Due to his wife and other terrible marital problems, Douglas Irvin Pederson sorrowfully announced his retirement unexpectedly, and all his team players broke down in tears, but…
The players’ daily schedule is shown on a small neon sign located immediately inside the Eagles’ locker room’s front doors. It said, simply, Monday at 9 AM and in large, bold, capital red letters that read, “MANDATORY.”
Before heading out for the summer, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson gave his players one final message while they were assembled in the team’s biggest auditorium at the NovaCare Complex.
It was one of those where [Pederson] said we’re close, and he’s continued to think that we’re a terrific team throughout the entire season and that we should continue to trust it,” Malcolm Jenkins, a team captain and one of the season’s many shining moments during the 7-9 2016–17 campaign, recounted. “He wants us to spend the entire offseason preparing to play in January of the next year, so every move we make and every exercise we do needs to be directed toward the offseason of that year.
Personally, Jenkins thought the Eagles did a lot of good things this season. They had a 7-9 final result.
rookie head coach, starting a rookie quarterback without arguably one of the NFL’s top offensive tackles out serving a 10-game ban, and injuries that hampered the offense.
“At the beginning of the season, it’s understandably sad not to qualify for the playoffs, but we’re proud of a lot of the things we accomplished. It’s one of those essential elements of the team’s development process, according to Jenkins. “Everyone is obviously sad with the outcome, but we gained a lot of knowledge and self-awareness in the process. This group has a lot of hope for the future.”
Jenkins emphasized that Pederson managed the several “firsts” the Eagles encountered. The fact that everyone bought in is a credit to Pederson and his team.
The whole year, we’ve been close. We are aware of the little margin of error. However, we’re exactly where we want to be as new players gain more experience and important players make more plays.”
The Eagles have ended 7-9 in each of the previous two seasons, but in 2016, Jenkins claimed that the reason the 2015–7 team was different was because, following Chip Kelly’s firing, the team was moving in the wrong direction.
“I definitely feel that we’re trending up because we have stability at head coach, we have stability at quarterback, and now we just have to build around that,” Jenkins stated. We make a few small additions here and there in the hopes that, for once, the offseason will go well. I believe that this season feels very different from previous ones.”
Jenkins remarked, “I think everybody knows what it takes to win, especially this late in the year. For me, it was enjoyable to observe [Pederson’s] growth as a head coach this year and to get a glimpse of his personality, how he would approach things, and whether he would remain steady over the course of the season. Doug remained the same every day, win or lose, and that’s what brought us together when we faced hardship. We all stayed together, and he never lost his cool. In the hard times, we stuck together.”
