Long before Doug Pederson was the head coach of the Eagles he was a player in the NFL. In fact, Pederson was at one point on the Packers and a backup for Green Bay legend Brett Favre.
In answering some questions the head coach recalled his past as a Packer and likened his current Eagles team to the championship Packers of the 1990s.
What was said?
Pederson probably did not mean to cause analysts to compare his team to Super Bowl champions. Pederson even seemed reluctant to use the Packers teams he played on in his example, as many of his sentences on the subject were not even statements.
"I look back at my time in Green Bay as a player when we were making those playoff runs and those Super Bowl runs there, and do we have as much talent on this [Eagles] team than we did then? We probably have more talent, right?" Pederson said according to ESPN.
As unsure as Pederson even was in drawing the comparison, it does show he has a level of confidence in the raw ability of his team. Though Pederson also noted that talent does not get you very far in a league that is filled with high-level athletes. Pederson referred back to the 2011 season where the Eagles had tons of talent but did not execute on the field in the way they were expected to.
While Pederson's comparison to Super Bowl championship teams may have been poor, he does raise a point about talent only going so far.
Are the Eagles going to be any good?
The Eagles have not won a playoff game in nearly a decade. In fact, they have not been at an elite level for much longer than that. Last year though they did emerge as a playoff contender for the future. Their young quarterback Carson Wentz had an impressive season, with stretches of games where he looked practically unstoppable.
The young phenom even set an NFL record as he now holds the record for most pass completions in a season by a rookie. So what can be expected next year? The coach has some answers.
Pederson has big expectations for his team, perhaps not as lofty as the Super Bowl Packers of the 1990's that he made a comparison to, but still pretty big.
"If we win eight, go 8-8, is that a successful year? No. ... I don't coach to be average, I'll tell you that," Pederson told ESPN. Pederson went on to explain that his team and the organization don't work so hard to be just a mediocre unimpressive team.
Pederson did reaffirm that his team was about at the same talent level as the 1990's Packers but needed to come together a bit more in order to achieve success.