Former #Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson discussed last season, Carson Wentz and Jalen Hurts, and how he reflects on his time in Philadelphia.
Take a listen to what he told us recently…
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— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) July 7, 2021
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Doug Pederson, the former Philadelphia Eagles head coach, and the only coach to win the Lombardi Trophy for the franchise, made an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
During the sitdown, Pederson addressed his handling of Carson Wentz, the future of Jalen Hurts, and when the season took a complete 180.
Pederson says he believed Wentz was supposed to be “the franchise” moving forward despite Philadelphia constantly looking to evaluate and select prospects at the position.
“You go into drafts and you go into each year looking for quarterbacks,” Pederson said during an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “And we continued to look for quarterbacks, and that’s always something that will never change. We won a Super Bowl with our backup quarterback. And we’ve had to play with our backups a couple of times in Philadelphia. So we did that a year ago and brought in Jalen Hurts, not to undermine Carson Wentz, not to do anything to take away his job or anything because Carson was our starter.”
“He was the franchise and all that moving forward. But [we wanted] someone that could come in and could be the backup and learn how to play the NFL game — bring his talent to the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Pederson also went on to note how he believed things like injuries and personnel turnover on the offensive side of the ball caused issues internally within the organization.
“And really as the season began, things just started to kind of I guess spiral out of control,” he said. “Injuries began to set in. We weren’t playing very well. Turnovers offensively, just a number of things, penalties, more injuries compounded problems, and it just became harder and harder as the year wore on.
“No one person is to blame for any of what happened last year. And it’s just unfortunate for me because I was hoping to really have an opportunity to fix the issues that we had and kind of get everything back on track — whether it be this year or the next year. And, obviously, that didn’t happen. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the ifs, ands, and buts. I just focus on the future and look forward to that.”
Ultimately, all of the turmoil paved the way for the front office to literally tear everything down and find new pieces to the puzzle. Pederson was fired, Wentz was traded to Indianapolis, Hurts became the starting quarterback for this season and Nick Sirianni was named head coach.
Now, the Eagles are poised to change a narrative surrounding the 2020 nightmare, as they will look to get back atop the NFC East. The addition of Heisman trophy winner DeVonta Smith is something Eagles fans are really looking forward to, with Nick Sirianni having placed great emphasis on playmaking for this offense.
It’s going to be quite the season in Philly, as fans can only wish for the best to come.
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