Eagles Blog

by AC Viking

Where do Super Bowl coaches come from, in terms of position from their playing days?

QBs have a small lead over Receivers and OLs.

The Super Bowl has had 47 different coaches on the winning and losing side. All but one played football in college or the NFL. Bill Belichick played lacrosse in college (but started watching game film as a kid, where his dad was an Asst Coach at the US Naval Academy).

[Note: The only other NFL coach with whom I’m familiar who didn’t play football for 4 years in both high school and college, let alone at all in the NFL, is former Detroit Lions and — coincidentally — US Naval Academy HC Rick Forzano. he lost the sight in one eye because of an injury in a HS football game. After graduating from Kent State, he started up the coaching ladder as a HS asst coach.]

Here’re the positions of those 46 coaches (some had more than one) — only one of whom was a HOF player, Forrest Gregg:

QB: Jon Rauch, Weeb Ewbank, Tom Flores [NFL], Sam Wyche [NFL], Bobby Ross, Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren, Dick Vermeil, Jim Fassel, Jon Gruden, Bill Callahan, Tony Dungy (but a DB in the NFL) [NFL], Sean Payton [NFL – 1987 scab], Jim Harbaugh [NFL]

RB: Dan Reeves (QB in college) [NFL], Marv Levy, Tom Coughlin

E: Hank Stram (also a PK!), Bud Grant [NFL], George Allen, Bill Walsh (QB in JUCO), Mike Ditka [NFL], Raymond Berry [NFL], Brian Billick, Mike Martz, Mike Tomlin, Ken Whisenhunt [NFL], Mike McCarthy

OL: Vince Lombardi, Don McCaffery, Chuck Noll [NFL], John Madden, Red Miller, Ray Malavasi, Forrest Gregg [NFL], Joe Gibbs (also played some TE, LB), George Seifert, Andy Reid, Barry Switzer (also some LB)

DL: Jimmy Johnson

LB: Bill Parcells, Bill Cowher [NFL], Lovie Smith (one season at DB)

DB: Don Shula [NFL], Tom Landry [NFL], Jeff Fisher [NFL], John Fox, Jim Caldwell, John Harbaugh

Evan Silva of Rotoworld posted notes on NFC Teams. Here is what he had to say about the Eagles:

There remain more unknowns than knowns following Chip Kelly‘s first OTA schedule as an NFL coach. A seemingly growing pocket of Philly beat writers believes Nick Foleshas a real shot to beat out Michael Vick. Foles and Vick essentially rotated evenly with the ones all spring, and Kelly promises to design his offense around the strengths of the prevailing competitor. My money is on Vick, but daily Eagles observers are more plugged-in than me. We may not know the starter until the first week of September. … Rotoworld completed its annual Draft Guide magazine this week. One of the more compelling Eagles stats I found was 685:373. That was Kelly’s astonishingly lopsided run-to-pass ratio with the 2012 Oregon Ducks. While his NFL offense is unlikely to be identical, it’s more confirmation Kelly is a believer in the run game as his foundation. The number bodes well for LeSean McCoy and projected No. 2 back Bryce Brown. Last season, Kelly gave Ducks starting runner Kenjon Barner 23 touches a game, and “backup” De’Anthony Thomas 10.5.

Check out the piece to see some interesting thoughts on Dallas RB DeMarco Murray.

Juan Castillo is now the Run Game Coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. Aaron Wilson spoke to him and got an update on Castillo and how things are going for him now that he’s on a new team, working on the O-line again and reunited with John Harbaugh and Steve Spagnuolo.

“I told them when we were walking out when they were first together and I saw them walking together, I thought I was back in Philly,’ Castillo said. “It’s nice. John and I worked together for 10 years, and Steve and I also. It’s nice to be around people that you know are quality people that work hard and are good people.”

We can make fun of Juan’s awful press conferences and his questionable record as a defensive coach, but he is universally regarded to be a good man. I think Eagles fans want nothing but the best for him. The experiment at DC didn’t work, but he’s still got plenty of coaching left to do. And that’s good news for the small school O-linemen of the world.

In response to all the craziness going on with Pats TE Aaron Hernandez and the shooting/murder investigations…

In other breaking news, helicopters following Cary Williams are flying from Lowe's to Miss Shriley's Dance Academy.

— Michael Tanier (@MikeTanier) June 20, 2013

Well done, Mike.

Here’s one heck of a compliment for Chip Kelly. Ducks Offensive Coordinator Scott Frost said this in regard to Oregon and how they’re handling the transition to a new head coach:

“Our team gets and understands what we want to do so well that, after Chip left, I swear the team could have run itself. “

Here is more of Frost talking about Oregon.

