WOW! Big time decision from Lurie. It’s clear that this was not a decision based off of short term emotion, rather a well thought out approach over a longer period of time. Lurie gave Doug a 2nd meeting to improve upon his previously poor meeting. Lurie didn’t want to have to fire Doug, but it is what it is, and Lurie knew he had to pull the plug. Outside of the poor playcalling, poor player development, poor player usage, there was an even greater reason impacting this decision to fire Doug Pederson.
And that reason is his inability to adequately gauge the talent levels of his coaching staff. Last year he was overruled with Mike Groh. He wanted to keep Mike Groh as the OC, and was forced to fire him the following week. Flash forward to this year, Doug had a similar approach. He reportedly wanted to promote Press Taylor to OC, bring back Cory Undlin as the DC, and promote a few other in house coaches as well. Lurie wasn’t having that, and it’s clear as day that is what led to Doug’s demise. Eagles need an outside influence, and Lurie understands that. In house chemistry is certainly important, but that chemistry doesn’t matter when the talent pool shrinks. As coaches get picked up by other organizations, you have to do the same to adequately replace them. Doug has failed miserably in that area, failing to replace any of the major coaches that have left his staff. And that is why Doug is no longer here.
Despite my harsh criticism of Doug, I will always be grateful for the moments that Doug has given us, such as the entire 2017 season, winning the Super Bowl, and making 2nd half runs to the playoffs in 2018, and 2019. I will always respect Doug as a person and as a coach. However it was time to move on.
The Philly Blitz 