Philadelphia Eagles: 1 Red flag Jeff Stoutland raises about Mike Groh

Is the greatness of Philadelphia Eagles offensive line coach and running game coordinator Jeff Stoutland exposing Mike Groh’s inadequacy?

Offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland has done a great job while doubling as the Philadelphia Eagles running game coordinator. No one, fan or otherwise, would deny that. There have been questions about the performance of the team’s offensive coordinator, Mike Groh. No one would deny that either.

Sometimes it’s totally possible to miss something that’s been in front of you for a while. Sometimes, subtle statements tell you everything. Both of those facts met at a crossroad when Eagles head coach Doug Pederson met with the media for a final time before his team hosts the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

Coach spent about 12 minutes with members of the Philly media on Friday, and a lot came out of that conversation.

He talked about scouting Russell Wilson as an Eagles quarterbacks coach. He talked about the possible availability, or lack thereof, of his starting right tackle Lane Johnson and running back Jordan Howard, but one of the more interesting (and less generic) was this.

If Jeff Stoutland is the team’s coordinator of the running game, is it also fair to say that Mike Groh is the coordinator of the passing game? Pederson’s answer? ‘That’s the black and white version. Yeah.’

Here’s the thing. We’ve all known that Stoutland is the team’s run game coordinator all season, but sometimes you overlook things, and we all may have overlooked something deeper from time to time. Philly’s had some awful wide receiver coaches during the Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz era. Casual or uninformed fans used to say that Frank Reich didn’t do anything because he didn’t call plays on Sunday. Hopefully by now, they’ve learned that statement is in error.

Reich was heavily involved in the Eagles success and contributed greatly. The same can be said about Groh, but here’s the thing. If ‘Stout’ spearheads the running game, and that’s clearly been the strength of this Eagles team, does that shine even more light on Groh, Carson Walch, and the job that they’re doing? Is that even more fuel to the fire that’s engulfed their effectiveness?

Let’s put it simply, if Groh has nothing to do with the coordination of the running game, he doesn’t call plays, and the Eagles are awful when they put the ball in the air, what is this guy good at? The debate table is wide open for this one.