Earlier this week, head coach Doug Pederson surprised fans and media when he responded this way to a question about the possibility of giving up play calling duties:
“I take pride in play calling and I look at everything. I’ve got to take everything into consideration. If I feel like I get stuck or in a rut, I definitely would consider giving that up. So, it’s definitely on the table. I wouldn’t say that’s off the table.”
It was intriguing at the time because Doug had previously been asked this question but seemed resistant to handing over play calling to somebody else. He doesn’t have a traditional offensive coordinator and has called plays during the entirety of his Eagles tenure.
Late Thursday night, Jeff McLane dropped a story at the Inquirer titled, Doug Pederson has already doled out some play-calling and could give more to Press Taylor, sources say, which contains this blurb:
Pederson has handed the reins over to pass game coordinator Press Taylor several times in recent games, and could give him more responsibility starting Sunday in Green Bay, according to the sources. Senior offensive assistant Rich Scangarello has also been calling plays, specifically in two-minute situations, since the beginning of the season.
Pederson, through a team spokesperson, had no comment Thursday.
It’s worth noting that Scangarello called plays for Denver last year as offensive coordinator. It’s also worth noting that Carson Wentz frequently audibles out of plays at the line of scrimmage, so it’s difficult for us to parse and analyze what’s coming from the sidelines vs. what ends up happening on the field.
But there’s this idea of “too many cooks in the kitchen” floating around, and if Doug takes a full step back from calling plays, who gets the job? Taylor? Scangarello? Duce Staley? Marty Mornhinweg?
Whomever ends up calling plays, I have one simple request:
Run the football. Run the fucking football. You are tied for 1st in the NFL with a 5.0 YPC number, but you only have the 29th-most rushing attempts across the entire league.
Please roll that Blount:
