Former New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo fired shots all over the place in his first public comments since his firing last year. One of his targets was the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. McAdoo raised doubts about the defending champions’ ability to handle their newfound success.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has responded to McAdoo’s controversial comments, saying that while the ex-Giants coach has a point, he doesn’t believe it will apply to his team.
“I think there’s a point there. I mean, quite honestly, complacency can set in. You can skip an OTA, you can maybe skip a workout or whatever. But what I saw from our players was not that. Our players showed up for OTAs, they spent time getting themselves ready,” Pederson said per Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
“I did my part to help take care of the veteran players who played a ton of snaps last fall. And our guys have kind of moved on from last season. They’re looking forward to this season. And it is my job to make sure they don’t get complacent and we stay hungry and there is an edge. And we’re going to get everybody’s best each week and that’s what we want. I think anybody that plays on Sunday wants to play the best.”
Of course, this is pretty much what you’d expect Pederson’s response of McAdoo’s criticism to be. He’s going to play up his players’ hunger and dedication to repeat this season amid the very real possibility of complacency setting in.
Everyone will just have to wait and see who ends up being proven right, McAdoo or Pederson. But after Pederson and co. proved their doubters wrong last season, be careful betting against them this season.
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