Ed Werder jokes that Philly fans were the ‘happiest’ to see ESPN let him go
Doomsday Podcast co-host Ed Werder, who was laid off by ESPN, interviewed Eagles head coach Doug Pederson on Wednesday and the topic of Philadelphia fans came up.
At least Ed Werder has a sense of humor about being laid off by ESPN.
Werder, who spends his days co-hosting the Doomsday Podcast with Matt Mosley, the Dallas Cowboys columnist for Texas Monthly, typically keep the topics focused on the Cowboys. But on Wednesday, the duo interviewed Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, and near the end of the interview the topic of Philadelphia fans came up.
According to Mosley, the number of listeners spiked during the duo's second podcast, which featured Werder revealing that ESPN asked him to cover the NFL Draft in Philadelphia the day after he lost his job with the network.
"When they finished telling me I was laid off, they said this was effective immediately, and the next thing they told me to do as a former employee of ESPN was stay and cover the Saints' draft, which seemed like an odd way to begin your unemployment," Werder said.
Considering Werder's popularity, it's not surprising that the podcast drew a lot of interest from listeners. But what is surprising is where most of the listeners were from.
"The majority of our listeners were from Philadelphia," Mosley said of the podcast.
"I think they were the happiest people in the country to see me go," Werder quipped, following up on a jab earlier in the podcast where he joked that Eagles fans were "hostile."
Pederson spoke to the duo for about a half-hour, where he discussed a variety of Eagles topics as he watched a ninth-grade baseball game featuring his son, Joel.
He also spoke a little bit about the similarities between Eagles fans and Cowboys fans.
"Obviously they're very similar, very passionate for their organizations, very passionate for their teams," Pederson said. "They travel well and they pack that stadium out. They're proud of their team."
The best moment came near the end of the podcast, after Pederson had referred to Eagles owner Jeff Lurie as "Mr. Lurie" a number of times, noting that he has "expressed his opinion from time to time."
"How many games do you have to win before you start calling Mr. Lurie 'Jeffrey'?" Mosley asked the coach.
"I'm going to keep calling him 'Mr. Lurie' until we stand on that podium and hoist that Lombardi trophy," a laughing Pederson respond. "I'll call him 'Jeffrey' then."
"By the way, that's something no one's ever said around here, 'Mr. Jones helps out every now and then,' " Mosley quipped, referring to Cowboys' owner, president and general manager Jerry Jones.
Listen to the full podcast here: