Doug Pederson Confident of Return in 2021, but what about Jim Schwartz?
It’s always tempting to glance at the greener grass on the other side of the fence, especially after an Eagles season that has already endured 10 losses.
Grazing on that lush grass are several tantalizing coaching candidates, from Carolina offensive coordinator Joe Brady to Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.
Doug Pederson, though, doesn’t believe he is going anywhere. The current Eagles coach believes he will be the future Eagles coach, saying during his weekly radio spot on 94WIP’s morning show that he doesn’t believe his job is in any jeopardy.
“I feel fully confident to be the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021,” said Pederson. “The thing that I’m the most proud of with this football team is we’ve been in the postseason three of the last five years since I’ve been here. That’s pretty good.
“We’ve won a championship here and we’ve gone through a season where a lot of our veteran guys are not playing due to injury. We’re playing with a lot of young players. Yeah, there’s always going to be evaluation in the offseason and obviously, my job is evaluated as well, but I fully expect to be the coach next season and welcome that opportunity to get things right and to get the thing fixed and take this team into next season.”
If Pederson stays, there will likely be changes to his staff once again.
Maybe this time, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is shown the door, considering his unit has given up more than 500 yards of total offense in the last two losses.
“He’s just been coaching us, doing the same thing that he does,” said defensive end Brandon Graham about Schwartz after Sunday’s 37-17 loss to the Cowboys. “That’s what I would do if I’m about to be done, or go out. I’m going to go out being me…It sucks that we didn’t get it done for him this year. And I know things always move around. That’s above me. I just know that while he’s here, he’s been a great coach, somebody that I’ve learned from, somebody that always helped us each and every week put us in the right positions.”
Injuries have been the most recently cited item for the Eagles’ struggles, and to a point that is accurate.
For some reason, injuries always seem to hit this team hard. They have had six offensive linemen placed on Injured Reserve.
Against the Cowboys, they had a defense manned mostly by reserves.
Look at the snap counts and you see double-digit plays from undrafted rookie free agents Grayland Arnold (42 snaps), Michael Jacquet (40) and Raequan Williams (19), Joe Bachie (18), who was signed off the Saints’ practice squad a few weeks ago, and rookie draft picks K’Von Wallace (19) and Shaun Bradley (11).
Injuries aren’t the only reasons for this ruined season. Other teams have them and overcome them, whether that is by superior coaching or superior personnel, or a mix of both.
It will be up to owner Jeffrey Lurie to see past the obvious answer of injuries and decide if Pederson will indeed return in 2021, or if he will look to the other side of the fence.
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