Jonathan Gannon faced plenty of scrutiny after the Eagles gave up 35 points to the Lions in Week 1. After a great performance in Week 2, Gannon was asked how he blocks out scrutiny over his job from the media and fans.
“Fire Gannon” isn’t trending this week, but it sure was last week.
And it tends to every time the Eagles have a bad game defensively.
After the way the defense played in Detroit, it was certainly understandable.
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The Eagles opened the season by nearly blowing a 17-point lead against the Lions, allowing 35 points, 386 yards and 181 rushing yards overall and 21 points and 216 yards after halftime.
Not ideal.
The Eagles escaped with a win, but there was plenty of concern about the defense and Gannon one day into the new season.
And Eagles fans didn’t hide their displeasure in the defensive coordinator.
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Gannon said he learned a long time ago to not pay attention. And he lives by it.
“It’s funny, when you grow up and if you listen to outside noise and you let it affect you – good and bad – it’s a recipe for disaster, so we preach that to our players and we wear it on our sleeves as well,” he said Thursday.
“So honestly, I don’t feel any more pressure from anyone outside of this building. The most pressure I feel is from myself, and that’s how I’ve been since I was a kid.”
All eyes were on Gannon’s defense Monday night, and it responded with a near-perfect performance against a powerful Vikings offense loaded with weapons.
The Eagles won 24-7, and Gannon’s group held the Vikings to 264 yards, limiting star receiver Justin Jefferson to 48 yards and a long gainer of 11 yards and holding three-time Pro Bowler Dalvin Cook to 17 rushing yards on six carries.
It was a defensive masterpiece, and it must have reassured a lot of fans – and probably some people inside the NovaCare Complex – who had some doubts about Gannon’s ability to get good results out of this reshaped defense.
Not everybody has the ability to block out outside noise, and in a city like Philadelphia, you can be in a lot of trouble if you let yourself pay attention.
“I think if you're listening to outside noise and the waves of the season that you will be affected by it,” Nick Sirianni said Wednesday.
“You have to be where you are and that's where I saw Gannon: ‘OK, fine, here’s how we are going to clean this up and here’s what we are going to do this week to put our guys in the best position possible to help them win the game,’ and that's exactly what he did.
“He didn't allow anything to affect him. That's a great quality to have. Not everybody has it and not everybody is built to coach, I get it, not everybody is built to coach in this city or play in this city.
“But that's why we are trying to create this mindset. The common denominator of players that are really good have this mindset of, I am in the moment of where I am right now, and I'm not worried about anything else.
“I don't care what I did in the past. I don't care if it was this good or that bad. I'm right here right now and working on how I'm getting better today because if I continue that trend, I'll get better. That's Gannon, too.”
The Eagles have held 10 of 19 opponents since opening day last year to 18 or fewer points, tied with the Broncos and Bills for most in the league.
We won’t know for a few more weeks whether the Lions game was the outlier or if the Vikings game was, but coming on the heels of an embarrassing performance in Detroit, holding a dynamic offense with Kirk Cousins, Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook to seven points was awfully encouraging.
But now it’s on to the Commanders, who have a hot quarterback, some dangerous weapons and a top-10 offense early on in the season.
“This is a new week and the pressure I have on myself is the same that it was last year, Week 1, Week 2, training camp,” Gannon said. “It really doesn’t matter to me.”