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Doug Pederson has faced heat here before

THE EAGLES aren't saying anything, but time and candidate attrition are giving shape to their coaching search. The Giants were widely reported to be about to hire Ben McAdoo Wednesday night, abruptly ending speculation that McAdoo was about to be tapped by the Eagles - speculation that might have been designed to put a little pressure on the Giants to close the deal with McAdoo, their offensive coordinator under Tom Coughlin.

THE EAGLES aren't saying anything, but time and candidate attrition are giving shape to their coaching search.

The Giants were widely reported to be about to hire Ben McAdoo Wednesday night, abruptly ending speculation that McAdoo was about to be tapped by the Eagles - speculation that might have been designed to put a little pressure on the Giants to close the deal with McAdoo, their offensive coordinator under Tom Coughlin.

Hue Jackson was introduced Wednesday as the new Browns coach; unlike McAdoo or new Miami coach Adam Gase, Jackson didn't interview with the Eagles, but he was considered one of the top prizes on the market, and he no longer is on the market.

The Eagles let Coughlin interview with the 49ers after they talked to him, and there has been no further Coughlin-Eagles buzz, so we can probably assume that Coughlin isn't coming. If you interview a two-time Super Bowl-winning coach and you want to hire him, you do it - it's not as if you need to check his references.

So, the Eagles, who haven't interviewed anyone since talking to Coughlin on Monday, would seem to be down to three candidates - two guys from their current staff (offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and running backs coach Duce Staley), along with Kansas City offensive coordinator Doug Pederson, who can't be hired until the Chiefs exit the playoffs.

None of these future Belichicks has been asked to interview for any other opening. The Bucs (who might be close to hiring their offensive coordinator, Dirk Koetter), the 49ers and the Titans are the only other teams that remain in the coaching hunt.

Of course, the Eagles could be interested in someone in addition to Pederson from a staff that is still in the playoffs, and for whatever reason, they didn't talk to him during the window when that was allowed. But that scenario seems unlikely. Hard to hold out for someone you haven't even talked to as other candidates get hired.

When the process began, Pederson seemed to have the most momentum, his candidacy pushed by former Eagles coach Andy Reid, who brought Pederson here to nurture Donovan McNabb in 1999, brought him into NFL coaching as an offensive quality control coach in 2009, promoted him to quarterbacks coach in 2011 and made him his offensive coordinator when Reid moved to the Chiefs in 2013.

If Pederson is hired, the announcement will be met with disappointment by many Eagles fans. But that won't be anything new for him; Pederson got the same reaction when he arrived to quarterback the team.

It seems like a million years ago now, but on Feb. 17, 1999, before the Eagles drafted McNabb, they signed Pederson to a three-year, $4.7 million contract and Reid made it clear he would start, despite having thrown only 32 passes for the Dolphins and Packers, at age 31.

"All I can say now is, have a little faith," Pederson said that day, sensing open skepticism. "See what happens. I'm looking forward to it. I only see good things. That's all I see."

"It's Doug's job," Reid declared, after bypassing options such as Jeff George, Kerry Collins and Rich Gannon, all of whom could have made the Eagles more competitive that year. "I'm not putting a time limit on it."

That would later become an object of contention - the Pederson-led offense was awful, and only two weeks into the season, there were calls for Reid to go ahead and try to get something going with the rookie. In fact, he did, for the second half of a Game 2 loss to Tampa Bay, as a fan behind the Eagles' bench brandished a sign reading "DONOVAN McNOWW."

McNabb became the starter for good on Nov. 14, nine games into the season, and Pederson handled the situation with grace and dignity, even while making it clear this was not what he'd expected when he signed - Pederson said he'd been under the impression he would get a full year, a platform for convincing another team he could be a long-term starter.

But Pederson continued to teach his teammates Reid's offense, and to work earnestly with McNabb. In 2000, he left for Cleveland and another chance to start, but Pederson burned no bridges, which worked to his benefit a decade later, when he was the four-year head coach at Calvary Baptist Academy, back home in Louisiana, and wanted to move up.

Two years later, he was coaching the Eagles' quarterbacks - which had been Reid's job when the Eagles hired him away from the Packers in 1999.

"If one day, it turned into a head-coaching job, that'd be great," Pederson told a Daily News reporter then.

It still might.

On Twitter: @LesBowen

Blog: philly.com/Eaglesblog