The Philadelphia Eagles made Gus Bradley look like their new head coaching favorite over the weekend. Yet the Eagles had to watch Bradley’s Seattle Seahawks defense come up rather short in the playoffs to end the weekend. But despite that horrible closing statement on Jan. 13, Philadelphia is allegedly giving him another shot anyway.
CBS Philly reported on Jan. 15 that Bradley is not only coming to Philadelphia for a second interview, he may be there to “finalize” a contract. The report cites local radio host Howard Eskin as a source, who alleges that no deal is done yet, but that Bradley is there to get it done.
The only reason Bradley is available to hire now is because he did not do his regular job on Jan. 13. If he had, then the Seahawks wouldn’t have faced a 27-7 deficit to the Atlanta Falcons after three quarters, and wouldn’t have given up a miraculous 28-27 lead in the final 25 seconds. Such a tank job had to sour some of the Eagles’ faithful on hiring Bradley, but that may not apply to Jeffrey Lurie or Howie Roseman.
The Eagles did talk to former Arizona Cardinals head coach and recurring nemesis Ken Whisenhunt on Jan. 14, and Eskin did claim that he is “the other frontrunner.” Although Whisenhunt ended his Arizona tenure on a 1-11 skid, just as Andy Reid did in Philadelphia, his experience in beating the Eagles over the years had to intrigue Lurie and Roseman. Whether that balances out his ugly last three years with the Cardinals is uncertain.
Likewise, it is uncertain whether Bradley’s last terrible game in Seattle should overshadow the previous 17 in 2012. In those games, the Seahawks had the stingiest defense in the NFL and shut down the hobbled Washington Redskins in the wild card round on Jan. 6. That is one more playoff win that the Eagles have had since 2009, although the Seahawks should have had two more.
As it turns out, one bad performance may just turn out for the best for Bradley. However, whether it is best for the Eagles is another matter altogether. But it may be moot in the next 24 hours, depending on how these supposed negotiations with Bradley go.
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