By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILLE — Give Doug Pederson credit for one thing. He has managed to unite the entire Eagles Nation before even donning a team visor.

Everyone seems to hate the idea of the one-time Bird and longtime NFL backup and assistant coach being named as the title-starved franchise’s 21^st head coach.

Everyone, minus one.

That would be me.

In the face of the universal backlash that is almost to the same level they loved the firing of No. 20, Chip Kelly, I neither hate it nor love it.

All I am saying – and all you should be saying – is to give Doug a chance.

While prone to as much sky-is-falling hysteria as the next person who bleeds Type G-negative blood, I am not climbing to the top of City Hall and threatening to jump from the top of William Penn’s hat.

That would seem odd, since I came to despise Andy Reid, and Pederson fell into the Eagles’ basket – seemingly with Reid’s blessing – from his coaching tree.

I’m just trying to cut the crap and be real, though.

I’m not quite sure how a bunch of people who were not able to see into the future well enough to win the recently gargantuan Power Ball jackpot became so clairvoyant that they are certain we are doomed with Pederson, a Reid mentee, at the helm.

To get to the bottom of this, I need be harsh. We are going to have to use some four-letter words. We’ve already talked about “hate,” which is as overused as “love” (no one should have loved the hiring of any coach, including those with proven track records, either, because you are only setting yourself up for heartbreak).

Another is “plan,” because people are silly enough to buy into the theory that a billion-dollar operation like this franchise really didn’t have a cogent one in place for their search for a coach.

Rising above all is “fear,” because that is what this is all about.

Fear fuels all negativity, poisoning many trees at their root, including the tree of hate.

Pederson represents the fear of the unknown. Nobody – himself included – knows how it will play out. I will admit that my wish list was topped by a names who took away some of the unknown – Bill Cowher. Other found their bippies and dreamed sweetly of coaxing Brian Billick, Jon Gruden and Mike Shanahan out of cushy retirements.

The Eagles even interviewed relic Tom Coughlin.

But here is a fact – another four-letter word – to consider: no coach has ever won a Super Bowl with two different franchises.

Go to the chalkboard and write that 100 times.

OK, I’m dating myself here.

Go to your iPad and type it 100 times.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Done? Good.

I’m not.

Why would that change, especially here in Philadelphia? I mean, Coughlin won two Super Bowls, but do you really think a ball would Velcro itself to the helmet of Seyi Ajitotutu (affectionately known by Kelly as “Tu”) the way it did to the dome of David Tyree in Super Bowl XLII?

We don’t win championships like that in Philly. We do it “fo-fo-fo” style or wait decades in vain trying and lament the close calls. On that magical day, in some magical place where it never gets cold, It’ll be a 44-10 victory. All doubt will be removed. No “Leon Stickel” schtick to ruin it.

Why, in a sport where the statistical probabilities are weighed before each and every decision is made, would it be worth it to buck the trend just to ease the temporary fear of the unknown by going out to the recycling bin and coming back with a known entity who we know would be bucking historical trends?

In the same spirit of telling you doubters and haters to go fact yourself, the one common thread between every Hall of Fame – or pending – NFL coach is one thing: they were all unknown entities, on some level, until someone gave them a chance.

But you won’t give Pederson a chance? I thought this town had bigger, and more open, hearts than that. Guess I was wrong.

The thought process that the Eagles hierarchy of owner Jeffery Lurie, Howie Roseman (back in charge after a year in exile) and Don Smolenski were not “football guys,” and, therefore, played a gloried game of Pin the Tail on the Random Offensive Coordinator, is almost too stupid for a response.

They most definitely had a plan. Perhaps too much of a plan, causing some paralysis by analysis, but the homework was done. Perhaps, just perhaps, the full plan has yet to be revealed. If Pederson is surrounded with venerable coordinators and position coaches, his relative inexperience won’t be so glaring.

And once he gains experience, he’s not inexperienced anymore. Funny how that works. Just like Whiz wid – or wid-out – makes it a Philly Cheesesteak.

The problem is that Pederson is being consumed – and spit back out – by a ravenous fan base that has been trained by the digital and talk-radio media that is supposed to serve as a conduit that any move involving Roseman is automatically going to give you a rare and incurable disease.

Hard to believe it is the town where a fictional boxer, Rocky Balboa, is worshipped for being given a chance as an underdog and becoming a champion (albeit in “Rocky II,” not “Rocky”).

But we better believe it because it is happening. Fear and hate are running the day.

No one hates seeing teams representing less passionate bases win Super Bowls – and fears that the Eagles won’t win a Super Bowl in their lifetime – more than I do.

But all of you – and I don’t use the term “all of you” loosely – need to douse the fire of your ire before it consumes you.

Roseman is guilty until proven innocent. He may not be Ron Wolf (whisper: also not a “football guy”), but he was a better GM than Kelly, was he not?

