Avoiding Eagles, Mora Less
Philadelphia Inquirer Sports Columnist Bob Ford writes about the Eagles, the Phillies, the Sixers and the Flyers.
Avoiding Eagles, Mora Less
Bob Ford, Inquirer Sports Columnist
All right. You are Jim L. Mora (never Junior; dad is Jim E. Mora) and it is apparent you were able to choose among at least a couple of options for a new defensive coordinator job.
Let's say it came down to a choice between Denver and Philadelphia as you re-enter the job market following unsuccessful stints as head coach in Atlanta and Seattle.
The Eagles are a playoff team -- sort of -- a team that could have easily won 11 games. The Eagles have an exciting offense and a defense, if you accept the spin, that merely needs a little good health and a little fine-tuning to return to prominence.
The Broncos were a 4-12 team this season, just a train wreck. The defense was ranked 32nd in the league, allowing the most yards/game (390.8) and points/game (29.4) in the NFL.
OK, which job do you want?
The story, as Mora chooses to go to Denver, is that he doesn't want the move for his family to be too much of an upheaval. It's a good story. Maybe there's some accuracy there. Seattle and Denver are 1,000 miles apart, but whatever.
And maybe Jim L. Mora is different from every coach who has ever lived and doesn't go nomadically around the country to the job he prefers. Fine.
But it's worth considering that for someone who studies defenses for a living, the Eagles are attractive enough. Maybe it isn't the injuries. Maybe it isn't whatever failings Sean McDermott apparently displayed. Maybe the Eagles don't have any players. And it's worth noting that Reid was a lot more involved with the defense this year, at least as far as stomping onto the field and yelling at the players.
When McDermott was fired over the weekend, I gave the dead horse a few more whacks in this column. You know the drill by now. When 9 of 11 starters by the playoffs came into the league either as undrafted free agents or 7th-round picks, that's not a formula for winning.
Some correspondents turned quickly on McDermott and praised Andy Reid for making the right decision in firing him, not bothering to address the flip side of their argument, which is that Reid would necessarily have made the wrong decision in promoting McDermott.
It didn't take long for McDermott to get another job, as defensive coordinator for new coach Ron Rivera in Carolina. Rivera has said he will run the defensive side of the ball, so McDermott will be a little insulated this time, and also won't get the credit if the defense there improves.
As for the Eagles, it seems like Dick Jauron is going to be the DC here -- if he wants it. No word from the NovaCare bunker, of course. Reid is on vacation. Don't know if he's fishing again with Brad Childress. We know one thing. He won't be reeling in Jim L. Mora.
i wish Sean luck in Denver. And I like Big Red for what he is good at, but picking defensive players is not his forte. I hope he gets someone in here who will have some say in personnel, otherwise we'll be going through the same thing in another two or three years.— vinni- Mike Trgovic is the guy. Can't say anything about it because he's presently the Packers DLine Coach and it'd be tampering until the playoffs end. He's been here before, and is clearly the best candidate out there.— marley66
- WHO CARES....HE IS NO BIG DEAL— nuggett
- Personally I'm relieved Mora won't be in Philly. What did he ever do that would lead anyone to think he'd make a good defensive coordinator? And I'd say the same about Jauron. Those Jaguar defenses he coached were not exactly stellar. Hopefully he ends up in Cleveland.— Jack Burden
- Here we go again. Since the Eagles have NEVER ID'd any candidates for Philly, so I don't understand the endless speculation of WHY these guys have accepted positions elsewhere. This post has nothing to do with my opinion on whether Andy or the Eagles were right or wrong, but this made up stuff is not worthy of the "paper" it's printed on...go and do your reporting jobs and ID actual candidates that the team is interviewing...— Jeff in Langhorne
- agree with Jack and Nugget...don't understand why mora is even in the mix? yah - ok, he's a player's coach. fine. so was mcdermott. mora's defenses in ATL and SEA were middling - nothing great - and he has a tenuous relationship with Vick. granted, not the same side of the ball, but still...WHY even go there?— Rocky_Ballbutter
- I firmly believe McDermott was just a scapegoat. The firing of Rory Seagrest was more of a justifiable one. A DL with three first round picks and Cole should have performed much better than it did. I know Brandon Graham got injured almost mid-season. The lack of a pass rush put the DBs in a spot. The loss of Ellis Hobbs for the season and Asante Samuel for a couple of games did not help either. A defense predicated on speed could not get to the QB whether it was Rodgers or a third string rookie from Minnesota. That was just pathetic.
That said, I think the move to Carolina will be a good one for Sean McDermott's development. JJ's shoes were obviously too big to fill. But still I think he has great potential and he will benefit from being Rivera's understudy.— cleansports - The only thing you can count on with Dick Jauron is setting this team backwards several years. He's failed miserably in just about every season over the last 10 years. I'll never understand how this guy still has a job in the NFL. Worst secondary in Eagles history? Let's promote the DBacks coach to run the whole show. Brilliant!!
- Mike Singletary anyone?— Scorekeeper
I would rather have Rob Ryan or Mike Singletary- Darkhorse DC candidate: Kevin Greene, Green Bay's LB coach. Bring him in and run the 3-4, with Trent Cole playing the Clay Matthews role. 3 out of the final 4 teams in the NFL playoffs run the 3-4....it's time to make the change; running the 4-3 with smaller DE's does not work unless you over-use the blitz..and most NFL QB's have caught up to the Eagles blitzing scheme.— Phront_Runner
I agree with a few posts on here. Where do media members get off printing that people chose teams over other ones without facts? I would bet my house that the Eagles didn't offer Jim Mora the job. Andy would have cut his vacation short to woo him if he wanted him that bad. And thank GOD, what did Jim Mora do in 5 years as DC in SF anyway? Never better than 15th overall Defense. NO THANKS!- Mike Pettine— Bulldog02
Comment removed.- Nice...Andy on Vaca while people are signing around the league....old nickels will be happy when we sign a DC for $300,000....— SkipinWV
