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PHILADELPHIA — Jonathan Gannon is fully aware of the vitriol he gets from the city of Philadelphia. The man blamed for the Eagles losing Super Bowl LVII, who never came back on the plane to Philadelphia and elected to stay in Arizona to take the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job, Gannon had every chance to rub salt in the wounds of a reeling organization after the Cardinals’ upset win in Week 17.
Instead, the former defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles took the high road. All Gannon did was help Arizona take away the NFC East lead from the Eagles by erasing a 15-point halftime deficit — the franchise’s biggest blown halftime lead since 2011.
Gannon had his chance to gloat, smirk. Instead, his response showed why the Cardinals have overachieved with the roster they have.
“I feel good for the players. Not for me, man,” Gannon said. “I feel good for the players.”
The Cardinals weren’t supposed to be average in 2023. They certainly weren’t supposed to beat the Eagles, a team that entered Sunday’s game 11-4 and had the NFC East in front of them. All Philadelphia had to do was beat the 3-12 Cardinals and the 5-10 new York Giants (entering Week 17) to capture the NFC East title. Home-field advantage was still up for grabs (the Eagles needed was a San Francisco 49ers loss) and the road to the Super Bowl would have gone through Philadelphia again.
This time, Gannon really did ruin the Eagles’ season. At the very least, he made the path to the Super Bowl harder for his former team.
“I’m happy for the players. Honestly, obviously the year has been a tough year. We didn’t do enough to earn the right to play in January,” Gannon said. “So you know, I was really proud of them, down 21-6 versus a good team. You could lay down there and get beat by 30. Guys did not do that. So really just happy for the guys, how they responded all week. And a good win down the road versus a…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/do-eagles-miss-jonathan-gannon-culture-cardinals-coach-takes-the-high-road-after-upsetting-former-team/
Author : Jeff Kerr
Publish date : 2024-01-01 16:29:14
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