Doug Pederson’s Low Ranking by Writer Riles Eagles Fans
It is only one writer’s opinion, but it drew a lot of response when Sean Wagner-McGough ranked the Top 10 NFL coaches for a story in CBSsports.com.
The Philadelphia Eagles fans came out in force when Doug Pederson was ranked just ninth. In his first four seasons with the Eagles Pederson is 38-26 (.594) in the regular season and 4-2 in the playoffs, including the famous Super Bowl LII win following the 2017 season.
The writer was complimentary enough about Pederson, but what got the Eagles fans going was the fact that he was ranked behind two younger coaches, Kyle Shanahan of San Francisco who was fifth and Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams who was sixth.
Both have been head coaches for three seasons and have taken their teams to the last two Super Bowls. The fact that they lost both Super Bowls should be a factor in the ranking.
The 49ers lost the Kansas City in this past Super Bowl, 31-20. San Francisco led 20-10 entering the final quarter before being outscored 21-0.
McVey and the Rams were part of the lowest scoring Super Bowl in their 13-3 loss to New England in Super Bowl LIII.
While it’s just one game, it is the biggest game of their coaching careers and both Shanahan and McVay fell short and Pederson was at his best.
That surely has to count for something.
Plus, Pederson is 2-0 against McVay, winning both games in Los Angeles.
The Rams loss to New England was one of the worst offensive performances in playoff history. McVay is known as an offensive genius, but with quarterback Jared Goff struggling mightily, Los Angeles couldn’t move the ball.
Conversely Pederson clearly outcoached the No. 1 coach on the list Bill Belichick in the Eagles 41-33 Super Bowl win. And he did it with his backup QB Nick Foles against the legendary Tom Brady. Foles proved that day to be the better QB and a better receiver than Brady.
The 41 points was the eighth highest point total in Super Bowl history.
There is no argument on Belichick being No. 1 on the list. In fact, he might be No. 1 of all time but against Pederson he had no answers for the Eagles offense that day.
The next year, Pederson won a first round game at Chicago with Foles again at QB for the injured Carson Wentz.
Last year, with Wentz back, the Eagles made the playoffs with a 9-7 record, but had to win their final four games to qualify. Playing with an inexperienced receiving corps, Wentz was brilliant, completing 67.6 percent of his passes for 1,199 yards, seven TDs, no interceptions and a 100.8 passer rating.
Had Wentz not suffered a game-ending concussion in the first-round playoff 17-9 loss to visiting Seattle, who knows if the outcome would have changed?
The Eagles are one of four teams to have made the playoffs each of the past three years. The others are Kansas City, New England and New Orleans.
advertisement
That’s not to say that Shanahan and McVay aren’t outstanding young coaches, but putting them ahead of Pederson seems misguided, something the Eagles fans have had no trouble pointing out.
© SouthJersey.com 2020. All rights reserved. This article or parts thereof may not be reprinted or reproduced by any other party without the express written consent of SouthJersey.com. For more information, please call 856-797-9910.
To receive special deals directly from SouthJersey.com, subscribe here.
For more Local Sports features, visit our South Jersey Sports page.
Author: Marc Narducci
Archives
Who’s Who in Health Care
Ahead of the Curve
Money Matters
Going Greener and Cleaner
Self-Made Man
Building Toward the Future
On The Move
Firing Up
Drinking it All In
Caring for One Another
What’s the Big Idea?
Making Connections
Up to the Challenge
Today’s Pupils, Tomorrow’s Professionals
Best of Home & Garden 2024
More...