And Pederson has been pre-judged by virtue of guilt by association.

The news of his hire trickled out Thursday. That means that the weekend that followed saw many of his doubters enter houses of worship and exit ill-prepared to practice what had been preached.

The Chiefs lost Saturday in the playoffs, so the Pederson hire can now be official.

Hopefully, the anxieties – the frustration that it wasn’t a sexier name – are somewhat out of the systems of the common fan.

Of all the four-letter words we are throwing around here, “Doug” should not be considered a curse, too.

Certainly not if you consider “Chip” to be one, as Pederson – with his resume being Exhibit A – appears to be the anti-Chip.

Most Iggles fans only remember Pederson as the underwhelming quarterback who kept then-rookie Donovan McNabb’s place warm for half a season – which most felt was half a season too long.

He spent 13 seasons in the NFL, starting 17 games. That’s 13 more seasons, and 17 more starts, than Kelly – or a lot of other lauded coaches – ever played.

That was a lot of offensive meetings, under the likes of Don Shula and Mike Holmgren, and he likely developed a cerebral grasp of the game while serving as an understudy to the likes of Dan Marino and Brett Favre, both of whom were able to play more on instinct and natural ability.

His coaching journey began at the high school level. He came back to the Eagles in 2009 to coach under Reid for four seasons – two as offensive quality control coordinator and two as the quarterbacks coach – before following Reid to Kansas City, where he has been the offensive coordinator since 2013.

It’s not a slam dunk resume, but not one for the round file, either. A steady ascension, albeit all under Reid, is worth noting.

Also, aside from the high school stint, he was been playing alongside – and coaching – professional athletes his whole adult life. After Kelly, it will be a welcome change.

Does all this mean Pederson will be good or great coach, the Moses figure who leads us to the Promised Land?

Of course not.

But it’s doesn’t mean he won’t – or can’t – be that, either.

We really know nothing about the man and if he has the qualities needed in a head coach.

If you know the answer to those questions, go become a fortune teller.

If not, cut the crap and get real.

This column also appeared at http://www.phillyphanatics.com

By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILLE – Be quick but don’t hurry.

The source of that quote was famed UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. A deeply religious man, the late Wooden would likely bristle at what I am about to assert, which is that “be quick but don’t hurry” should not only be one of the 10 commandments, but probably one of the top five.

In a world of false idols, it is a truism that transcends the world of sports. If more people followed it – while being careful of not crossing the border between the wise choice of being quick and the fool’s gold found in hurrying – a lot of problems would likely work their way into solutions.

This certainly holds true in the rise and fall of Chip Kelly, who didn’t even last the full five years of his contract as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles – even after taking over a 4-12 team and going 20-12, with a division title, in his first two seasons.

The break-neck, no-huddle offense Kelly made so lethal at Oregon is the obvious example of the difference between being quick and hurrying.

At its best, it ran like a well-oiled machine fueled by coaches and players being so decisive that the opponent could not keep pace. At its worst, the Eagles were unable to keep pace with themselves, becoming their own worst enemy and suffering self-inflicted wounds.

The same quickness that made Kelly 19-9 in his first 28 games turned to the hurrying that made him 7-12 in the last 19 before suffering the ultimate indignity of being fired with a game left in his third season.

It wasn’t so much the style of play that made Kelly’s team go from quick and lethal to hurried and harried, but an unwillingness to pay attention to detail that would have made Wooden cringe.

Known as the “Wizard of Westwood,” Wooden would spend whole practices having his charges lace up their sneakers properly. The reasoning was simple: If one of his high-school Americans, who came to Los Angeles from all corners of the nation, were to trip at key point in a game – hurting themselves and/or the team – he would not have done his due diligence.

Kelly’s Eagles, in a league that demands cohesion, became the antithesis of this approach. The result of what seemed to be a focus of some big picture to prove he is the smartest person in the room turned into a failure to deal with devil that lurks in the details.

The Eagles not only led the league in dropped passes, but were also near the top – or bottom – in penalties, of which many were unforced (false starts, illegal shift, etc.). There were also turnovers, including many in the all-important red zone, where the team was never consistently effective.

Going the other way, Kelly never seemed to care about the pressure he was placing on a defensive unit that wasn’t overly skilled in certain spots – like the vital cornerback position.

If his offense clicked, which it intermittently did, a scoring drive would still only take – at most – two or three minutes off the clock. Not only is that not sufficient time to recharge – particularly as a game wears on and a season wears on – but not enough time to pull together any meaningful adjustments.

And that’s when the offense worked. When it didn’t, a possession would be a matter of seconds, which is not long enough to get to the bench and suck down some Gatorade and even make eye contact with a defensive coach.

