LOWER PROVIDENCE TWP. — When Dick Vermeil became head coach of the Eagles in 1976 at the relatively young age of 39, he had an unheard of 10 assistants on his staff.
That was three more than any team at the time, yet far less than the 23-man staff Nick Sirianni has rolled with to produce a 14-3 record and by many accounts, a shot to achieve immortality in the Super Bowl.
“Twenty-three?” Vermeil said with a smile while guesting on WBCB Radio’s Pro Football Report with Merrill Reese. “Well, that’s one reason they can still do a real good job of coaching with only two hours of practice now. We used to practice two-and-a-half to three hours with fewer coaches. Now you can spread the coaching over more people and maybe do every bit as good of a job. They’re certainly doing a great job. They’re getting a lot out of two hours. Probably as much as I was getting out of three.”
Once an Eagle, always an Eagle for the 86-year-old Vermeil, who looks half his age and still loves the game, Eagles fans and being a part of the Philly fabric. The line of patrons seeking a photo with Vermeil stretched all the way to the front door of this Chickie’s and Pete’s Montgomery County location. The Coach accommodated them all.
In this record-breaking season the Eagles have earned the respect of not only their fans but the emotional and passionate man who resuscitated the program. Vermeil guided the Eagles to Super Bowl XV, then 19 years later won a Super Bowl title with Kurt Warner and the St. Louis Rams in 1999. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last summer.
“I really appreciate and respect what they’ve done this year,” Vermeil said of Sirianni’s team. “People don’t realize how hard that is to do. It starts above with the (owner Jeffrey Lurie) and Howie Roseman. Nobody’s done a better job than Howie did this year. Nobody. And when he gives you the good players and you take advantage of their talents and beat good football teams like they have all year, (then) just a remarkable job.”
Like Eagles fans, Vermeil is eager to watch the playoffs unfold this weekend with six games. He wouldn’t be surprised if the sixth-seeded New York Giants knock off the Minnesota Vikings, the third seed, and in doing so become the Eagles’ opponent in the divisional round of the tournament in two weekends.
Vermeil also thinks there are only a couple of NFC teams that have a shot at defeating the Eagles and ending their quest to reach Glendale, Ariz., site of Super Bowl LVII. That would be the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys, in that order.
“They shouldn’t,” Vermeil said. “But you only have to be the best team on game day. Especially now. Unlike the NBA or MLB, it’s not a best-of-seven series. You have to get ’er done today. Sometimes a bad call beats you and sometimes you get the good call. Those other teams I think are just happy to be in the playoffs.”
The way Vermeil views it, with Jalen Hurts putting it all together this season the Eagles have two big concerns: the health of right tackle Lane Johnson, who is trying to delay sports hernia surgery, and the minimal number of opponents who scratch and claw like the 49ers.
The Johnson injury is troubling in that the Eagles are 21-7 (.750) in the Sirianni era when Johnson plays, and 2-4 (.333) when he doesn’t. The opposition has gone out of its way to attack replacement Jack Driscoll.
“What I worry about that is that because of his courage and his toughness and the treatments he’s getting is he feels he can play, and he goes and plays 10 plays, and then all of the sudden he can’t play anymore,” Vermeil said. “Then your other guy has got to step in, and he may not be getting the same preparation to be the starter. I’ve experienced that myself, had it backfire. Johnson is really a finesse tackle. He’s very graceful, great technique guy. You don’t see him physically dominating people. You see him winning the battle all the time. Very clever, very smooth, very graceful, and his guy doesn’t get to the quarterback.”
The other concern is what the Eagles will do when playoff intensity kicks in. To be fair, the schedule is a product of playing NFC teams not nearly as physical as the Eagles, as well as the disastrous NFC South.
“They have a smooth-running offensive scheme and the defense, they’re just so efficient,” Vermeil said of the Eagles. “I don’t know how many times they’ve been tested physically tough. The 49ers are physically tough, and they have been tested. I don’t know if our team has been tested yet, and they will be. How they respond will define what they are.”
In other words, those concerns the Niners will be the party poopers are legit. Even with rookie quarterback Brock Purdy, the 267th and last pick in the draft this past spring, the second-seeded Niners haven’t skipped a beat. They’ve won 10 straight starts, the last five with Purdy handing the ball to Christian McCaffrey, who reminds Vermeil of Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk.
“They’ve very talented on defense, they’re talented on offense,” Vermeil said. “They’ve done a great job of coaching the offensive scheme. It’s a little bit old-fashioned. They come off the ball and there’s a higher percentage of handoffs to the tailback. The I-formation gives the running back a better chance to demonstrate what he can do. There’s too much shotgun in the NFL. You start watching the playoffs, some of the best teams, they’ve got the tailback back there where he can run.”
All that said, Vermeil is all-in with the Eagles, and anxious to see Sirianni and his staff fight their way to the desert.
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Eagles kicker Jake Elliott on Wednesday was named NFC special teams player of the week by virtue of drilling a career-high five field goals and racking up 16 points in the team’s 22-16 win over the Giants.
Elliott nailed field goals of 52 and 54 yards along the way to lead the Eagles to their 14th victory, a single-season franchise record.
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NOTES >> Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards is a Butkus Award finalist with C.J. Mosley (Jets), Roquan Smith (Ravens), Bobby Wagner (Rams), Nick Bolton (Chiefs) and Fred Warner (49ers). … The Eagles practice Thursday and Friday, then get the weekend off to watch the first round of the playoffs.
