In (partial) defense of Jonathan Gannon

I think of Jonathan Gannon, and I think of Kendall Roy. I mean that literally. I see Kendall Roy in a headset. The longer Gannon has been gone, the more completely my mind’s eye has erased his image and likeness and replaced them with those of prestige television’s cockiest and most insecure scion. That’s due in part to the uncanny physical resemblance, but mostly to the overall Rockin’-the-Suburbs nature of their swagger, from their shared belief in profanity as the ultimate arbiter of street cred, to the cartoonish lack of self-awareness, to the raging insecurity that bleeds through their bravado.

Jonathan Gannon may not speak in the third person, but he comes across as a guy who thinks in it.

I’m not sure any of that is fair. There’s a chance that Gannon’s public persona is mostly the result of a handful of lapses in judgment, any of which might have been interpreted differently by a fan base and media who deemed him competent at his job rather than the primary culprit for a crushing Super Bowl loss. Gannon may well be the overconfident and underqualified careerist that legend holds him to be. Point is, we were predisposed to think it.

» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni will ‘always root for’ Cardinals’ Jonathan Gannon ... except this week.

One small example can be found in the infamous interview that Gannon gave to The Athletic this summer, when he expressed surprise at Nick Sirianni’s success as Eagles head coach.

“Truthfully, Nick was way better as a head coach than I thought he’d be,” Gannon said.

It was an irresistible piece of catnip for the Internet’s aggregation complex, the headlines and synopses framing the comment in the most dismissive manner possible. To be sure, it was a curious, cringe-worthy choice of words. Yet it was also a prelude to a thought that was as complimentary as it was self-absorbed.

“The detail that Nick demands is [bleeping] nauseating. But I actually needed that in my game,” Gannon continued. “He held my nuts to the fire, where nobody I ever worked for did that.”

If Gannon really did take a heel-turn after that Super Bowl loss, he did a good job of feigning ignorance during a press conference in Arizona on Wednesday, ahead of the Cardinals’ looming visit to Lincoln Financial Field. He said he hadn’t thought about the personal reaction he would receive from the Eagles crowd. He said he was looking forward to seeing both Sirianni and Howie Roseman, the latter of whom was reportedly steamed at the way Gannon handled his departure to Arizona. He laughed and said Sirianni had already told him in person the same thing he said in a radio interview about wanting to make Gannon feel “more than uncomfortable.”

Basically, he said nothing that suggested his return to Philly should bring anything other than a mutual pregame opening of arms followed by football.

“I’ve got nothing but love and respect for all those people there,” Gannon said. “Obviously a great two years for my family and I. You know how tight I am with Nick. But it’s compete, compete, compete. That’s a great place to play. That’s a hostile environment. They were on our side for two years when I was there, but our guys know, we’ve played in some hostile environments, that’s going to be one of them. We’ve got to do a good job of handling the noise and those things and operate at a high level.”

» READ MORE: Hayes: Eagles to fans at the Linc: Shut up (when we’re on offense)

Whatever Gannon’s true self, his caricature has grown to such a proportion that it overshadows the competency he has always possessed. Snicker if you like, but consider the testament served by the first 16 weeks of this Eagles season.

The consensus said that Gannon’s defense underperformed during a two-year run in which it finished among the NFL’s top 10 in fewest yards, including No. 2 in 2022, when the Eagles also allowed the eighth-fewest points. The breakdowns in the Super Bowl that led to a couple of easy red zone touchdowns were the product of a defensive coordinator whose marginal intellect was further compromised by a Cardinals interview process that would eventually cost his soon-to-be employer a draft pick and himself the esteem of his previous bosses.

Less than a year later, Gannon’s successor has already been demoted, and his successor’s replacement has already fallen victim to critical lapses in the defensive backfield. The 340 yards that the Eagles allowed to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl are fewer than they’ve allowed in eight of their 15 games. During Gannon’s two-year tenure here in Philly, the Eagles allowed 400-plus yards in five of the 38 games he coached. This year, they have done it in four of 15.

Gannon may not have been the wunderkind he was sold as being when Sirianni hired him in 2021. He may not have earned the political capital to go on record about his former boss, not the least as a self-proclaimed authority. But everything that we have seen on the field since suggests that Gannon was a decent enough coach. Here, and in Arizona.

The Cardinals are not a good football team. They are especially bad at the things that Gannon is supposed to be good at, ranking 31st in the league in scoring defense and 27th in yardage. But they have spent most of the season looking more competent than predicted. They have wins over a trio of teams that remain alive — to varying degrees — in the playoff hunt. Their Week 3 win over the Cowboys would seem reason enough to take the Cardinals seriously heading into Sunday’s game at Lincoln Financial Field.

Really, though, Gannon himself is the Eagles’ biggest challenge. However much he preaches the just-another-opponent, they’re-all-big-games pablum, he is clearly a man who is not dead inside emotionally, and that’s something he’d need to be to not feel some sort of heightened significance in this game. It might be a stretch to call this his Super Bowl. But it could be the closest he comes to another one.

» READ MORE: Is too much being asked of Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Nolan Smith?

As for Sirianni, Sunday is an opportunity that a team like the Eagles usually does not get in a Week 17 game against a 3-12 team. He needs a win, an impressive one, in the worst way. He needs to reinforce, if not reclaim, the confidence of his players. He needs to win back a fan base that is downright distraught. A blowout of Gannon would serve as a cure for a lot of those ills, whether or not it is deserved.

The Eagles will host the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Lincoln Financial Field.