The defense missed tackles, missed assignments and dropped a few too many interceptions to keep them in games. For the first half of the 2015 season, the Eagles were near the top of the league in forcing turnovers, getting to the quarterback with sacks and pressures and stuffing the run.

The second half was the polar opposite. The bottom fell out. While no one knows what went on, there was the appearance of quitting, which does not play well in a town that identifies itself more with a fictitious boxer named “Rocky” than its vaunted orchestra.

Kelly was quick in 2013, and took the NFL by storm. But the NFL, for all its blunt force trauma and bottom-line brutality, is quite sophisticated. The league responded, and it was Kelly’s turn to respond back. His solution? Keep doing what he was doing, which equated to hurrying, in lieu of being quick.

We are only left to wonder what would have been had the Eagles huddled up, being able to put opponents back on their heels because they wouldn’t know when the no-huddle was coming (think of the Marv Levy-coached Buffalo Bills that seemed to lose in the Super Bowl every year).

Kelly had the personnel to line up with the quarterback under center, with two tight ends, and pound teams. At any time, he could flip the script. That would have instantly added a second trick to a one-trick pony.

It also would have given his own defense a little bit more of a fighting chance to not be steamrolled by any team with a running back over 220 pounds and willing to give a second effort.

The fact that the Eagles were 7-9 this past season – and not 2-14 – shows they weren’t that far away. All they needed was a bit of ingenuity.

But Kelly does not get all of the blame here. He was an employee, albeit an important one, who had someone signing his checks.

As the Eagles search for his successor, we have to ask if they hurried into hiring him so that another team wouldn’t. And did they hurry into allowing a shift of the draft focus toward players from Oregon or the PAC-12?

Did they fail to be quick, instead hurrying, by granting him full control of personnel before his final season – without any system of checks and balances – as the runaway train that was the Chip Kelly era ran off the tracks with some dubious personnel moves that are too painful to recount again?

We in Eagles Nation must hope that Jeffrey Lurie, who fancies himself as being prudent, also follows the commandment Wooden carved in stone and handed down to anyone charged with pursuing any form of success.

As for Kelly, and where he goes from here, he best be quick about it.

But we have seen enough of his act to realize that this leopard who refused to change his spots will likely continue to hurry.

That’s bad news for him, and whichever pro or college team – or network – that hires him.

The good news for us is that it is not our problem anymore.

By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILE — Should he stay or should he go?

That was the bottom-line question facing Eagles Nation in the wake of being made into turkeys in front of a national audience on Turkey Day.

What do to with coach/general manager Chip Kelly, who has seemingly run out of all the mojo he showed while taking the league by storm in 2013?

As of Thursday morning, this die-hard was firm that Kelly should man up and coach out at least four years of his five-year deal, if only out of principle.

By the time the sun set and I was stuffed with stuffing, I wasn’t so sure.

One game should never determine the fate of a coach, but this is more about the big picture than one game.

I’m feeling a bit like a detective looking at all his evidence, finally having an epiphany and reaching a startling conclusion.

I know what I would do. Hold a press conference Monday morning and fire Kelly and defensive coordinator Billy Davis.

Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur can finish up as interim head coach and defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro can run the defense.

If they fail, they fail. So what? Probably better anyway, as it will help draft positioning as yet another rebuild commences.

But I’m not Jeffrey Lurie (as confirmed by my bank statement). He will probably wait and assess the damage after a season that very well could end up with, at best, one more win.

But why?

With the sad reality that you can’t “fire the whole team,” the team needs to be sent a clear message. You can’t wear Eagles green and lay down on successive weeks.

There are three home games remaining in December, and it is going to get as ugly as it can get – if anyone even shows up – unless something isn’t done as a preemptive strike.

It’s clear the league has figured out Kelly’s offense and Davis’ defense, and something has to be done about it.

Kelly’s Eagles find themselves 4-7 and hopelessly devoted to living in the NFL sewer system just three weeks after the optimists within felt the overtime win in Dallas coming out of the bye week could spark a winning streak that would put them at 7-4 – and in control on the NFC Least, a division where 8-8 might just be enough to back into capturing the flag.

They came out of the Dallas game and shot out to a 16-3 lead against the visiting Miami Dolphins, only to fall, 20-19. Still, with Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming to town and a trip to the Motor City against a Lions’ team that started the year 1-7 (they are now 4-7) on tap, the schedule seemed to smile on the Eagles.

Instead, the Eagles spat upon the schedule’s smiling face, laying twin eggs. In the 45-17 drubbing at the hands of the Bucs, rookie Jameis Winston threw five touchdown passes.  That feat was matched by Matthew Stafford in the Thanksgiving Day massacre.

No need to run for the calculators. In two must-win games, against two “eh” opponents, the Eagles were out-scored, 90-27, and yielded 10 touchdown passes to quarterbacks not named Marino and Montana.

