Mornhinweg may benefit from Vick

There was a time not that long ago at the NovaCare Complex when reporters referred to Thursday as Truth Day, in honor of offensive coordinator Brad Childress and defensive coordinator Jim Johnson.

While Andy Reid guarded - and still guards - information like a Doberman guards a pork chop during his Monday, Wednesday, and Friday news conferences, both Childress and Johnson were more willing on Thursday, their day at the podium, to say what they actually were thinking.

It wasn't as if either gave away company secrets or printed out their game plans for distribution, but compared to Reid they were total blabbermouths, with some humor thrown in as a bonus.

Everyone handles these things differently and the current offensive and defensive coordinators, Marty Mornhinweg and Sean McDermott, hew more closely to Reid's example. These days, a Thursday is known as Thursday.

That's fine, because, as with the head coach, the work of the assistants isn't judged on oration or one-liners. It is all about the games and the results, and a coach's reputation is made in the standings and not at the podium. Buddy Ryan was very entertaining, for example, but we're still waiting for his first playoff win with the Eagles.

Assistants and coordinators in winning organizations find themselves with better job opportunities, as other teams try to clone that success and hope the guy they lure away actually had something to do with it. Reid protégés like Childress, Leslie Frazier, Steve Spagnuolo, and John Harbaugh have gone on to become head coaches - although Frazier needed Childress to get fired before getting his chance - and others, including the late Johnson, had opportunities to move around but chose to stay in Philadelphia.

This is relevant because, well, yesterday was Thursday and Mornhinweg and McDermott made what - if things go badly on Sunday - could be their final declamations of the season.

In Mornhinweg's case, it could also have been his last in Philadelphia. He has emerged as a candidate on the short list for the vacant head coaching job in Cleveland, and, the NFL being the copycat league it is, there is another handful of teams out there that might follow the same lead. (Somewhat more grimly, McDermott's return to the podium in the event of a loss isn't assured, either, but for different reasons.)

To sum up, in case you missed it, what was learned on Thursday from the coordinators goes like this: The Packers are a really good team, the Eagles are working hard to beat them, and it's a single-elimination season now.

Up in Cleveland, where team president Mike Holmgren's candidate roster reads like Mornhinweg, John Fox, and Jon Gruden, the fan base isn't exactly clamoring for Door No. 1. That is who they might get, however, because Mornhinweg and Holmgren go way back, and because Mornhinweg is now viewed as the genius who transformed Mike Vick from ex-con to X-factor. More than a few teams might take a hard look at their own quarterbacks and decide they could use a little of that magic, too.

So, Mornhinweg has become a hot property, and Vick, in another of his impressive transitions, has gone from being a perceived coach killer to a coach maker. Dan Reeves and Jim Mora Jr. might not agree, but that's ancient history now.

For his part, and unsurprisingly, Mornhinweg gives almost all the credit to Vick, even though the offensive scheme and approach had to be in place for the quarterback to follow.

"James Urban (quarterbacks coach) and Doug Pederson (offensive quality control) have done a heck of a job, but Mike Vick put the hard work and preparation in and he has elevated himself to become a top quarterback, rather than a great player playing the quarterback position, and that was sort of the thought there," Mornhinweg said. "However, it happened quicker than I thought it could be done."

And the offensive coordinator? No credit for the boss?

"Well, I'm happy about it, but we all expected it to work," Mornhinweg said. "When we acquired Mike, we really thought it was possible he could be one of the great quarterbacks in the league if he did things the right way. But give him the credit. This is a players' league. It ends up that they either do it or they don't."

Just as the market value for those players rises and falls depending whether they do or don't, the marketability of the coaches in the vicinity does the same thing. Vick and Mornhinweg have seen their stock soar this season, and it will either continue that rise against the Packers or perhaps suffer a sudden downturn.

It's a nice reminder that, regardless of who is at the podium or who is in the locker room, Truth Day has always really been on Sunday.