ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

The Eagles are limping into Week 1– not on the injury report, where they, perhaps for the first time in history, claimed no injuries on Friday, but with a head coach who has now been the subject of multiple damning “hot takes” or, if you and Mr. Lurie prefer, “clickbait.”

This week, Doug Pederson was eviscerated by longtime NFL front office man Mike Lombardi.

Today, Inquirer Eagles beat writer Jeff McLane threw a grenade into the Novacare Complex with this piece questioning whether Lombardi’s comments were due to his friendship with Jim Schwartz, whom he hired some 25 years ago, and the fact that the Eagles’ defensive coordinator is gunning for Pederson’s job. Wait, what? McLane:

Having Schwartz, a former head coach with a large personality, in the building always threatened to overshadow Pederson. Lombardi doubled down on his remarks during interviews with the Inquirer and PST. He said that Pederson wasn’t detail oriented enough. He pointed out that Wentz and the Eagles offense had regressed last season.

And he questioned the second-year coach’s ability to stand in front of his team and inspire confidence – a bold presumption unless he gathered it from someone in the room. The only Eagles entity that escaped Lombardi’s wrath was Schwartz.

…

On Tuesday, when a reporter asked Schwartz to comment on Lombardi in part because of their history, the coordinator said that he worked with many people around the NFL over the last quarter century. He downplayed their relationship and said that he hadn’t seen Lombardi’s remarks on Pederson, that he only knew the general premise.

Lombardi said that he doesn’t talk to Schwartz “very much.”

At the very least, the optics aren’t favorable. One Eagles staffer said the only coach who probably doesn’t think Schwartz is trying to undercut Pederson is Pederson. Three players, who requested anonymity, said that it’s become well-known in the locker room that Schwartz is waiting to usurp power.

This is how the Eagles are going into Week 1 of Doug Pederson’s second season as head coach. Either the Philly media is excellent at shit-stirring (quite possible) or Lurie is a master of fostering a toxic environment ‘neath him. Indeed he seems to thrive in it, like that ex-girlfriend you had who wouldn’t have sex with you unless it was following a 12:02 a.m. text message from a 267 number that touched off a massive drunken blowup about “THIS BITCH!” which somehow resulted in you becoming more desirable and “the only one for me.” In either case, things are always lively, if a bit unsustainable in the long run. Lurie went running back to the safe guy in Pederson, but just can’t seem to resist the urge to spice things up by being “just friends” with Schwartz.

Here’s what I know: McLane is a good reporter, and I suspect he doesn’t write this unless there’s something to it. As written, it’s thin on sourcing (even though it does have perfunctory comments from all those involved) and contains an awful lot of speculation. But for someone who was ejected from the press box(!) during the last Eagles regular season game to write this heading into Week 1, especially for the local paper of record (which is trying to re-invent itself through an online paywall*), McLane would have to be pretty certain about the tone he was striking. This is how you write stories where most of your information is on background or otherwise off the record– you couch it in speculation and take the heat that comes with it. I’ve written this kinda of story, mostly with RADIO WARS. Sometimes you know something, or are at least aware of inner conjecture, and have to speculate about it, which is what McLane seems to be doing here.

*The Philly.com staff has crushed it this week with compelling piece after compelling piece in an effort to stave off new competition in the market and justify their own paywall. There is undoubtedly some level of pressure felt by everyone there, and one could argue that it creates the sort of incentive structure to reach for stories like this one. To be clear, I am not accusing McLane of doing that here. 

Either way, this is a good read, which contains comments from players apparently upset by the fact that Schwartz doesn’t say hello to them in the hallways. Some things never change.