If anyone understands the challenges that come with being head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, it is Doug Pederson.
Pederson won a Super Bowl while leading the Eagles. He also managed a meltdown so bad, he voiced out his grievances on local sports-talk radio before leaving the team.
Doug will return to Philadelphia this weekend when the Jacksonville Jaguars play the Eagles at the Lincoln Financial Field, where there is a statue of him and Super Bowl LII MVP quarterback Nick Foles.
He is excited to visit the City of Brotherly Love, where he will face a coach he helped in replacing him in 2021.
Pederson had an informal transfer, leaving Nick Sirianni with inside information about Philadelphia.
“It’s a tough business,” Pederson said, via the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Just to be a resource, you know, just to be somebody there. I did it for five years and I was an assistant coach there for a long time and really just to be there if he had any questions he could just ask me. It’s just a respect thing. It’s hard enough to be a head coach in this league. Any advice I could give a first-time head coach, I was going to do it.”
Sirianni also had his fair share of challenges in the three-and-a-half seasons he has spent with the Eagles, leading a quick turnaround that led them to Super Bowl LVII. But unlike the former coach, this new one did not win the Lombardi Trophy. After a massive fall at the end of the 2023 campaign, he felt the burning heat in Philadelphia.
Pederson could tell stories about that heat. Just as the former coach did before he left, he gave Sirianni advice this week.
“From the outside looking in, I think he’s handled it well,” Pederson said. “My advice is you’ve just kind of got to keep going every single day, man. You’ve just got to keep your head down, plowing forward, just do your job. Get your team ready to go for another game. And you know, you can’t control anything other than that as a head coach.
“That’s my advice to myself and that’s my advice to him. Just continue to keep doing the job you’re doing. You’ve got to trust your ability, you’ve got to trust what you’re doing, what you’re teaching, how you’re preparing your football team and you’ve got to stick with that and I think he’s done a good job at that.”
Sirianni has learned some things in the past year, particularly when it comes to communicating with Eagles fans. He was demonstrative after a victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, which did not age well after Philadelphia’s late-season failure. Sirianni even talked to some core home fans seated behind the team’s bench after winning early this month.
Since then, the Eagles seemed to have gotten back on track, delivering two straight wins. They will have their wits tested by the Jaguars on Sunday.
“No, it’s on the other side of the stadium. You want me to tailgate, too, and just say hi to people?” Pederson joked.
