An NFC Championship win for Doug Pederson is just another check mark

The Philadelphia Eagles are in the NFC Championship Game again.

The underdog is barking loudly. The Philadelphia Eagles are in the NFC Championship Game for the seventh time in franchise history. Getting here isn’t the goal though. As Doug Pederson said in the Eagles’ locker room, “we ain’t done…yet.” There are still two more boxes to check for Pederson and the Eagles.

If the Eagles are hoping to rely on history against the Minnesota Vikings, the NFC Championship might not be the best spot to start looking. The Eagles are 2-4 in this game, which is tied for the second-worst winning percentage in the NFC Championship Game. The Eagles have done well against the Vikings in the playoffs though. Of course, the games of the past have no bearing on today’s outcome.

For instance, the Eagles’ meeting with the Vikings Week 7 of last season. Prior to facing the Atlanta Falcons in the Divisional Round, Eagles fans alluded to last season’s win against them. The Eagles also faced the Vikings last season and won. The Eagles did draw up some nice concepts to take advantage of Mike Zimmer’s defense. The players involved in that game however differ dramatically for both teams.

The offensive line would be the first spot to look for the Vikings. That’s big considering the abuse the Eagles defense distributed to them and Sam Bradford. Of course, the other difference is that Nick Foles will be the Eagles quarterback, not Carson Wentz.

Now, Foles has deservedly been the recipient of criticism both here and with the St. Louis Rams. Sure, his mechanics look funny and he might not be able to throw the ball more than 30 yards in the air. However, Foles has been nothing but efficient in the playoffs. Foles has completed 46-of-63 passes for 441 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He has a combined quarterback rating of 102.7 in his two playoff starts.

Perhaps the most interesting stat from Foles is the amount of times he’s been sacked. Wentz gets a lot of credit for his elusiveness in the pocket. Foles, not so much. However, Foles finds a way to keep his jersey clean more often than not. In his 39 starts, Foles has been sacked more than twice in only 11 of the games. The most recent occurrence came in 2015, as a member of the Rams. That’s big when you’re facing a defensive line that features Everson Griffen, Linval Joseph and Danielle Hunter. The Eagles ran 12 or 13 personnel on 36% of their offensive plays according to Warren Sharp’s personnel grouping frequency. Expect to see a good amount of snaps for Trey Burton and Brent Celek today.

Still, Foles took a costly sack last week against the Falcons on 3rd and 7 from the 35 yard line. It would be the only time Foles was sacked, but it still cost them a shot at three points. Situational awareness is still an aspect of the game that Foles needs help with. He got better in the second half, so hopefully his comfort level is rising.

Pederson is in the NFC Championship Game for the first time (as a coach).

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Coaching a backup quarterback in this spot has to be challenging and rewarding for Pederson. It’s easy to forget that Pederson is only in his second year as an NFL head coach. His optimism this offseason seems like eons ago. Yet, somehow, he was right because the Eagles are still playing meaningful football – this time for a ticket to the Super Bowl. Something Pederson knows about.

It’s easy to forget that Pederson was a member of the Green Bay Packers squad that defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI. He has a ring. Pederson understands the pressure, but more importantly he understands that mistakes can be fatal in the playoffs.

Teams normally don’t win when they lose the turnover battle. The Eagles were the 18th team to win a Divisional round game despite losing the turnover margin by two or more. Teams don’t normally win when they are home underdogs but the Eagles did that too. The outside noise was nice filler for sports talk radio, but Pederson had his guys believing in the system and in each other.

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The team is still slowly checking boxes, but they are adapting rapidly. Pederson is going to put his players in a position to win. If the mistakes from last week are cleaned up, expect Pederson to check yet another box. Nothing he has done thus far gives any reason why both of those shouldn’t happen today. In just a few short hours, we all will find out whether these dogs are all bark or whether they can continue to bite down on the competition.

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