I’M on record as saying that if Head Coach Doug Pederson hired anyone else to be the Offensive Coordinator besides Assistant Head Coach Duce Staley, that Staley should walk. Well, Doug didn’t hire anyone else. What he did was tweak and jiggle his staff a little, but he basically kept last year’s alignment.
Dismiss any talk of needing to replace Mike Groh. During the 2019 season Groh was the OC, but it was in title only. Offensive Line coach Jeff Stoutland served as the run game coordinator, which essentially made Groh just the passing game coordinator. Doug determined the system, and called the plays from the sideline, thus making him the de-facto OC.
In 2020 Doug will still call the plays. New Defensive Line coach Matt Burke will coordinate the run. (Yeah, I don’t get that either.) The new passing game coordinator is Press Taylor (last year’s QB coach). So as I said, it’s mostly a re-shuffling, and the way the Eagles function on game day, won’t change very much.
What WILL change is the mix of ideas in the room during meetings. While Doug will lay down a concept, the play designs will come out of new heads. Taylor (passing game), and Burke (run game) are unproven, but with so much technical and analytical support around them, I’m interested to see how their imaginations impact our approach to the 2020 season.
I’m most curious about Senior Assistant Rich Scangarello, who will probably take over G.J. Kinne’s duties in Offensive Special Projects. QB Carson Wentz will also have a new voice in his ear, in the form of Passing Analyst (QB coach) Andrew Breiner.
Scarangello was only Denver’s OC for about a year, to no particular distinction beyond having a hand in rookie QB Drew Lock’s 4 – 1 record. That said, he has worked continuously since 1998 (22 years) as an offensive coach or coordinator.
No Defense. No Special Teams. Nothing just to “have a job”somewhere. Scangarello has been dedicated to just one side of the football for half of his lifetime. (Sort of like former Eagles DC Bud Carson was.) That level of singular interest has me curious to see what little trinkets are rattling around in the guy’s head.
I’m not interested in the big stuff. Not the broad strokes. Everyone does those. I wanna see the wrinkles. The nuances. The small concepts. Those are the things which will show up as ripples throughout our play design. That’s where the difference between last year and this year will be.
Still, in the end, it’s Doug who lays out our system concept, and calls the plays in the heat of battle. Doug Pederson is your OC. He always has been, and as long as he’s the coach, he always will be.
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