Kelly did a great job of hiring assistant coaches and installing a program mentality at Oregon. Things were done in a very detailed, specific way. When a coaching staff is able to instill that kind of structure, the players know what to do and what is expected of them. Kids will never admit this, but they crave structure and discipline. You don’t have to think…you just do.

Since posting the NYT article on Randall Cunningham, a lot of people have talked about his great 1998 season as proof that Vick might have some kind of magical season left in him.

It is possible, but you must understand how different the circumstances are.

Brian Billick was hired as OC of the Vikings in 1994. His system was well-established by the time Randall joined the team. That was actually 1997. Randall spent that season as a backup and had a chance to learn the system. He did get to start 3 games. Randall went 1-2 and posted mediocre numbers.

What happened in 1998?

2 things.  First, the Vikings drafted a kid named Randy Moss. He took the NFL by storm that year and caught 17 TD passes, an astonishing number for a rookie.

Brad Johnson was supposed to be the QB, but broke his ankle in Week 2, allowing Cunningham to take the reins of a dynamic offense. That team set the NFL record for points with 556 and went 15-1.  That is amazing, but needs to be put in context.

The offense was very good in 1997 with Johnson at QB and no Moss. 11th in points, 8th in yards.

Offense was all-time great with Randall in 1998. 1st in points, 2nd in yards.

Offense was outstanding with Jeff George in 1999. 5th in points, 3rd in yards.

Offense was outstanding with Daunte Culpepper in 2000. 5th in points, 5th in yards.

Randall had an amazing season in 1998 and there is no disputing that. You do have to understand that there was some “right guy, right time” thing going on. NFL teams didn’t know what to do with Moss and Carter and Jake Reed. Billick was in his final season as the OC. The OL started 77 of 80 possible games. The skill players stayed healthy. The Vikings only played 4 games all year against teams with winning records. And tough road games at Chicago and Green Bay came early in the year when the weather was irrelevant. The only game with a temperature under 42 degrees came in the season finale at Tennessee. In that game, the Vikings only had 26 points and 338 yards, both far below season averages. The Vikings played 9 games indoors. A 10th game was played at Dallas, where it was 58 degrees. That might as well have been in a dome.

Give Randall and the Vikings credit for taking advantage of all the favorable circumstances, but do understand there were some lucky breaks involved.

Vick could have a real good year for the Eagles in 2013 if he fixes some issues and clicks well with Kelly this summer, but don’t read into Randall’s 1998 season. The circumstances are very, very different.

I was doing some research today and stumbled across this NYT article from the summer of 1995. It is all about Randall Cunningham, new coaches and a new offense.

All I can say is…wow.

I could put up nuggets from it, but go read the whole thing.

Tell me if much of the article doesn’t feel like it was written 2 weeks ago, but with a couple of name changes. Let’s sure hope for a better outcome this time around.

Dave Fipp is the new STs coach for the Eagles. I happened to stumble across his Twitter account recently. I was hoping to find some nugget of interest that would blow people away. No such luck.

See for yourself. Coach Fipp loves the University of Arizona. And fried turkey.

He does like sunglasses. Maybe I’ll sell him a pair.

Fired up for breast cancer awareness month in the NFL with my new shades from @CostaSunglasses of Daytona Beach Florida pic.twitter.com/G1wl1CMH

— Dave Fipp (@coachfipp) October 4, 2012

Although…hiding those piercing eyes from the public really is a crime.

Dave Spadaro put up a good column at PE.com on not making too much of what we’ve seen, since there was no hitting.

Dave learned his lesson in 2008, while watching RB Lorenzo Booker look great in the non-contact practices.

And once the pads went on in training camp at Lehigh University, Booker was a different player. He wasn’t as quick. He wasn’t as nimble. Those hands that were so great in the spring? Things were a lot different with a linebacker bearing down on Booker in the flat.

So, as a result, all of the spring hype — actually one report from training camp suggested that Booker had a skill set similar to that of star running back Brian Westbrook — that Booker generated turned out to be a lot of fluff, hot air and not realistic in any way. Booker played 10 games for the Eagles that season, with 53 rushing yards on 20 attempts and 6 receptions for 11 yards.

Call it a lesson learned.

So very true.

Brent over at Eagles Rewind, a good new site, offers up some thoughts on why DeSean Jackson might have a tough time fitting in the new offense. Brent isn’t a Jackson basher. He’s simply talking about fit.

I’ve long been a big Jackson fan. I think he’s underrated as an all-around receiver and wasn’t used well by the previous scheme.  His straight-line speed is among the best in the league, and used properly, he should open the entire field up by forcing safety coverage deep.  However, it wouldn’t surprise me if he makes a less successful transition than I hope and others expect.

Go check out the piece to see what his reasoning is.