Doug Pederson Once Again Gets Little Respect
Doug Pederson has become the Rodney Dangerfield of head coaches in that he gets no respect, no respect at all.
At least none from a writer with CBS Sports HG named Sean Wagner-McGough, who had the Eagles coach ranked ninth in his top 10 rankings of the league’s current head coaches.
His opinion, and certainly there is nothing wrong with being ninth among a group that numbers 32, but it’s who he is ranked behind that has seemed to touch a nerve with Eagles fans, and maybe this Eagles beat reporter, too.
First, let me say, I am no fan of lists, but there are plenty of them being done, including by this reporter, in an environment where finding sports content is a daily challenge in the pandemic we are currently enduring.
Here is Wagner-McGough’s list of HIS top 10 coaches:
Bill Belichick
Andy Reid
John Harbaugh
Sean Payton
Kyle Shanahan
Sean McVay
Mike Tomlin
Pete Carroll
Doug Pederson
Mike Zimmer
Not bad, but what seems off is McVay is ranked ahead of Pederson despite an 0-2 record in head-to-head games against Pederson and McVay being 0-1 in the Super Bowl compared to Pederson's 1-0 record in the Super Bowl.
What seems further off is Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin not being in the top five despite not having had a losing season in 13 straight years and a better winning percentage than three coaches in the top five: New Orleans’ Sean Payton, Baltimore’s John Harbaugh, and San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan.
Speaking of winning percentage, Wagner-McGough seems to give McVay credit for that in his defense of having Pederson ranked three spots below the Los Angeles Rams coach, but none to Tomlin.
Pederson’s regular season is 38-26; McVay’s 33-15.
Wagner-McGough also talked about the future, and how McVay has time to win a Super Bowl, which would seem to indicate that his rankings snapshot isn’t all together one of the here-and-now, but the future when it pertains to McVay and even Shanahan, who shouldn't be ranked ahead of Pederson, either.
Pederson beat McVay in 2017 after strong MVP candidate Carson Wentz tore knee ligaments during the game in L.A., yet the Eagles triumphed anyway 43-35 to clinch the NFC East just three weeks before the regular season ended.
Pederson then used backup QB Nick Foles to win the organization’s first Super Bowl.
In 2018, Pederson beat McVay again in his backyard, 30-23, one of just three defeats that year for the Rams, who then went to the Super Bowl and lost.
Wagner-McGough didn’t want his rankings to reflect just a handful of games, but it’s hard to ignore those two, Pederson’s better postseason record and the Super Bowl outcomes.
This year, McVay will bring his team east for the first time as a head coach to play at Lincoln Financial Field in Week Two.
As for Pederson, he has never seemed to get the respect he deserves and maybe part of that stems from one of the worst takes of the century, this one from former NFL executive Mike Lombardi.
When Pederson was hired in 2016, Lombardi said: “Now, everybody knows Pederson isn't a head coach. He might be less qualified to coach a team than anyone I've seen in my 30-plus years in the NFL. Pederson was barely a coordinator before he became a head coach."
Lombardi has since apologized for that quote, and how could he not after Pederson won Super Bowl LII with a backup quarterback?
Also, Pederson doesn’t seem to enjoy taking credit for everything and is always quick to compliment his staff. In fact, Pederson probably less of an outward, noticeable ego than any coach I’ve ever been around.
So, here is my top five:
Belichick
Reid
Tomlin
Harbaugh
Carroll.
Pederson would be sixth.
