe this will change when Jones and Darby play on the outside and Schwartz has the confidence to let them play tighter coverage. Hopefully, I’m proven wrong.
I wasn’t around for the Oakland or Dallas games, but my friend insisted that Foles problems both days were effected by the weather. He said the same conditions existed in the first quarter of the Dallas game. Yet, he told me the Eagles defense played vey well. I can’t help but conclude that the wind helped the defense.
I don’t think there’s any question the weather was a factor, but it wasn’t an issue in the Minnesota game, when the defense also played well, or in several games during the regular season when it played well.
My concern is largely based on situations when the defense faces a good QB and can’t produce a pass rush.
Literally any defense is going to struggle under those circumstances. Jacksonville’s defense (the best in the league by many people’s estimation) got torched by both Pittsburgh and New England when it was unable to generate pass rush.
The bottom line is my problem isn’t so much the completions, but the fact that guys were wide open.
That was an issue, but it wasn’t something that was happening on every play, and even when it did happen it was sometimes a result of excellent play design and playcalling by the Patriots. Sometimes the Eagles’ defenders blew coverages. Sometimes the Patriots did an excellent job scheming guys open. Other times Brady made great throws (e.g. second TD throw to Gronkowski). It was a bad defensive performance on the whole, but some of that is down to the fact that it was a good opponent, and I think we should be looking at the larger body of work in any case. Over the course of the entire season Schwartz fielded a top 5 defense.
Look, I hope you are right, but even though it’s only one game, it’s difficult to ignore over 600 yards allowed during the game no matter who the QB was. The fact is, as a 1-41 record proves, a team isn’t going to win too many games when giving up that much yardage.
Add the fact that Schwartz’s defenses typically do poorly against Belichick coached teams doesn’t help.
You mentioned teams like Jacksonville and Pittsburgh getting beaten without their pass rush. Maybe so, but at least in the Jacksonville game against the Patriots, the Jaguars kept Brady at bay until they got tired in the 4th quarter. The Eagles were supposed to be immune from that problem because of their line rotations. Many were concerned that NE would counter that strength with a high tempo offense, but that wasn’t necessary because the line apparently did tire in the 2nd half without it. Without a doubt, the over 7 minutes Eagles winning drive played a big part in helping the defense finally make a big play, otherwise we may not have come up on top.
The bottom line is changes are needed to minimize the chance of something like that happening in the future. I don’t know if simply Sidney Jones playing opposite of Darby will make a difference, but somehow there has to be a way of making adjustments when what you are doing isn’t working, especially if there’s no pass rush.
One would hope they will self-scout and figure out the problems. It may be we just don’t have the personnel to shut down good quarterbacks. Perhaps Schwartz is doing the best he can given our secondary talent. It was only a few years ago that we were giving up lots of back-breaking bombs.
I am a big fan of the stat called DVOA, which measures each play. Since JS arrived, we’ve ranked #4 both years. He’s doing something right.
Maybe I’m expecting too much after watching great defensive coaches like Buddy, Bud Carson, and Jim Johnson, but if my memory serves me right their strength was to design their defenses around the strengths of their players.
I think what stands out to me is Schwartz’s inability to come up with ways of disguising blitzes. During the Eagles last Super Bowl against the Patriots, it took a half for the Patriots to figure out the Eagles defense and if you believe Steve Spagnola, he recently stated that Johnson questioned whether the Patriots were stealing the defensive signals.
The fact if unfortunately sometimes blitzing is necessary, but I’m not sure Schwartz is good at it.
Somebody who just retired, has coached with Pederson, and the front office knows very well:
Brad Childress for OC! (dunks)
He can even sport matching sun visors with Doug.
Rumored to be hired by the Bears.
QB coach – Peyton Manning
Dear god no. I’d rather have Tim fucking Tebow. At least he will be less of a distraction.
He’s going to get into the FO side of football rather than coaching anyway…
How’d the pats keep the team together for so many super bowls? We’ll see if it was Doug or those other guys. Big losses for sure, especially given Wentz developing.
I wonder how much of that was people crediting Belichick and Brady for the team’s success (McDaniels did have a stint in Denver). Maybe the brain drain here is because people have a comparatively low opinion of Pederson?
I credit a tremendous amount of their success to those two. And a part to Gronk.
They didn’t. The Pats have lost plenty of coordinators over the years (Weis, Crennel, Mangini, McDaniels, O’Brien, now Patricia). Those guys have generally failed when made head coaches, but it’s not really true that the Patriots have had coaching staff stability (other than Belichick and a few lower level assistants like Scarnecchia).
Well I’m in scout mode now. It sucks that draftbreakdown is in an inert state due to financial issues so it’s going to be a bit harder to find what I need. Someone give me something to complain about for the draft, my trust issues is almost non-existent for this FO right now.
No second or third round picks?
I have faith that Howie can somehow trade down for those.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/02/11/eagles-super-bowl-zach-ertz-touchdown-wristband-145-mmqb-peter-king
Awesome read. Gives you an idea of how much of a collective process Doug uses with the coaching staff.
I’m still getting used to the idea of going into an offseason with the thought of getting “another” championship…. That’s just such a new and awesome feeling!!!
Tim McManus says Duce has been rumored to be in consideration for some offensive coordinator jobs this offseason. There was talk last night in here that he wasn’t involved in any external rumors but it may not be the case.
Tim doesn’t have much else new to add besides the hot take of making no one OC and making Duce run game coordinator and Groh passing game coordinator.
I love that idea whether you bring in an outside OC or not. Then I would still promote Press Taylor to QB coach. Maybe promote another assistant to WR s coach depending on what Groh thinks….
http://www.espn.com/blog/philadelphia-eagles/post/_/id/24566/with-frank-reich-defilippo-gone-eagles-could-get-creative-to-fill-void
Manziel says he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression. At least there’s hope for him to live. I really do hope he does get good treatment and stays away from partying which can really wreck someone with that affliction.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2759017-johnny-manziel-shares-bipolar-diagnosis-on-gma-says-he-stopped-drinking?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national
Look for Groh at OC and Trent Miles as Wr Coach..wild guess