‘This is Philly’: Former Eagles coach Doug Pederson ready to return to Lincoln Financial Field with the Jaguars

Pederson was fired after a 4-11-1 campaign in 2020 and took a year away from football last season, but said he isn’t dwelling on what went wrong during his tenure in Philadelphia.

Doug Pederson is drawing on his experience coaching a young Eagles team in 2016 as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.Read moreMarcio Jose Sanchez / AP

by EJ Smith

Published Sept. 28, 2022, 5:41 p.m. ET

Doug Pederson is eager to return to Lincoln Financial Field for the first time as an opposing head coach.

The Jacksonville Jaguars coach, who led the Eagles to a Super Bowl in the 2017 season, said Wednesday he was excited to return to the Linc for the first time since spending five years as Eagles head coach.

Pederson was fired after a 4-11-1 campaign in 2020 and took a year away from football last season but said he wasn’t dwelling on what went wrong during his tenure in Philadelphia.

“That was a long time ago,” he said. “Two years ago. Listen, I’ve got to get my team prepared. I’m personally looking forward to coming back to Philly. Obviously got a lot of fond memories there, and what we did in 2017 is something we’ll always remember, right?”

Pederson finished his Eagles tenure with a 42-37-1 record, three playoff berths, and four postseason wins. His aggressive play-calling style and offensive scheme featuring frequent run-pass option plays were instrumental in the Eagles’ championship run and helped turn Carson Wentz into an MVP candidate.

He was fired after a disappointing 2020 season that saw Wentz regress considerably as the Eagles missed the playoffs.

Pederson’s first season with the Jaguars is somewhat reminiscent of his first two years with the Eagles. He has helped second-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence take a leap and has the Jaguars atop the AFC South at 2-1 going into the weekend.

Jacksonville is one win away from tying its win total from last season, which was marred by multiple controversies that led to Jacksonville firing Urban Meyer during his lone season.

The Eagles won three straight games in 2016 under Pederson, which is something the coach said he has drawn off of now that he’s in a similar situation.

“Obviously looking back on that, you pull a lot of similarities,” Pederson said. “It’s really shaped who I am now as a second-time head coach in this league and again with a young football team. ... I would say that we’re probably ahead of the curve here with this football team than we were in ’16, but it’s a work in progress, too.”

As far as the reception Pederson expects to get from Eagles fans in attendance, he said he’s hopeful the ovation Chiefs coach Andy Reid got in his first game back after spending 14 years with the Eagles will be the template.

“I remember back when I was with the Chiefs [with] Coach Reid and we came back and he got a standing ovation,” said Pederson, who was Kansas City’s offensive coordinator at the time. “Hopefully it’s in that realm. But, look, this is Philly, anything is possible with these fans. I’m just looking forward to 1 o’clock there.”

Eagles center Jason Kelce, one of the roughly two dozen players who remain from Pederson’s tenure with the team, said he expects the feeling of seeing his former coach to be like his first time playing against Reid as well.

“It’ll probably be similar to seeing Andy when he first came back to the Linc,” Kelce said. “Obviously, we had a lot of success with Doug, played a lot of football with him, won a Super Bowl with the guy.”

Although Pederson is focused on developing his own young quarterback, he had high praise for Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Hurts is off to an impressive start this year and has been one of the league’s most productive quarterbacks through three games. Pederson, who was part of the group that drafted Hurts in the second round in 2020, said the success Hurts has managed so far isn’t a surprise to him.

“Nothing surprises me with Jalen, just knowing the type of person he is,” Pederson said. “When the Eagles drafted him back in 2020, everything you’re seeing now is everything we saw in him when we drafted him. Number one, he’s a tremendous person. There’s stability around him now with the coaching staff’s second year in the system. You’re seeing the growth not only in the quarterback but also in the team with some of the pieces around him.

“He’s going to defy all odds. That’s just the way his career has been built. He’s overcame adversity everywhere he’s been, at Alabama, at Oklahoma. I’m not surprised he’s playing this well.”