Philadelphia Eagles talk: Doug Pederson pens a memoir, Doug Marrone responds

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson pens a memoir, but unfortunately, a lot of the talk surrounds a couple of paragraphs.

Well, here’s something you may find interesting. Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson recently flexed his literary muscle. Seemingly out of nowhere, he’s released Fearless: How an Underdog Becomes a Champion, a memoir detailing the ups and downs of a championship season. The book dropped on Tuesday, August 21st, and it already has a ton of people talking.

Being a Super Bowl-winning head coach may be enough to create a buzz about any book that you may be writing. Having the word get out that said book may take a subtle dig at another NFL head coach might get you noticed for a completely different reason.

Some aren’t happy about the idea that Pederson dedicated quite a few lines to discuss his theory that Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone wasn’t aggressive enough during the AFC Championship Game.

According to Pederson, Marrone’s decision to take a knee at the end of the first half may have helped contribute to the New England Patriots heading to Super Bowl LII instead of the guys from Duval County.

We at ITI haven’t had a chance to read Fearless ourselves yet, but someone at Pro Football Focus apparently did, and within hours, everyone from ESPN’s Michael DiRocco to Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com dropped a few lines in reference to what may now, unfortunately, be one of the most talked about areas of Pederson’s work.

Here’s what some are telling us is an excerpt:

"I was there thinking, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me right now. It made me mad because Jacksonville had New England right where they wanted them. I was screaming at the TV in my office. When they knelt right before halftime, inside I was like, ‘I’ll never do that.’"

Pederson will never have to worry about anyone referring to him as passive. He may have taken over the mantle of being labelled the NFL’s most aggressive play caller.

Here’s more from Philly’s head man:

"It (Marrone’s decision to kneel) fueled me. They could have least tried for a field goal. They took it out of their quarterback’s hands, and they didn’t give to their big back Leonard Fournette. I thought, ‘If they lose this game, this is why.’ Sure enough they would go on to lose the game."

Dare we say Marrone’s decision helped give birth to the idea to run the ‘Philly Special’ in the Super Bowl? Okay, call us crazy, but what’s written there isn’t really taking a shot at someone. Pederson offered an opinion. He used the AFC Championship Game as a way to prove his point.

It sounds a whole lot better than just saying ‘I’ll always be aggressive’ and just leaving it at that.

Marrone doesn’t seem affected. As expected, he almost immediately was asked for a response. Here’s what he had to say:

"Hey, Doug won a Super Bowl. Doug did a great job of coaching. I’m sure there’s a long line of people that have the same questions or feelings. It’s just what you’re going to do. I read a book in the offseason by Mark Manson…. so those things happen, and that’s it… I respect the hell out of him and his team, and he won a Super Bowl. We lost, and when you lose, you question everything, so I don’t have a problem with it."

The book Marrone’s referring to is called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a (expletive): A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life. It’s now a New York Times bestseller.

Jacksonville will meet Philly in Week 8 for the Eagles’ first-ever game in London. There shouldn’t be any tension when that time arrives, but you best believe, as kickoff approaches in that one, this is probably going to get brought up again.

As a matter of fact, we’re sure it will be.