And, in both games, we saw something that can’t be quantified.

The Eagles flat-out quit. It was clear in their body language, in the way they sat on the bench with stupefied looks on their faces, in the way they grinned after screwing up and the way they laughed it up with their tormentors between snaps.

The Eagles were 10-6 in 2013, and won the division, a year after going 4-12. For his encore in 2014, Kelly’s version of the Birds started off 9-3 but finished 10-6 and out of the money for the postseason.

Again, keep those calculators turned off. After a 19-9 start, Kelly’s Eagles are 5-10.

Looking back on better times, quarterback Nick Foles had a career year in 2013. His play was a bit off in 2014, but was still 7-2 as a starter before going down with a season-ending injury.

LeSean McCoy led the league in rushing in 2013 with 1,607 yards. He was not a good in 2014, with a dinged-up offensive line a big part of it, but still ran for 1,319 yards and became the franchise’s all-time leading rusher.

DeSean Jackson, the mercurial wide receiver who previous coach Andy Reid didn’t seem to utilize to his fullest potential, had a career year in 2013 (82 catches, 1,332 yards, 9 TDs). He was then cut, outright, with no compensation. The Eagles also seemed to let it float out there that Jackson had gang affiliations. He signed with the rival Washington Redskins and, at the time this is being written, still isn’t charged with any crime.

Fellow receiver Jeremy Maclin, who missed 2013 with a knee injury, played on a one-year deal in 2014 and had a career season (85 catches, 1,318 yards, 10 touchdowns). He was jettisoned in the offseason, leaving the Eagles with no real weapons at receiver (second-year man Jordan Matthews seems best suited as a No. 2 and some of the others on the team are barely worth discussing).

It’s worth noting that Kelly’s title went from coach to coach/GM this past offseason, just two years out of the college ranks.

He traded Foles to St. Louis for Sam Bradford. Despite assuming the injury risk and taking on the significantly larger contract, the Eagles also gave up the worst of the draft-pick exchange (including a second-round in the upcoming draft).

Foles has since been benched in St. Louis, but he would have been in his third year in the system here and made a fraction per year of Bradford’s $13 million salary. That money could have been used for other pressing needs.

Stats and quarterback ratings are nice (Foles led the league in QB rating in 2013), but it is all about winning and losing.

Foles was 14-4 as a starter under Kelly. All others – Michael Vick, Mark Sanchez and Sam Bradford – are a combined 10-15.

It should also be noted that once Sanchez started in Foles’ stead at the end of last season, Maclin was less of a factor because the deep ball was not a serious threat.

In a stunning development, Bradford has gotten hurt. Ditto for Kiko Alonso, the linebacker coming off injury – and apparently playing at about 50 percent – who was acquired, straight-up, for McCoy.

Kelly let guards Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans walk without adequate replacements.

The list could go on and on.

Even though former GM Howie Roseman was sent out for coffee and has never returned, it is not fair to blame him for drafting blunders (like last year’s whiff with Marcus Smith). Looking at the number of Oregon players drafted, and PAC-12 players drafted if no former Ducks are on the board, it is pretty obvious that Kelly’s fingerprints and DNA were all over the first two drafts.

Bringing us to the question of the day: Should he (Kelly) stay or should he go?

Lurie – prior to dissing Roseman – is not known for being prone to rash decisions (he kept Reid around two seasons too long), and it’s his call.

Yes, he can sit down with Kelly and have a heart-to-heart discussion.  If Kelly is willing to change, maybe his tenure here can be salvaged.

The question would be if he is too prideful, and stubborn, to realize that one-trick ponies don’t survive in this league.

The hurry-up offense is fine, but it loses effectiveness when deployed from wire to wire. He has two good backs – DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews – in McCoy’s stead, but they both need to run behind a fullback (none even on the roster) and with the quarterback under center. And Davis would have to go. Period. End of story.

As for the GM thing, there is speculation that removing the title could null-and-void Kelly’s deal. How about a venerable person in the personnel mix – a consultant – who has to sign off on all moves going forward? Kelly can keep the title but needs someone other than Ed Marynowitz picking up his dry cleaning.

If the Eagles come out of their self-induced coma a bit, and he agrees to these changes, maybe he salvages a second chance and fourth season to get it right.

But once Philadelphia turns hostile, it is nearly impossible to win back trust.

That’s what we are looking at.

Ask me, he should go – and go now.

For the next coach – and we are getting ahead of ourselves – there is no need to reinvent the wheel. I start with Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden and go from there, maybe with successful coordinators.

Hard to believe we are talking about this? Yeah, me too. But when a marriage goes bad, just file those divorce papers. No need to stay together for the sake of the kids, especially when they are an angry mob hungry for a long-elusive Super Bowl.