Eagles: Mike Lombardi defends his comments about Doug Pederson

Mike Lombardi is on record with his thoughts about Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, again.

There’s been a statement, a response and now a response to that response. Mike Lombardi’s never been shy about expressing his thoughts about all things NFL. As a former sports writer, analyst and NFL executive for four teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles, he’s kind of earned his stripes. Recently, his thoughts on Eagles head coach Doug Pederson rubbed a few fans the wrong way.

“Now, everybody knows Pederson isn’t a head coach. He might be less qualified to coach a team than anyone I’ve seen in my 30-plus years in the NFL” said Lombardi recently. His comments caught Pederson off guard. He was asked about Lombardi’s opinion during a meeting with the Philadelphia media not too long ago, and as expected, he took the high road.

"I haven’t seen the article…So I don’t pay attention to that…I’m confident in what I do…Somebody here —- Mr. [Jeffrey] Lurie, Howie [Roseman], the guys — thought I was qualified. So, in my opinion, that’s good enough for me."

Lombardi speaks on Pederson, again.

It should be no surprise that several members of his team and the fans took to Pederson’s defense. Lombardi appeared Tuesday on CSN’s Philly Sports Talk, and as you might guess, you know who came up again.

Here’s what Lombardi said:

"I just voiced an opinion — it’s not a hot take by no means…I’ve studied the Eagles, I’ve studied the NFL for 35 years, I’ve been to four Super Bowls, I’ve won three. I’ve been around Bill Walsh, I’ve been around Bill Belichick, I’ve been around Al Davis — I think I know what a good coach looks like. I just don’t see Doug being able to be ready for the job that they [have] given him, and I think that’s the challenge. A lot of Eagles fans, they take it personally. Look, they have great pride in their team, I understand it."

So, if that’s the case, what’s Lombardi’s biggest criticism of Pederson and the job that he’s doing. We’re glad you asked. He continued his thought:

"The Eagles were 26th in the National Football League in first-quarter points. That means your game plan that you started out with isn’t really working. And then when you break down the season, and you go through the first eight games and then you look at the second eight games, everything they did offensively got worse . Everything. It went down hill… My point is this, Doug applied for the job, he was [three] years in Kansas City as the offensive coordinator, but he’s not because Andy (Reid) called the plays. I think the NFL is a challenging place to learn on-the-job training. That’s my point."

Year two:

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Whether you subscribe to Lombardi’s feelings or not, much has to be taken into consideration. Pederson took over a train wreck of a franchise when he accepted the job. The organization was in shambles. The on-field product was terrible. The fact that he crafted a 7-9 record with so much standing in his way should almost earn him a standing ovation.

That won’t help him in year two however. He’s wiser, experienced and he has a better team. Some are talking division title and a playoff berth. Would he have gotten another opportunity had the Eagles said no? We’ll never know, but if things fall apart again in year two, especially down the stretch, don’t expect the criticism to lessen any.

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

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