Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard

🦅 NFC title time | Sports Daily Newsletter

Fired by the Eagles, Brian Johnson returns with the Commanders.

Brian Johnson last January during his only season as offensive coordinator for the Eagles. He'll be on the opposing sideline on Sunday.
Brian Johnson last January during his only season as offensive coordinator for the Eagles. He'll be on the opposing sideline on Sunday. Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

At this point last year, the Eagles had crashed and burned out of the playoffs, losing six of their last seven games. One year ago yesterday, they fired their offensive coordinator, Brian Johnson.

Suffice it to say that both the team and its former employee have rebounded nicely.

The Eagles are six-point favorites Sunday in the NFC championship game against the upstart Washington Commanders, whose assistant head coach and offensive pass game coordinator is none other than Brian Johnson.

It made perfect sense for first-year Commanders coach Dan Quinn to bring in Johnson to work with Jayden Daniels, the Heisman Trophy winner and second overall pick in the 2024 draft. Johnson was a quarterbacks coach here and helped Jalen Hurts develop into a Super Bowl QB in his second full season as a starter.

Now Daniels is an overwhelming favorite to be named offensive rookie of the year. On Dec. 22, he threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to upset the Eagles. Some of the credit for his rise should go to Johnson.

“He’s one of the smartest offensive minds I’ve been around, honestly,” said Kliff Kingsbury, Washington’s offensive coordinator. And Johnson is living proof that a lot can happen in the NFL in a year.

— Jim Swan, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

The Eagles will square off with the Washington Commanders in the NFC championship game 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.

A.J. Brown reading Jim Murphy’s Inner Excellence on the sideline during the Eagles’ wild-card win over the Green Bay Packers took on a life of its own. Just ask Moro Ojomo.

The little-known Eagles defensive tackle was actually the person who gave Brown the book and couldn’t have foreseen the media circus that followed.

“I read it one day and had it on my heart that A.J. would like it. … I think it was God,” Ojomo said. “I had it on my heart to give it to him. I didn’t think it would result into what it has.”

But while Ojomo is best known at the moment for his book recommendations, the defensive tackle has quite a story of his own, as Matt Breen writes.

In other news, Jalen Hurts and Quinyon Mitchell look good to go for Sunday’s conference championship game, but two other key Eagles may be less of a certainty.

If Hurts chooses to run the ball on Sunday, “we’re going to treat him like a running back, and we’re going to hit him that way,” says Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr.

On the other side of the ball for Washington is another familiar face: former Eagles receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, who starred at St. Joseph’s Prep.

Anthony Richard has spent his career bouncing between the NHL and the American Hockey League trying to prove he belongs at the highest level. He seemed to do that in November with an impressive seven-game stint that included two goals and six points. But Richard was still sent down on Nov. 23, a casualty of the Flyers’ roster issues.

Now, the 28-year-old is back and says he plans on just repeating what made him successful earlier this season. Will it be good enough for him to stick for good this time?

The Flyers saw their season-high six-game point streak come to an end against the New York Rangers in a 6-1 road loss. The Orange and Black’s three-game winning streak also came to an end.

“I really don’t like losing,” Tyrese Maxey says. “But I think my challenge is, right now, just to keep everybody positive, keep everybody together, and keep everybody coming in and doing their job.”

A challenge, indeed. The 76ers are fresh off an 0-3 road trip during which they racked up losses to the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Denver Nuggets, extending their losing streak to seven games. During yet another rough road trip, The Inquirer’s Gina Mizell chronicled the good, the bad, and the ugly.

If there are second acts in life, it is only fitting that Ray Didinger and Glen Macnow are seeing theirs play out in the theater. Didinger, the former Daily News sportswriter, is working on his second play after the success of Tommy and Me. Macnow, his talk show partner for years on WIP and a former Inquirer sportswriter, has taken up acting in local productions. Maybe they can team up someday in The Odd Couple.

Philly fan photo

Here is our Philly fan photo for this week as part of our Friday lineup. We’ll need you to submit photos with a Philly sports theme to keep this feature going. Send your photos here for the opportunity to be featured.

Worth a look

  1. In the swim: Olympian Matt Fallon has assimilated back into student life at Penn.

  2. Big on the boards: St. Joseph’s Laura Ziegler is among the NCAA leaders in rebounds.

  3. Girls' hockey: The Philadelphia Liberties are catching on.

Jeff McLane shines a spotlight on Jalen Carter, the newly minted first-time All-Pro and linchpin of the Eagles’ top-ranked defense, following his clutch performance against the Rams. Listen here.

What you’re saying about the Eagles

We asked you: Is this the most prosperous era of Eagles football? Among your responses:

Personally I don’t believe there is a manager in the NFL or AFL that can compare to Andy Reid. He’s truly in a league of his own. … Let’s not forget Philly management felt he was too old to manage and fired him. One would have to live under some rock not to see what Andy Reid has done in Kansas City. Too old; can’t coach — what a joke.

On the other hand Nick Sirianni has done a very good job and should be applauded for what he has done with the Eagles since taking over from Andy. The City of Brotherly Love should be thankful and full of accolades for Sirianni and his managers. I’m crossing my fingers that Kellen Moore is not chosen by the Cowboys; what a loss that would be.

In their own right, each — Andy or Nick — has brought their skills, talent, and much enjoyment to the Eagles. Yet, there is only one Andy Reid.— Karen L.

