Doug Pederson Does Not Plan On Being Andy Reid 2.0
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Doug Pederson was introduced to Philadelphia once again on Tuesday. This time, he was introduced as the team's 23rd head coach.
Pederson was greatly influenced as a player, assistant coach and coordinator by former Eagles head coach Andy Reid. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie emphasized on Tuesday that Reid actually had a hand in Pederson landing with the Eagles.
"The details of Andy Reid's analysis of Doug over the past few weeks was important because it was so thorough. It was extremely valuable," Lurie told the media as he introduced his new coach.
With such great influence from Reid, will Pederson be Andy Reid 2.0 in Philadelphia. The possibility of that has some feeling uneasy because for all the success, Reid ultimately did not win in Philadelphia, and in three seasons since leaving, he still doesn't have the ring he's been chasing.
Despite the influence, Pederson made it clear that fans should not expect a mirror image of the Reid era. It might be similar, but it won't be the same.
"Andy Reid is a mentor," Pederson said on Tuesday. "I'll be the first one to tell you that he is, but I'm also here to tell you that this is not an Andy Reid football team and it's not a Doug Pederson football team. This is a Philadelphia Eagle football team. So, I'm going to bring my spin to it. I'm going to bring my personality to it and we're going to make it our team going forward."
Pederson admitted that consistency and commitment to togetherness is something that he plans to borrow from Reid.
"One thing that I [learned from] Coach Reid over the years, being with him, is his consistency and his message of family first, of trusting one another and you can't sacrifice hard work," Pederson said. "Our training camps were tough. Our practices were tough. But he never wavered from that and I think that consistency has made him a successful football coach in the National Football League and those are the things that I want to bring here."
Pederson also did not totally align his offensive style with Reid. He called it "west coast-ish," and referred to it as a system that will be dictated by the strengths of the pieces that he has on the roster.
While fans may not want all of the Reid era traits back, success over a long period of time is something that Pederson will be fortunate to inherit from Big Red.