BY ADAM GREENE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DOUG PEDERSON AND EAGLES CONSCIOUSLY UNCOUPLE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We thought we had six open NFL head coaching jobs, but we were wrong. Monday, the Philadelphia Eagles announced they were parting ways with Super Bowl winning head coach<\/a> Doug Pederson. Reportedly the reason behind the move was that Pederson \u201cdidn\u2019t like people telling him what to do.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while leaving an NFL team the same way a three-year old storms out of the room after being informed that they can\u2019t leave the house wearing their Batman costume might not be the best possible ending to Pederson\u2019s Philly tenure, this changes a lot on the NFL landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First off, the obvious; we now have seven open head coaching jobs. Secondly, and maybe just as obvious, Pederson is going to get one of the other jobs if he wants it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which one? Well, it depends. The Jacksonville Jaguars seem to be circling Urban Meyer and, if that\u2019s realistically on the table, that job is set. They are closing that deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have five more after that (outside the Eagles, of course) and I\u2019d imagine each one would like a word with a coach that has a winning record, three consecutive playoff appearances and a Super Bowl ring. This year was a disaster in Philadelphia and there\u2019s no question about it. But before 2020, Pederson\u2019s worst year was his first, a 7-9 finish with a rookie quarterback. The very next year he won a Vince Lombardi Trophy with a back up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How quick he gets hired will have a lot to do with how desperate a team is to fill its job with guys like Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and Kansas City OC Eric Bieniemy all still in the playoffs (though they all can take interviews).<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are also guys that might have already jumped ahead in the game like San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who\u2019s been free for over a week now. And, of course, there\u2019s always New England Patriots OC Josh McDaniels who, for once, also has his schedule clear since the Pats didn\u2019t make the postseason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where do I think he\u2019ll end up? It\u2019s obvious to me that the only way he doesn\u2019t get the Houston Texans head coaching job is if he doesn\u2019t want it. The McNair\u2019s are dying to NOT hire Bieniemy for reasons that, shall we say, seem a little suspicious considering their past problems with DeAndre Hopkins that led to a pennies on the dollar trade<\/a> and overruling the Korn Ferry consulting firm they paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to find them a new general manager when they came back with two names; Pittsburgh Steelers vice president of football and business administration Omar Khan and Monday Night Football analyst Louis Riddick<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was some reason those two guys, named the best candidates by Korn Ferry, just weren\u2019t up to snuff for the McNairs and instead they hired former New England Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A guy that, we\u2019ll say, has a \u201cdifferent background\u201d than Khan and Riddick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which makes me think that all this talk that there\u2019s no way the Texans would trade Deshaun Watson could be VERY WRONG for VERY OBVIOUS REASONS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ironically, with the Eagles job opening up there\u2019s less of a chance for Bienemy to get shut out this time around. Philadelphia hired Andy Reid\u2019s OC last time, they\u2019re likely to do it again. Bienemy could be just the guy to get Carson Wentz back on track or elevate Jalen Hurts\u2019 game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week I ranked the open head coaching jobs 1-6<\/a>. Where would the Eagles HC position rank? Dead last. If Wentz continues to want out (which me might not now), they have huge salary cap issues to deal with and a middling roster on hand. This will have to be a soft rebuild at best and the only thing they have going for them is playing in the NFC East, but that might not even be an advantage with Ron Rivera coming into Year Two with the Washington Football Team, a vastly improved New York Giants squad and a healthy Dak Prescott taking the field for the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though Mike McCarthy\u2019s presence on the Cowboys\u2019 sideline could keep them hovering around the dumpster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SUPER WILD CARD TRENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This was our first Super Wild Card Weekend, but some important things happened which we need to make note. Supposedly this was an \u201cexperiment\u201d for the NFL, putting in seven playoff teams per conference and, if so it was a rousing success. There ain\u2019t no going back. This is how it\u2019s going to be from here on out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a few facts to note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Of the six games, four road teams won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Two underdogs won outright and only two favorites, the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints, covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. We had four games go over on their totals. The two that hit the under (Ravens at Titans -54.5 and Bears at Saints \u2013 47) didn\u2019t even come close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IS THIS THE LAST WE\u2019LL SEE OF BEN ROETHLISBERGER AND PHILIP RIVERS?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If so, Rivers went out strong. He played a hell of a game against a significantly better team than he was bringing to the field and nearly pulled it off, throwing for 309 yards and two touchdowns. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s a Pro Football Hall of Famer, but he\u2019s definitely a guy I\u2019d love to hear in the booth as an analyst for the next 20 years. He\u2019s got the personality for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As for Roethlisberger, he put up monster numbers, completing 47 passes for 501 yards and four touchdowns, but his four interceptions were deadly. Unlike Rivers, Roethlisberger certainly has a gold jacket in his future and won\u2019t have wait long to get it. He\u2019s as good a first ballot bet as it comes. But, like Rivers, he\u2019ll have his pick of TV jobs if he wants one. I\u2019m not sure that he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow our BetOnline Twitter accoun<\/a>t for the latest sports news and betting odds, and stay tuned on the Instagram feed<\/a> for more good information too.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY ADAM GREENE DOUG PEDERSON AND EAGLES CONSCIOUSLY UNCOUPLE We thought we had six open NFL head coaching jobs, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":15255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t