Quite a 180

Doug Pederson was the losing coach in a playoff game on Sunday and somehow that is the highlight of his week.

From Wednesday…

https://twitter.com/BrandonGowton/status/1214934797371531264

Later in the PC…

Doug Pederson 24 hours ago saying Mike Groh & Carson Walch are coming back

“I know what I said, but at the same time, I'm still evaluating the whole process. They are still currently here and I'm going to continue to evaluate and assemble the best staff moving forward”@6abc https://t.co/ohcbl8YbwD pic.twitter.com/azYFFW9Yrm

— Jeff Skversky 6abc (@JeffSkversky) January 9, 2020

And then Thursday…

Eagles fire offensive coordinator Mike Groh and wide receivers coach Carson Walch https://t.co/gsvAgbyGmm

— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) January 9, 2020

What the what?

Before we talk about the moves, let’s talk about what happened.

There are two likely scenarios. The first is that Doug had not finished his evaluation and made up his mind as of the press conference. He then met with Jeffrey Lurie, who made it clear that Groh and Walch had to go. So Doug fired them.

The other possibility is that Doug wanted to keep his coaches. He met with Lurie, got his orders and then fired the coaches.

I’m sure Doug felt some loyalty to Groh, who helped him win a Super Bowl. There is less of a connection to Walch and the WRs did not have a good year. I would guess that Doug was willing to make that move and might have made it on his own.

This is not a good look for the Eagles.

They were unprepared for the press conference, and that makes zero sense. They needed to have a plan for the offseason that started with the PC. Doug could have simply said he was still doing evaluations and wasn’t prepared to make any announcements. The season just ended on Sunday. Nobody would have questioned an answer like that.

Some people see this as Doug intentionally lying to fans and the media, trying to deceive them. I don’t buy that. I just don’t see the benefit to him intentionally lying. I think he gave terrible answers and wasn’t prepared for the situation, which might actually be worse than lying. Neither of these is good options.

The weird answers on Wednesday and then immediate reversal make it look as though the organization is flying by the seat of their pants.

This offseason looks like it could involve a lot of change. That is fine, but the Eagles would have helped themselves quite a bit by looking as though they were all on the same page and had a good plan for how to go about making these changes.

By bungling the first couple of days, the Eagles just gave fans and the Philly media plenty of fodder for questioning every move and decision.

*****

Now let’s talk about the actual moves.

I have mixed feelings on Groh. I thought he was a punching bag for the public. The 2017 Eagles had Doug, Reich, Flip and then Groh as the WRs coach. That was a terrific staff.

Groh had a young QBs coach and poor WRs coaches in his two years, not to mention a ton of injuries.

I’m not saying Groh did a good job, but it feels hard to give him an honest evaluation. I’m not bothered by his firing. I do think the Eagles can upgrade at that spot.

As for Walch, good riddance. Yes, he did a good job with Greg Ward and Deontay Burnett over the last month or so. That’s hardly what you want out of an NFL receivers coach. The first goal is to get the stars to play well. No one who watched the 2019 Eagles would say Alshon Jeffery or Nelson Agholor played well. Mack Hollins was a disappointment as well.

The Eagles need to be aggressive and find a good WRs coach.

As for the OC position…

Two candidates I'm hearing for the Eagles offensive coordinator post are Jim Caldwell and former Washington OC Kevin O'Connell, per source.

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) January 9, 2020

Caldwell certainly makes sense. He is a veteran coach with a strong offensive background. He was a head coach at Wake Forest, the Colts and the Lions. Caldwell coached Peyton Manning in Indy before taking over as the head coach. He coached the Baltimore offense when they won the Super Bowl in 2013. Caldwell left the Lions with a winning record, the first coach to do that since the 1950’s.

I don’t think of him as an X’s and O’s guru, but he does know how to get the most out of his players. That might be just what the Eagles need.

O’Connell is a former NFL QB who bounced around the league and then got into coaching. You can see where that might appeal to Doug.

O’Connell worked under Chip Kelly in 2016 in SF. He then worked under Jay Gruden from 2017-2019. That’s hardly a compelling track record, but Doug could see O’Connell as an up and coming coach with a fresh set of ideas.

We don’t know exactly what the Eagles are looking for. Is this spot more about scheme or people skills?

There is always the possibility of promoting Duce Staley to OC. This doesn’t feel likely. I’m guessing that Lurie will push Doug to bring in someone from the outside, with the idea being that a fresh set of eyes and ideas would help the Eagles. That is just a guess on my part. I don’t know anything more than you.

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