Philadelphia Eagles: 5 Takeaways from Mike Groh’s presser
With 100 days separating us from the Philadelphia Eagles’ first game against the Atlanta Falcons, the team’s offensive coordinator, Mike Groh, spoke with the media.
It still might take a little time to get used to seeing Mike Groh at the podium. We’ve gotten used to hearing Frank Reich talk at Philadelphia Eagles press conferences, but he’s moved on. The former offensive coordinator of ‘The Birds’ is now the head man of the Indianapolis Colts. Groh, Philly’s new leader of the offense, spoke to the local media prior to another OTA practice on May 29th.
Let’s not procrastinate. Here are five takeaways from that conversation.
1. ‘I think it’s our philosophy’.
The first question aimed at Groh was an easy one. ‘What’s your offensive philosophy’? Groh’s first answer was a good one.
‘Well, I think it’s our philosophy. It all starts with coach, and we want to be multiple in what we do and utilize our personnel and create matchups that we feel are advantageous for ourselves and continue to build on what we did last year”.
Having the likes of Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert, Darren Sproles, Alshon Jeffery and Corey Clement won’t hurt Philly’s chances of doing just that. Have you noticed we didn’t even name all of the skill players?
2. The head coach and OC’s relationship is an excellent one.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson and Groh obviously don’t know each other as well as Pederson and Reich did, but according to the new OC, their relationship is progressing just fine. Groh says he’s fortunate to be working with Coach Pederson and seems to be happy to be here.
That’s a good thing.
3. There’s no ‘I’ in team.
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It’s an old adage, but it’s never stopped working. In every question that contained the words ‘your’ and ‘you’, Coach Groh would correct the person asking the question by saying ‘ours’ and ‘we’.
It didn’t take long to figure out that part of Coach Groh’s whole focus is letting the members of Philly’s media know that this Eagles team is unified.
It isn’t his philosophy or his offense. It’s the Eagles’ philosophy and offense. Period.
4. Though he’s coached receivers recently, he sees the game as a quarterback.
You can’t undervalue how important this is. Groh is fully aware of how to get the most out of his skill players, particularly his quarterbacks. He’s got a good group to mentor in Carson Wentz, Nate Sudfeld, Nick Foles and Joe Callahan. His starter, Wentz, has only known Reich as an OC at the professional level.
The growth of Wentz’s relationship with Groh will coincide with his growth. That’s an obvious statement but also a very important one.
Next: 5 Takeaways from the Jim Schwartz presser
5. Third down effeciency and red-zone offense will continue to improve.
This never changes. Every NFL team puts an emphasis on these areas. In 2017, Philly improved on both. That’s a huge reason they hoisted the Lombardi Trophy at season’s end. Still, even as good as they were, this coaching staff is looking for ways to get even better.
Darren Sproles is back. The Eagles are looking to get Donnel Pumphrey up to speed and more involved. We’ll all be watching how the Eagles improve in their situational offense. Stay tuned.