Eagles’ Coach Doug Pederson is a class act despite fiasco

… “we’re moving on”

In just his second season as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Doug Pederson has established himself as one of the top coaches in the NFL. His squad captured the Super Bowl in Feb. after losing their franchise quarterback, a feat in itself. Directing the Eagles to a Super Bowl win over the Patriots, the first in franchise history, has already made him a hero in Philadelphia. In this case, though, he has earned another form of respect.

Pederson was a little-known NFL quarterback in his playing days, playing a supporting role to Brett Favre in Green Bay, where he held for extra points. He was a member of the Super Bowl XXXI squad, and he is one of a small number of people who have won a Super Bowl as both a player and a coach.

Example of being classy

First, I am a Pennsylvania football fan, but root for the NFL team in the west, not the east. Nevertheless, when he took over the Eagles two years ago, I started to pay attention to what he was doing. I knew that he was going to do well, though not quite as quickly as he did. 

So, before talking about his response to the manufactured controversy involving his football team’s visit to the White House, look at how he handled a slimy attack on him before the start of last season.

Pederson was starting his second season as head coach of the Eagles when a relatively-unknown hanger-on by the name of Michael Lombardi attacked him. Here is part of what he said:

“Now, everybody knows Pederson isn’t a head coach. He might be less qualified to coach a team than anyone I’ve ever seen in my 30-plus years in the NFL. Pederson was barely a coordinator before he became head coach. Can you imagine if we elected a United States president who didn’t have any real training? Sorry, don’t answer that. Look, the Eagles looked increasingly sloppy and unprepared as the 2016 season limped along. That ain’t changing in ’17.”

That “less qualified to coach a team than anyone I’ve ever seen” is now the coach of the world champions after outcoaching a guy who will someday be in the NFL Hall of Fame, Bill Bellichick. However, rather than strike back at Lombardi, as most people would have, Pederson was classy in his response.

Here is how he handled that:

“I haven’t seen the article. I’m not sure what you’re talking about. So I don’t pay attention to that. I mean, listen. I’m confident in what I do. He’s not in the building. I coach our coaches and coach our players… If you ask any one of our players or their assistant coaches, I think they would maybe say something a little bit different. I have not read the article. So I can’t respond to it…Somebody here —- Mr. [Jeffrey] Lurie, Howie [Roseman], the guys — thought I was qualified. So, in my opinion, that’s good enough for me. Again, this organization is behind me 100%. Again, I think you could ask the guys in the locker room. That’s my concern. That’s my focus.” 

That was classy, but it was also smart.

Instead of lambasting someone whom no one knows anyway, a hanger-on, Pederson said that he had confidence in himself and essentially said, judge me by what I do this season.

Touche!

Response to Trump situation

Pederson knew that the vast majority of his team did not want to go to the White House to see Trump for what has become an annual event for Super Bowl winners. After all, Trump, who has hated the NFL since Pete Roselle told him in the 80s that he would never own a franchise, had lambasted them and the league throughout the season. Why make the guy look good? It would make no sense.

However, Pederson, while acknowledging that he would have gone to the event Tuesday if it had been held, still did not blast the president as his players have done.

Instead, at a short gaggle with reporters on Wednesday, he said this in part, “We’re united. We’re a team. Been that way since I’ve been here. We’re focused on today, great practice, today and tomorrow, three days next week and our goal is 2018. Nobody’s talking about it. It’s over, behind us and we’re moving on.”

Excellent, focus on what he can control, and that is the present.

His first question in the gaggle was whether the action by the Eagles was an affront to their fans, as Trump had alleged. He made clear that he would not discuss it. “ What you’ve seen and what you’ve heard is enough, and I’m not discussing it. I’m not discussing it because we’ve got two OTA practices, I’ve got a mandatory minicamp next week, and I’m focused on that,” he said. This was a classic PR win for Pederson, and not only will he win the respect of his players — as if he will need that after their fabulous performance last season — but he is going to earn the respect of America.

For the record: Not one Eagles player knelt for the national anthem in the 2017 season

The other part of this that Trump has lost in a ridiculous way is that he is trying to say that the Eagles did not show up because they disagreed with his stance on the national anthem. To show that Pederson had command of his team, the team and media have verified that not one player on Pederson’s team knelt down during the national anthem during the 2017 season or playoffs. That fact made Trump look ridiculous with his posturing.

In addition, the truth is that the team told the White House staff that fewer than ten Eagles players had committed to the trip to the White House. Pederson did say that he would have gone, as would have others in the organization. Once Trump learned that, he “disinvited” the Eagles instead of just calling off the event.

Trump’s bone spurs do not give him much credibility here

The other factor here is that Trump’s embrace of the military — though that is not the reason or source of the kneeling, police killing of unarmed blacks is — is so problematic. Trump received five deferments until finally having a personal doctor write a letter that got him deferred because of alleged “bone spurs,” though he cannot produce any evidence of this. All was conveniently lost. For the record, as a high school senior, I was mistakenly drafted and took the physical. I had major knee surgery as a sophomore, yet it did not exempt me from the draft. [I did receive a student deferment and then had number 362 in the draft lottery in college.]

So, I am reluctant to criticize anyone for receiving deferments unless they are ridiculous about it, as Trump is here. And I respect so many of my friends and classmates who did serve, particularly in Vietnam. They are heroes to me.

Pederson = Classy

Nevertheless, the way that Doug Pederson has handled this shows that he is a classy individual who deserves praise. Could he have forced his players to attend the ceremony? No, they are adults, but he probably would have wished that this had not taken place.

End all White House visits, honor James Shaw

I have always felt that athletes should not be singled out for this recognition at the White House. Instead, we should be honoring Americans like James Shaw, a 29-year-old man who wrested a gunman to the ground in a Waffle King in Tennessee in April, saving innumerable lives. The shooter killed four and injured four others with his assault rifle before Shaw tackled him. Trump has not even tweeted a congratulations to this man, but he is the kind of hero who should be honored, not million-dollar athletes.