Eagles Ex Coach Jonathan Gannon: Why Is He Lying About Philadelphia Fans & Media?
PHILADELPHIA - Jonathan Gannon took the first bus he could out of Philadelphia, then backed it up and ran over the media he left behind.
By now, you have probably seen the comments made by the former Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. If not, here they are:
“I’m very comfortable talking to the media,” Gannon told Florio. “Philly is a very hard media market. We were 9-0 and I did my presser and they say, ‘Coach, we want you fired.’
"And I said, ‘We’re the No. 1 defense in the NFL right now, in every statistical category. Why do you want me fired?’ ‘You don’t blitz enough.’ I said, ‘Well we lead the league in sacks by 30-plus sacks, so if you want to come call the defense, then you can have at it.’”
Factually, there are more errors in this statement than in a Little League baseball game.
First: the Eagles were never 9-0. They were 8-0 before the Washington Commanders beat them to fall to 8-1.
Second: Nobody in the media ever – ever – said ‘Coach, we want you fired.’ That is just a ridiculous thing for Gannon to say, to insinuate that anyone in the media corps would say that to him. There are transcripts and none of them have that statement on there.
Third: Since nobody said it, how could Gannon respond to it? Yet, he said he did. How can you respond to something that didn’t happen? It’s pure fantasyland.
Fourth: the Eagles didn’t lead the league in sacks when they were 8-0, or, as Gannon believes, 9-0. The Eagles did end up leading the league in sacks with 70, but a strong second half pushed them there.
Fifth: The Eagles never led the league by 30 sacks. They did finish 15 ahead of their next closest, the Kansas City Chiefs. Still, pure exaggeration by Gannon.
What Gannon has done here - throwing the Eagles media under the bus like this - is a total surprise to me. He was always easy to deal with during his press conferences.
There were times when the Eagles would be warming up prior to practices when Gannon would come to the sideline and engage a reporter in conversation, mostly stuff off the record about various players he had coached, certain schemes, and even the upcoming opponent.
Perhaps he is wrongly lumping the media in with some fans who may have never bought into what he was selling and wanted him fired. And nobody, media included, was happy that Gannon slinked off in the hours after the Eagles lost to the Chiefs, 38-35, in Super Bowl LVII.
Gannon’s defense in that game couldn’t make a single stop in the second half, allowing a 10-point lead at intermission to melt away. It’s not like the Chiefs were even forced to sweat two of their touchdowns in the comeback - easy throws to wide-open receivers.
Gannon never talked after games, but doing so after the final game of the season, knowing he was going to be interviewing in Arizona, would have gone a long way to winning him some points. ... and to simply "doing the right thing.''
As it was, he simply was never heard from again. He was forced to answer questions about the Super Bowl during his introductory press conference by reporters who cover the Cardinals.
Most Eagles fans by then simply said, "good riddance."
And maybe that’s where Gannon’s mistake comes – lumping the media, who not once said "We want you fired,'' with the fans, who said it often on talk radio and on social media.
That confusion is a stretch, though, and won’t earn him a pass here.
Maybe his misguided and blatantly wrong statement about the media could be excused because of the pressure he may be feeling, or the buyer’s remorse that’s now engulfing him for opting to take over an organization that, in the estimate of most NFL analysts, has the worst roster in the league and is destined to get worse before it can get better.
Additionally, his new boss, owner Michael Bidwell is accused of misconduct, including cheating, discrimination, and harassment by former employees, some of whom contend that Bidwell was a racist and “created an environment of fear for minority employees,” according to an article in The Athletic.
It’s a mess in the desert and maybe Gannon is feeling the heat.
Still, that’s no reason to do what he did and take shots at an Eagles media that, from this perspective, had always been more than fair to him. Gannon has now needlessly and recklessly burned a bridge that maybe only an apology could begin to rebuild, and even that may not be enough for anyone.
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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