The Philadelphia Eagles interviewed Mike McCoy a week ago for their head coaching position. At the time, it seemed like the Eagles wouldn’t get the chance to hire the Denver Broncos offensive coordinator until after the Super Bowl. But after the Broncos lost to the Baltimore Ravens in double overtime on Jan. 12, McCoy is now available for hire, although his resume took a big hit.
The Broncos needed return touchdowns from Trindon Holliday to get them going in the first and second half, as McCoy’s offense scored only 21 of the Broncos’ 35 points. And when Denver was up 35-28 with minutes left and needed just one more first down to win, McCoy and head coach John Fox never let MVP frontrunner Peyton Manning throw the ball.
It came back to haunt the Broncos when Joe Flacco threw a 70-yard touchdown to Jacoby Jones with a half-minute left, due to a thorough breakdown by the Denver secondary. Then despite having two timeouts left, McCoy and Fox had Manning take a knee to force overtime. That conservative act also came back to haunt the Broncos, although Manning did throw the interception that led to the Ravens’ 38-35 win in the second overtime.
Regardless, now that the Broncos have been eliminated much sooner than expected, teams like the Eagles, Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, San Diego Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars can fully persue McCoy if they want to. However, the Eagles now have many other candidates to speak to, like Gus Bradley, Bruce Arians and Jay Gruden.
The Eagles already interviewed Bradley on Jan. 12, will talk to Gruden on Jan. 14 and will speak to Arians the next day, according to USA TODAY. Once those proceedings are finished, will Philadelphia take another run at McCoy, or will it be ready to hire Bradley, Gruden, Arians or another candidate by then?
CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora tweeted after the Broncos’ loss that the Chargers and Jaguars are expected to interview McCoy. By the time they’re done, the Eagles could already have a new frontrunner, if they don’t already.
The Eagles still have to worry about Bradley’s Seattle Seahawks beating the Atlanta Falcons on Jan. 13, which would keep Bradley unavailable for at least another week. But it seemed to be a given that McCoy wouldn’t be free for another week, yet things turned out quite differently.
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