Football Outsiders "Eagles have the #1 coaching staff in the NFL"

by JasonB on Aug 8, 2007 10:52 AM EDT in News Comment 5 comments

Fox Sport's Football Outsiders ranked the best coaching staffs in football from 1-16 and our own Eagles' staff came in at #1. This is definitely high praise from Football Outsiders for Reid and co and their criteria for making the list is very interesting. No doubt Pats and Colts fans won't like it... They're #2 & #3 BTW.

1. Eagles (Last Year: 17)

Last season was Andy Reid's greatest coaching effort. Reid the motivator kept the Eagles together after Donovan McNabb's injury and a string of uncharacteristic midseason losses. Reid, the organizer and personnel guru, acquired and developed a team with enough top-to-bottom talent to shake off the loss of McNabb and journey deep into the playoffs. Reid the play caller, a mad bomber too in love with the pass, delegated those duties to Marty Mornhinweg, with excellent results.

Reid lacks Bill Belichick's tactical genius and Tony Dungy's motivational skills, but he's supported by the best staff in the NFL. Defensive coordinator Jimmy Johnson is a gambler who sometimes gets blitz crazy, but his schemes keep quarterbacks edgy, and he is great at developing young talent. Mornhinweg was a bust as a head coach but is an excellent sounding board for Reid.

Longtime special teams coach John Harbaugh has moved to the secondary and is on the head-coaching fast track. Rory Segrest is Harbaugh's hand-picked replacement. Reid prioritizes special teams, making Segrest's job easier.

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Coaching Staff

It seems like he's trying to take the experience of the coaching staffs as a whole into equation, but until the Eagles win 1 superbowl under the Reid regime, they can't be ranked above Belichek.

I love our coaching staff, though. (Note to Big Red, let Marty M. call plays this year)

It's time now to seal the deal. -- Donnie Mac

by BrianS on Aug 8, 2007 11:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Jim Johnson

The underperformance of a handful of high round draft choices (and a high priced free agent or two) is something of a counter to Jim Johnson the exceptional talent developer for me. And the persistent struggles against the run makes me question his reputation as a genius schemer (he certainly wasn't able to provide an answer against the Saints). I love what Jim Johnson has given the team over time, but I think the Eagles should have jumped at the opportunity to sign Ron Rivera this past off-season to provide a fresh voice and a renewed sense of accountability and urgency. Maybe my standards are too high, but does anyone feel the same way?

by dave in san mateo on Aug 8, 2007 12:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree

I made no secret of my dissatisfaction with Jim Johnson last year. That said, he's got all of his horses this year and there will be no excuse for the defense to be poor.

If it doesn't work out, Ron Rivera will still be there. I think he's only a position coach this year, so he could be given a coordinator's job.

Bleeding Green Nation Philadelphia Eagles Blog

by JasonB on Aug 8, 2007 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rivera?

What has Ron Rivera done that would warrant replacing Johnson with him? Run Lovie Smith's system (and its clearly Lovie's system)?

The notion that the D-Coordinator should be condemned because every draftee or free agent doesn't work out seems stupid too. Players across the league turn out to be busts. How much have we laughed at the teams that eagerly grabbed up people like Bobby Taylor who immediately went invisible on their new team?

The only high defensive draft picks who haven't worked out in the Johnson era so far have been McDougle, Ware, and Caver.

And I'd like to know what the "persistent struggles against the run" have been. The Eagles have allowed 2001, 1830, 1837, 1660, 2071, 1903, 1883, 2182 rushing yards from 1999 to 2006, and its been at a clip of 3.9 to 4.5 yards per rush. That's pretty consistent year-to-year, with a lot of the variance probably being one or two missed tackles that allowed a long TD run to occur. The relatively higher number of yards accumulated has mostly been because teams have been unable to pass on the Eagles, and have had to turn to the run. It certainly hasn't been a winning formula for our opponents, since the Eagles are among the top 5 winningest teams since 2000.

It essentially works out to the Eagles letting their opponents run out the clock on themselves in most games.

by Andrew on Aug 8, 2007 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

In the end

It's someone's fault when the defense doesn't do it's job and it didn't last year. I did blame part of that on Johnson's inability to adjust. We've seen signs of those problems against coaches like Gruden & Payton who figured Jim's system out and had the personell to exploit it.

Johnson has maybe more power over his unit than any coordinator in the game. Andy more or less leaves the defense to Jim. So frankly, I don't think it's unreasonable to lay blame at his door if the defense struggles again.

Why Rivera in the event Johnson was gone? He has been the coordinator of a great defense, he's now working in what may be an even better D in San Diego, and best of all... He's worked here. He knows this system but would still be able to bring fresh ideas.

I also don't necessarily think it's fair to blame some high pick busts on Johnson, since whoever made those picks probably bears the brunt of that blame. I'm sure Johnson certainly had some input on the picks, but he's not the guy making the decision. Also, add Barry Gardner to that list of busts... and Matt McCoy is knocking on the door.

I'm not advocating firing Jim Johnson and I don't think he's a bad coordinator. However, the bottom line is there were big problems on this defense last year that simply can't be tolerated. It doesn't bother me that alot is asked of Jim Johnson, that's his job. So far, this looks like the healthiest and most talented defense Jim has ever been handed. That's going to come with some big expectations on him. That's all I'm saying.

Bleeding Green Nation Philadelphia Eagles Blog

by JasonB on Aug 8, 2007 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs