What better time to make bold proclamations than prior to training camp? It certainly makes for some good headlines in what is can otherwise be a lull in fresh and exciting headlines.
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson certainly gave people plenty to talk about in June according to Tim McManus of ESPN and Pederson didn’t hold back his confidence.
“I look back at my time in Green Bay as a player when we were making those playoff runs and those Super Bowl runs there, and do we have as much talent on this team than we did then? We probably have more talent, right?” Pederson said (h/t NFL.com).
“But we also had a lot of talent in here (in Philadelphia in 2011) and where did that get us? So there’s got to be a combination of blending all this talent with the coaching staff, with my ideas and philosophy, to bring that all together, put the egos aside, put pride aside, and just go focus on winning this game that we have in front of us.
I’m a big believer (that) if you do that, then you look back at the end of the season and you’re probably going to be where you want to be, and that’s playing in the postseason.”
The Eagles had a strong offseason landing talent such as Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith, LeGarrette Blount and 1st round drat pick Derek Barnett, among others.
“If we win eight, go 8-8, is that a successful year? No. … I don’t coach to be average, I’ll tell you that,” Pederson said. “These players don’t practice the way they do to be average. We’re all in this together, and we’ll just continue to work every single day till we get to that goal.”
The Eagles certainly have the talent on paper and apparently won’t be short on confidence, but with a division that includes the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants it will take more than potential to take the division title in 2017.