The Journey

Posted: June 20th, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

In case you forgot, the Eagles won the Super Bowl last year.

How do you take that fact and use it to help the current team? I think you look for specific lessons. Doug Pederson talked about the fact he wanted players to focus on the journey from last season and I think that’s a great message for the team.

The Eagles didn’t win the Super Bowl because of The Philly Special. Or Nick Foles. They won because they lifted weights and ran sprints in April of 2017. They won because they focused on footwork, hand-usage and taking good angles to the ball in May and June of 2017. They went to Training Camp and competed. Hard. They pushed each other to get better. They took the preseason seriously and used those games to get better.

The Eagles did something amazing in the regular season. They played one game at a time. They lived week to week. That’s Cliche City…Football Coach 101, but they actually did it. I’ve never seen any other Eagles team show that kind of focus. I wrote about the journey for PE.com and one of the things I pointed out is that we kept waiting for the dreaded trap game. Never happened.

There was a bad half here or there. Somehow the Eagles always found a way to fight through their struggles and come up with a win. The two losses on the year were tough road games against high quality opponents. And then there was the season finale, when Dak Prescott showed he could out-duel Nate Sudfeld in his NFL debut, 6-0.

I think Pederson’s key point is not to think about the Super Bowl itself, but rather everything that led up to that point. If the Eagles get back to the playoffs (which they clearly should), that’s when you start thinking about January of 2018 and how those games went. For now, focus on the 2017 offseason, Training Camp, preseason and season. What happened in that span is what actually built the Eagles into a championship team.

Doug Pederson continues to say smart, insightful things to his team.

*****

Speaking of Douglas…

This book will be coming out on Aug 28.

I can’t wait to read this. It is a rush job so chances are this won’t become a football classic (like Finding the Winning Edge), but I look forward to Pederson offering some detailed thoughts on how his ideas and philosophies came about.

He was influenced by Don Shula, Mike Holmgren and Andy Reid. That is a trio of great NFL coaches. But it could be that something from Pederson’s days as a high school coach turned out to be more important than something those coaches said or did.

One thing we absolutely know about Pederson, when it comes to football, he’s got an open mind. He’s willing to trust the people around him. There is no arrogance or hubris when it comes to him ( he’s the Anti-Chip).

One day I hope Big Red will write a book. I’d love to hear some of his stories. He bounced around college football for a while and you know he’s got to have some great stories from his journey to the NFL, as well as his time in Philly.

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One Comment on “The Journey”

  1. 1 Eagles News: Philadelphia has one of the NFL’s best pass blocking offensive lines - Football News Latest said at 3:54 AM on June 21st, 2018:

    […] The Journey – Iggles BlitzThere was a bad half here or there. Somehow the Eagles always found a way to fight through their struggles and come up with a win. The two losses on the year were tough road games against high quality opponents. And then there was the season finale, when Dak Prescott showed he could out-duel Nate Sudfeld in his NFL debut, 6-0. I think Pederson’s key point is not to think about the Super Bowl itself, but rather everything that led up to that point. If the Eagles get back to the playoffs (which they clearly should), that’s when you start thinking about January of 2018 and how those games went. For now, focus on the 2017 offseason, Training Camp, preseason and season. What happened in that span is what actually built the Eagles into a championship team. […]