Getty Safety C.J. Gardner-Johsnon finished tied for the NFL lead in interceptions with 6 after coming over to Philly from New Orleans in a trade.
Jonathan Gannon refused to elaborate too much on what went wrong in Super Bowl LVII when asked about it at the NFL Scouting Combine. He already addressed those mistakes. That game ended almost three weeks ago. And he’s now the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
But, as much as Gannon didn’t want to revisit the Eagles’ 38-35 loss, he was cordial enough to indulge reporters for a few seconds. He blamed the defense’s second-half collapse on himself. He didn’t put his players in a position to make plays. He didn’t coach them up to the best of his ability.
Fair enough, except one of his defensive starters wasn’t buying it. Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson took to social media to roast Gannon and instantly turned into a Philly fan favorite with an incendiary tweet that he quickly deleted.
#Eagles Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson is calling out new #Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon, his former Defensive Coordinator.
He replaced it by writing: “Going back to sleep.” Interesting. Here are the comments from Gannon that Gardner-Johnson was responding to:
“They made a lot of good plays in that second half,” Gannon told reporters. “We weren’t able to get some stops when we needed to, I obviously could have done a better job of coaching a couple of things that I wanted out of the call so tough to swallow when you look back at that because it’s such a big stage and we didn’t get it done for the city, for Mr. Lurie, for Howie, and for the head coach. But, um, learned a lot from it and, you know, you gotta give credit to Kansas City. But, obviously, I could have done a lot better job with what we were doing.”
Gannon Stole Top Eagles Assistant From Nick Sirianni
People were making a fuss over Gannon’s decision not to use Nick Sirianni’s name when thanking the Eagles’ organization in his above comments. He named Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman but referred to Sirianni only as the head coach. Well, it turns out that Gannon stole Eagles linebackers coach Nick Rallis out from under Sirianni.
Gannon hired him as his new defensive coordinator in Arizona after he had interviewed for the same position in Philly. Gannon fessed up to the crime and admitted he “made a mistake,” according to The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane.
Nick Rallis interviewed for the #Eagles DC job, per Nick Sirianni, before Jonathan Gannon hired him to be Cards DC.
Gannon mentioned he “made a mistake” in taking Eagles assistants, referencing the one coach he did take. Sirianni couldn’t block Rallis, though, unless promoted.
This type of stuff happens all the time in the NFL, but Sirianni seemed to take the move personally. He was the one sticking up for Gannon all year when he came under fire from fans and media for not adjusting his scheme. Or not adapting on the fly in big games. Sirianni seemed to address the idea of his former assistants stealing Eagles coaches in a long-winded answer to a question about promoting Brian Johnson to offensive coordinator and maintaining stability for Jalen Hurts. He indicated that Shane Steichen wanted to shake his coaching tree on the way out.
“That was important to keep good people there, because there is no doubt Shane wanted to take some guys there, but they’re Philadelphia Eagles,” Sirianni told reporters. “They’re Philadelphia Eagle coaches, and my job is to keep good coaches in the building because that’s who touches the players every day and helps them get better. When you have to start over, you start over, but when you have good guys there, you want to keep going and keep working and keep things similar.”
Pete Carroll Praises Defensive Coordinator Sean Desai
New defensive coordinator Sean Desai worked under Pete Carroll last season in Seattle. He served as the associate head coach and defensive assistant for the Seahawks. Carroll broke the news that Desai was heading to Philadelphia during his media availability on February 28, adding how much he respected and admired the 39-year-old assistant coach.
“We had a great time. He’s really, really a brilliant football guy,” Carroll said, via NBC Sports Philadelphia. “The background and the information he holds, his access to information is really special. He helped us a ton getting going and making a year’s transition (the Seahawks changed defensive coordinators in 2022). We got along great. It was a good challenge for me. [Desai] comes from a different football background so it was fun to knock heads and always figure it out.”
Pete Carroll praises Sean Desai, the most likely candidate to be the Eagles’ next DC