Nick Piccone
While there are plenty of reports out there saying that Doug Pederson is Jeffrey Lurie’s and Howie Roseman’s +1, the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator has a huge gameplan to come up with this week as his Andy Reid led Chiefs take on the Patriots at Foxboro this weekend. And, according to Pederson himself, being in the running to become a head coach for an NFL team is great and everything, but he’s got a game to worry about this weekend.
It is [difficult to prioritize] because we have a big game this week,” Pederson said. “You never know what’s going to happen in those situations. It’s an honor to be in the running, I guess, with something like that. But I was also sitting there towards the end of the interview going, ‘I got the New England Patriots to look at.’ So it was a lot easier to come back and start game planning.”
This is exactly the reason why teams allowing coaches to interview with other teams during the playoffs is such a weird, and stupid, thing to do. I truly believe, as an owner and general manager, you won’t be getting 100% of the coach you need in that interview because they have other things on their mind.
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I don’t blame Pederson one bit for being focused on the Patriots, even during his interview, but is that something Lurie and Roseman noticed? Did they not want him to be focused on the Patriots? Because if he wasn’t, wouldn’t that reflect poorly on him? And the fact that he was focused on the Patriots, does it take away from the interview with the Eagles at all?
Pederson told the media that the door is still open for a second interview, even though the Eagles have yet to schedule any more interviews currently with the owners meetings coming up.
As for Pederson’s interview, he said the following:
Gosh, it went great. It was a great opportunity to see Howie again and Mr. Lurie – just a chance to talk with them and sit down with them. I got a lot of respect for the organization and what they’re doing there. But now we’re focused on New England and that’s behind me and we’re moving forward.”
…
“He [Andy Reid] is a great mentor of mine, obviously, as you know. We worked together. I worked for him there in Philadelphia so I understand that market, that climate, and that structure there. The things I’ve learned from Coach Reid wherever, if it’s in my future to become a head coach, then there’s a lot of great examples of him leading a team and an organization that I can use in my future as well.”
Pederson is going up against Lurie’s favorite NFL team this weekend, so was this a conflict of interest? Did Lurie trade secrets with Pederson? If the Chiefs lose this weekend, does that mean we win the Pederson sweepstakes? I can hardly contain my excitement.
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And while Pederson doesn’t exactly strike me as the “Oh no!” hire at this point, I still would rather have Tom Coughlin as the head coach of the Eagles heading into next season. But who knows anymore? I don’t. Nobody does.