Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson Gives New Meaning To The Term Poker Face
As far as interviews go, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson isn’t exactly as entertaining as former coach Chip Kelly was, but he’s definitely not Andy Reid either.
Next: Sam Bradford is the Worse Player and the Better Choice For the Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles fans may want to state something else is the case, but head coach Doug Pederson is aware that one position battle is unrivaled in its’ interest to the members of Eagle Nation. With competition heating up at other spots, all people seem to want to talk about is what the Eagles are going to do at quarterback, and at times, it appears the captain of the ship is somewhere between laying out the gameplan and trying to throw us all off of the trail. It’s like watching an NFL version of The World Series Of Poker. It just feels like he’s trying to throw us off sometimes.
What’s funny is Pederson’s already answered the quarterback questions over and over. As the next stage of the Eagles off-season looms, anyone within the sound of his voice or one click of the mouse away from pulling up something Eagles related can get an idea of what’s going on with the team.
Is anyone else confused though? One day you wake up to stories about Carson Wentz outperforming Sam Bradford. Then, there’s another story about heated competitions at signal caller. That would probably then be followed by Pederson, again acknowledging that Bradford is his week one starter barring injury. Friday, prior to the team’s final OTA session, Pederson met with members of the media.
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“I think he’s really done a nice job and taken that next step to be the leader of this football team and be the starter, and he’s done a good job there,” Pederson said about Bradford. He reiterated that Bradford is the starter and that he’d stated that since day one, but he also went on to say that this is still a competition. So is the job Bradford’s or not?
Pederson clarified what he and his coaches meant. He referenced himself by stating he was the guy in Philadelphia but that the Eagles had also drafted Donovan McNabb to eventually take over for him. He stated that having McNabb in the wings pushed him and made him better, but the job was, ultimately, his for the time being and, at the same time, his job to lose. That was after he was asked about changing his mind if Bradford was outplayed by the other two. His reply was “we’ll have to see when we get there”.
To make a long story short, Pederson’s been as honest with the media as possible, but is there any coach that’s going to give you everything? Of course not. Still, Pederson may be holding a few things close to the vest because it does give the team a bit of a competitive edge and forces opposition to prepare differently when you don’t know what the full game plan is. For now, Bradford is the starter, Chase Daniel is the backup and Wentz is waiting in the wings (we think), but don’t be surprised if someone besides Bradford is your week on starter. Stranger things have happened.