From my perspective, the most prosperous era of Eagles football is the Doug Pederson era because they won a Super Bowl Championship. That will be the gold standard until another coach wins a Super Bowl in the future. — Paul C.

I think Reid was a better coach (far better) with a less talented team, whereas Siriani is an average coach with a richly talented team, on both sides of the ball, and including special teams (maybe minus our kicker?). If we meet the Chiefs in the Super Bowl this year and swap coaches, we win 9 out of 10 times. — Joe S.

Andy Reid only went to one Super Bowl (never won one) despite going to 4 consecutive NFC Conference Championship games. If you’re looking for championships the 1948 and 1949 Eagles won back to back championships (before my time). If Nick Siriani can win it all this year and the future looks bright, then you might have to say this era. Most fun — Buddy Ryan never got near a Super Bowl but his teams were fun. They had the most exciting player in the game, QB Randell Cunningham (who also holds the Eagle record for longest punt, 91 yards), yet the fans wanted to see the defense on the field. Phil Simms once said a HS QB could throw for 300 yards against the 46 defense. And sports talk radio was filled with Buddy Backers vs. Buddy Bashers. Hard to top for “most fun.” But then again, there was, “The guy in France…" — Bart S.

Andy was a great coach up to a point. His time management was terrible, he thought he could get away with mediocre receivers and a great QB The only time we made it to the SB was with Terrell Owens. He should have stepped away for a while after his son died because it all went downhill from there. We should have had at least two SB wins during the 6 year span (2000 to 2006) but we lost to a couple of mediocre teams in the NFC Div playoffs. He learned a lot in Philly and took that experience to the Chiefs. I still find it hard to root for him. The rest is history. — Steve C.

Yes, I think this is the most prosperous era of Eagles football and it may just be getting started under Sirianni, Roseman, and Lurie. I have been a fan since 1948. … From 2000 to 2010, Andy Reid had some excellent teams, but could not win the Super Bowl and eventually became ineffective and left for Kansas City. Doug Pederson had our best year in history in 2017 with a loaded team who went on to win our first SB with Nick Foles in charge. They could not continue the success though and were once again failing until Sirianni took over now have the chance to return to a 2nd SB with a star loaded team that really has a chance to win it all. — Everett S.

… Season ticket holders at Franklin Field, The Vet, Lincoln Financial. Attended my very first Eagles game at Connie Mack Stadium against the Baltimore Colts. ...There is no question in my mind, except for our Super Bowl Sunday win, the Nick Sirianni era has been the most fun, the most exciting with the most anxiety and the most expensive. We even were at the Super Bowl in Jacksonville when tickets were affordable. Now you have to take a second mortgage on your home. Just feeling blessed that we were able to have had so much fun and excitement during my lifetime. — Ron R.

As a season-ticket holder for 55 years, I can safely say that the team has dramatically improved since we had seats in the very last row at Franklin Field. The Vermeil years brought us out from purgatory, the Buddy Ryan years saw a dramatic improvement in talent on the field but mediocre coaching from the sidelines, the Andy Reid years put talent and coaching at the highest level, Doug Peterson brought the trophy home with magic in a bottle from Nick Foles, but with the combination of Howie Roseman’s intellect and Sirianni’s motivational skills, the Eagles are now at the zenith of their 92-year history. — Ward G.

While the past 3 years we have seen the Eagles excel, the current body of work does not yet compete with the Andy Reid years. Andy led the team to 5 NFC championship games, (four of those consecutively), though only one Super Bowl appearance. However the dominance and excitement of that era still resonates with me as the golden years of Eagles Football. A super bowl win this year could tip the scales! — Bob C.

That’s a hard question. The Andy Reid era was wonderful for us over-70 fans, as we hadn’t seen a good Eagles team except 1949 and 1960, and even they were short-time wonders. During his 14 seasons as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Andy Reid’s record was 130 wins, 93 losses, and 1 tie. This gave him a winning percentage of .583 and the most wins in franchise history. We had 10 playoff wins, and 6 division titles. He got the team to the playoffs in 9 of his first 10 years. Then, the only Super Bowl win came before Sirianni. When the Sirianni era produces somewhere near these results, my vote could be for him. Of course, he could prejudice my opinion and eclipse Reid by winning a Super Bowl, NOW or very soon. Winning is the most fun. — John W.

The Greasy Neale era produced the only championship teams in NFL history to win back-to-back shutouts. — Jack S.

… Today’s Eagles are very good, Randall Cunningham was a great player & Andy Reid will go down as one of the Greatest Coaches! Nick Siriani [stinks]! … Dick Vermeil was a players coach & he loved the game and Andy is that way! — Philip A.

The schedule

  1. The Sixers host the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight at 7 (NBCSP).

  2. The Flyers visit the New York Islanders tonight at 7:30 (NBCSP+).

  3. The Eagles host the Washington Commanders in the NFC championship game on Sunday at 3 p.m. (Fox29).

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Jeff McLane, Olivia Reiner, EJ Smith, Matt Breen, Jeff Neiburg, Gina Mizell, Conor Smith, Jackie Spiegel, Isabella DiAmore, Alex Coffey, Mia Messina, and Lochlahn March.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Have a great weekend. I’ll see you in Monday’s Sports Daily. — Jim