Making sense of the Eagles' coaching moves
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Making sense of the Eagles' coaching moves
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
The Eagles announced a series of coaching moves today, finalizing their staff for whenever the next time is that football is played.
Here's the rundown, followed by some thoughts:
OFFENSE
* James Urban promoted to assistant offensive coordinator.
* Doug Pederson promoted to QBs coach.
* David Culley promoted to senior offensive assistant/WR coach.
DEFENSE
* Johnnie Lynn named secondary/cornerbacks coach.
* Bobby April Jr. named defensive quality control coach.
SPECIAL TEAMS
* Duce Staley named special teams/quality control coach.
Let's start with the defense. The biggest move the Eagles made this offseason was promoting Juan Castillo from offensive line coach to defensive coordinator. Soon after the decision was announced, I wrote about how important it was to surround Castillo with good, experienced assistants since he's never been a defensive coordinator in the NFL.
So did the Eagles do a good job of that? Twenty-four hours ago, I would have said absolutely not, but the addition of Lynn changes that outlook a little bit.
Lynn has coached the secondary in San Francisco, Baltimore and Tampa. And he was also the defensive coordinator with the Giants in 2002 and 2003. In case you're wondering about how his defenses performed, New York finished third in the NFL in scoring defense (17.4) in 2002 and 29th (24.2) in 2003.
Lynn joins Jim Washburn, who brings 12 years of NFL experience coaching the defensive line with the Titans.
Mike Caldwell and Michael Zordich lack experience, but the Eagles obviously liked what they saw as they gutted the coaching staff, but kept those two. Caldwell has progressed from intern to defensive quality control coach to assistant linebackers coach to linebackers coach.
Zordich went from intern to defensive quality control coach to defensive backs/safeties coach. It would seem reasonable to assume that he'll be taking his cues in part from Lynn.
The Birds shook up the offensive staff also. I'm not sure exactly what "assistant offensive coordinator" means for Urban, but it would appear to put him in position for an offensive coordinator position down the line. Marty Mornhinweg was mentioned as a head-coaching candidate this past offseason, although there were no reports that he interviewed anywhere. If he leaves next year, Urban could potentially take Mornhinweg's spot with the Eagles.
Pederson takes over as quarterbacks coach, and Culley gets promoted too as "senior offensive assistant."
April Jr. gets his first shot on an NFL staff, and Staley stays on as well.
The other move the Eagles announced was that they have claimed cornerback Isaiah Trufant off waivers from the Jets. I wrote about Trufant in detail last week.
And earlier today, I posted on Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt downplaying a report that the team was seeking input from Larry Fitzgerald about who their next quarterback should be.
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good observation watsonmr,better comment though! that's f...ng funny!— Geno D- If Vick had spiked the ball and regrouped instead of throwing a pick, everyone here might have been praising the genius of Reid.— Jim C.
- No, it wouldn't have erased the last 10+ years of "close but no cigar". If he had learned to manage the clock and how to run a balanced offense, and how to pick decent defensive ends, and to not draft injury prone college players, and if he figured out that you need a combination of size and speed on defense, and if he had realized he needed better receivers, and if he had fixed McNabb's poor mechanics, and if he hadn't started a season without a punt returner....
Lots of "ifs" for Andy Reid and no rings.— E-money - The Super Bowl is over and the Eagles season is being assessed. A couple of things I don't get. 1. This season was a "rebuilding year" and all the "experts" had the Eagles going 7-9 or 8-8. So the finish 10-6, win the division and loose in the first round to the Super Bowl champs. Why is this being viewed as a bad season?
2. The O-Line and secondary were the big question marks going into the season. Once again both were desimated by injuries and both were the reason the season ended the way it did. Why hasn't this been taken into consideration?— craig123 - The Birds benefited from a weaker than expected NFC East. — 2ndNlong
How about a Defensive Quality Control Coach for Zany, Failed Red Flag Challenges and Panic-Stricken Timeout Calling? When do we get one of those, and do they get leashed to Big Red's wrist? Huh? Huh?
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