“He Lives That Quarterback Style”

On the latest Inside the Birds TV, former Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo joined Geoff Mosher and Adam Caplan to discuss the 2017 Super Bowl run and other memories from his multiple-decade coaching career.

Former Eagles QBs coach John DeFilippo is credited with getting Carson Wentz to play at an elite level.

2017 Super Bowl

“It was very humbling to be part of something that special in an area of country that they longed for that for so long. Just to see the fans’ reactions to when it finally happened, it literally just humbles you to be a part of something that special. When you win something like that, you realize how special it is for so many more people and I think that’s the really cool part of it.”

Carson Wentz

“I pride myself on trying to get to know my guys. I try to know when to push the gas and when to hit the break and know when a guy needs a push, know a guy’s facial expressions, I know when he’s having a bad day, maybe something’s going on off the field. Any quarterback I’ve coached, I think different guys can take different styles. When we drafted Carson, he was one of the most physically gifted quarterbacks I have ever worked with. He has got genius mentality to him in his head. He is beyond bright. He can remember things. He can see things on the field. He can tell you what happened. Obviously, he’s physically as gifted as anybody I’ve coached from an arm talent standpoint to his size to the way he can run, his flexibility, the way he can get out of a mess in the pocket. He has a strong lower body. I could go on all day talking about the positive attributes of Carson Wentz… You don’t have that opportunity a lot to coach these guys. There’s just not enough of them out there.”

Doug Pederson, Frank Reich

“I answered to those guys. If they wanted something done, that got done. If Frank came to me and said, ‘Carson needs to work on intermediate throws to his left,’ the first two things we were doing in practice the next day was something to work on intermediate throws to the left. I think the combination of all three of us working with Carson and being able to each take our own view of it, because we all had a lot of experience from the 30,000-foot level of working with these guys, when we meshed all of the ideas together, I think it helped Carson, it helped Nick [Foles] and so it was really unique.”

Wentz’s 2017 ACL Tear

“That was a tough day. We lost the MVP of the league that day. We all felt bad for Carson. I was like, ‘You better snap out of this and get Nick [Foles] mready to roll.’ It’s full speed ahead, because if you don’t, you’re letting the team down, you’re letting the coaching staff down, you’re letting the guys in the room down. If Nick Foles didn’t think I was giving him my full effort, that would not be acceptable. You had to move on.”

Jalen Hurts

“He’s uber-competitive. Obviously, the athletic traits jump off of the tape at you when you watch him. I interviewed him at the [NFL Scouting] Combine and really enjoyed my conversation with him. He has a little bit of a good confidence to him. I thought from a quarterback standpoint, he’s a very talented guy. He’s got arm talent. He’s another strong guy who can get out of a jam and throws it plenty good enough to make every throw. It’s not shocking to me that he’s having success and the Eagles really like him. From what I heard from some of the guys there is that he really wants to be coached. We talk about living the quarterback lifestyle – you eat football, you sleep football, you breathe football, when you walk around, you’re thinking about football. From what I’ve heard about him, he lives that quarterback style and wants to be great.”

Pederson’s Coaching Style

“I thought I was an aggressive play caller, and then I met Coach Pederson. I didn’t have much of a tie with Coach Pederson and Coach Reich [before Philadelphia]. I just walk up to him one day and say, ‘Hey Coach, from a philosophical standpoint, all off that five-man protections, doesn’t that make you nervous?’ He looks at me and goes, ‘You got to block them.’ They’re learning lessons. That’s how you grow as a coach.”

– Benjamin Paul is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com

Listen to the latest “Inside The Birds TV” podcast featuring Geoff Mosher, Adam Caplan and special guest John DeFilippo:

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