Doug Pederson had absolutely no idea what he had done when he won for the Browns 16 years ago.
For his sake, let’s hope Pederson, who is making his debut as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, grasps fully what he has done if he beats the Browns on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in the regular-season opener.
Pederson was signed in an emergency move in 2000 after the Browns, as has been their practice throughout the expansion era, ran into major injury problems at quarterback. He didn’t do very well overall, throwing for just two touchdowns with eight interceptions with a brutal 56.6 passer rating.
But he did have one shining moment. It came on Nov. 12 at then Cleveland Browns Stadium when he directed a 19-11 over head coach Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots.
Now, don’t get overly excited. These weren’t anything close to the juggernaut Patriots of today, nor was Belichick the future Pro Football Hall of Fame coach he is now. He was in his first year in New England and well on his way to a dismal 5-11 finish. After his failures at Cleveland from 1991-95, Belichick’s star was pretty dim at the time.
He was still a hated figure in Cleveland for unceremoniously cutting the popular Bernie Kosar midway through the 1993 season. So when something negative happened to Belichick, it made Browns fans happy.
As such, then, this was a happy day for the fans as Pederson threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Aaron Shea and the always-reliable Phil Dawson (are you listening, Joe “The Genius” Banner?) kicked four field goals to get the win. Pederson completed 20 of 37 passes for only 138 yards, but he was not intercepted.
The Browns ended a seven-game losing streak and improved their record to 3-8. They would lose their final five games to finish 3-13, causing head coach Chris Palmer to get fired after just two seasons.
After Pederson had finished his post-game press conference, I cornered him.
“Do you know what you just did?” I asked him.
Then before giving him a chance to answer, I explained, “You beat the hated Bill Belichick!”
He looked at me with a blank stare, as if I had two heads. It was as if I was speaking a foreign language to him.
I guess Pederson wasn’t up on his Browns history.
Whatever the case, but Pederson had better be up on his Eagles history. The previous coach, Chip Kelly, was fired midway through his third season after going 10-6 in each of his first two years. So if Pederson doesn’t win – and win REAL big — right away, then he could be history.
He needs to grasp that.
