Eagles Top Assistant Getting Head-Coaching Buzz: Report

[time2rock]

Eagles Top Assistant Getting Head-Coaching Buzz: Report

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• By Mike Greger

• Updated Dec 27, 2021 at 3:43pm

Getty:  Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon is in his first year leading the Philly defense.

Two months ago, Philadelphia Eagles fans wanted Jonathan Gannon’s head on a spit. His defense was making every opposing quarterback look like Aaron Rodgers after allowing five signal-callers to complete at least 80% of their pass attempts.

The Eagles were also leading the league in missed tackles and first downs surrendered through the first nine weeks. Gannon had clashed with defensive captain Fletcher Cox and the masses wanted him fired. Not Nick Sirianni. The first-year head coach talked to his rookie defensive coordinator on the side and they figured out a way to right the ship.

Gannon’s unit has been a Top-10 unit over the past six games, including holding teams to a miserly 16.7 points per game. Philadelphia now ranks fifth overall in total yards allowed (320.2 per game) and ninth in rush defense (104.6 per game). They have started to generate game-changing takeaways: 15 for the season after two more interceptions in Week 16.

"You’re never a finished product. You’re always trying to improve,” Gannon told reporters on December 7. "That’s what the head coach talks about, that’s what we talk about with our guys. Like I’ve said before, you want to be ascending and getting better each week and be playing good, sound football. You don’t want to be making a bunch of mistakes and you don’t want the performances to go up and down. You want to keep ascending in a positive way.”

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Gannon Mentioned as Head-Coaching Candidate

Gannon suddenly has the Eagles’ defense humming in the heart of a playoff race. Naturally, the 38-year-old has instantly vaulted to the top of a short list of head-coaching candidates. There was never a doubt, right?

NFL Network analysts Peter Schrager and Tom Pelissero recently tossed six names out there and Gannon was right at the top of that list. The former secondary coach for the Indianapolis Colts could potentially parlay one up-and-down year in Philly into a new job.

As for his coaching style, Gannon is a players-coach who seeks out input from his guys and incorporates it into the gameplan. No one in the defensive room is above anyone else. And keep the slogans out of the locker room.

"I told you guys I’m not a big slogan guy. NFL players are very motivated,” Gannon said. "It is our job sometimes to get them going a little bit, but the guys that we have in the building, there’s not a lot of need for that, in my opinion.”

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Jaguars Plan to Interview Doug Pederson

Meanwhile, the Jackson Jaguars will interview Doug Pederson for their head-coaching vacancy. According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, Pederson and Jim Caldwell will kick-start what sounds like an exhaustive search down there. Jacksonville fired Urban Meyer on December 18 after a tumultuous, drama-filled 2-11 start.

Pederson lives in Florida and recently talked about wanting to return to the NFL. He would seem to be a perfect fit for the Jacksonville job where he could mold young quarterback Trevor Lawrence. La Canfora sees Pederson and Caldwell as legitimate candidates to replace Meyer. He wrote: "Their vast experience around the NFL, and Pederson’s experience as a former NFL quarterback himself, are also of interest to the Jaguars, sources said.”

https://heavy.com/sports/philadelphia-eagles/jonathan-gannon-head-coach/

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Gannon to be a HC candidate? Sure off you go fella.

[Erie]

Let's give it another year before he makes any short list. It's impressive to see the D improve with marginal talent. But c'mon. 

 

[time2rock]

18 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Gannon to be a HC candidate? Sure off you go fella.

Personally I don't want to see him leave.  The early struggles should most definitely have been expected with the complete overhaul of the coaching staff and an entirely new scheme being installed.  We knew it would take time for these players to get comfortable executing their new assignments.  It was also a safe assumption Gannon would be on a learning curve as he has never called a defense before ... in much the same way we had to give Sirianni time to learn what works with the players he had and to adjust Gannon should have been given the same leeway.  Add to that the lack of talent on defense ... I think he has done fairly well with what he has to work with.  And no I am not disregarding the level of competition we have faced.  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

35 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Personally I don't want to see him leave.  The early struggles should most definitely have been expected with the complete overhaul of the coaching staff and an entirely new scheme being installed.  We knew it would take time for these players to get comfortable executing their new assignments.  It was also a safe assumption Gannon would be on a learning curve as he has never called a defense before ... in much the same way we had to give Sirianni time to learn what works with the players he had and to adjust Gannon should have been given the same leeway.  Add to that the lack of talent on defense ... I think he has done fairly well with what he has to work with.  And no I am not disregarding the level of competition we have faced.  

I'm still just not that impressed with his defense. He's played bad teams and yeah OK he's done well against them but that can't be how we measure how he's done. Against good offenses he's struggled. Now I guess let's see what he does in Week 18 and potentially the play offs. 

[time2rock]

12 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I'm still just not that impressed with his defense. He's played bad teams and yeah OK he's done well against them but that can't be how we measure how he's done. Against good offenses he's struggled. Now I guess let's see what he does in Week 18 and potentially the play offs. 

As I stated above I am not disregarding the level of competition we have faced lately.  Unfortunately though, we haven't faced a good offense in a while (Chargers perhaps?  that was almost 2 months ago).  So we really can't say where we are at now.  I'd hate to change and start the relearning process all over with another new system after having just invested that time for the players to get acclimated to the current system - would like to see if we are developing something decent here.  And again, can't disregard the lack of talent with which he has to work.  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

2 minutes ago, time2rock said:

As I stated above I am not disregarding the level of competition we have faced lately.  Unfortunately though, we haven't faced a good offense in a while (Chargers perhaps?  that was almost 2 months ago).  So we really can't say where we are at now.  I'd hate to change and start the relearning process all over with another new system after having just invested that time for the players to get acclimated to the current system - would like to see if we are developing something decent here.  And again, can't disregard the lack of talent with which he has to work.  

I know what you mean and I do get what you're saying. But the evidence we have so far is he's struggled against good offenses so right now that's a mark against him. He can turn that around like Sirianni did but not until he comes up against good offenses. 

[mr_irie1]

Seems way too early to me but good for him if someone hires him to be their HC. I hope we can keep him around for another season tbh since it seems like he was learning on the job just like everyone else. I remember firing Sean McDermott after a season or two b/c he wasn't immediately Jim Johnson and I'd say looking back that was a mistake.