A look at all 18 times the Eagles faced one of their former head coaches originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
With Doug Pederson returning to Philly for the second time as Jaguars head coach, I thought it would be fun to look at all the games the Eagles have played over the years against their former head coaches.
It’s quite a list.
When the Eagles face the Jaguars at the Linc on Sunday, it will be the 19th meeting between the Eagles and one of their former head coaches. The Eagles are 11-7 in the first 18 games.
Eight of the Eagles’ 10 head coaches from 1973 through 2020 faced the Eagles at least once as head coach of another team. The only ones who didn’t are Ray Rhodes and Chip Kelly, who only coached for one year at their next stop – Green Bay for Ray Bob, San Francisco for Chip.
The first time the Eagles faced a former head coach was early in 1972, when Nick Skorich’s Browns came to the Vet.
Skorich had served on Buck Shaw’s coaching staff when the Eagles won the 1960 NFL Championship and became head coach when Shaw retired, but after going 10-4 in 1961 his teams were just 5-20-3 the next two years and he was fired after the 1962 season.
He joined Blanton Collier’s Browns staff in 1963 and was an assistant on the 1964 team that won the NFL Championship. When Collier retired after the 1970 season, Skorich replaced him and spent four years as head coach in Cleveland.
Here’s a look at all 18 previous meetings:
Week 2, 1972, Browns 27, Eagles 17: Gratz graduate Leroy Kelly netted 116 scrimmage yards in the Browns’ 27-17 win at the Vet.
Week 11, 1981, Eagles 38, Colts 13: Colts coach Mike McCormack had been the Eagles head coach from 1973 through 1975. Wilbert Montgomery ran for 115 yards and Ron Jaworski passed for 294 yards and two TDs at the Vet.
Week 9, 1988, Falcons 27, Eagles 24: Buddy Ryan coached against Marion Campbell at the Vet, the first time an Eagles head coach went up against his direct predecessor. Campbell has the worst record of any coach in NFL history but Chris Miller threw three TD passes and Swampy won his only meeting against his former team.
Week 10, 1994, Eagles 17, Cards 7: In the first of two meetings between Rich Kotite and his predecessor, Randall Cunningham threw two TD passes to Fred Barnett, who had 11 catches for 173 yards at the Vet.
Week 12, 1994, Cards 12, Eagles 6: In a game without a touchdown, Buddy evened the score with Richie the K at Sun Devil Stadium thanks to four field goals from Greg Davis.
Week 2, 1995, Eagles 31, Cards 19: A year later, Buddy coached against Ray Rhodes twice. In the first meeting, at Sun Devil, Ricky Watters had 128 scrimmage yards in a big Eagles win.
Week 16, 1995, Eagles 21, Cards 20: In the Ryan-Rhodes rematch at the Vet, Rodney Peete’s 37-yard TD pass to Fred Barnett early in the fourth quarter was the game winner.
Week 16, 1996, Eagles 21, Jets 20: Kotite’s Jets led Rhodes’ Eagles 20-7 in the fourth quarter before the Eagles rallied to win on Ty Detmer TD passes to Chris T. Jones and Irving Fryar at Giants Stadium. That dropped the Jets to 1-14 in 1996, 4-27 in Kotite’s two years with the Jets and 4-35 in his last 39 games as an NFL head coach. He was fired a week later and never coached again.
Week 14, 1998, Eagles 17, Rams 14: In his first trip back to Philly, Dick Vermeil’s 3-9 Rams lost to Ray Rhodes’ 2-10 Eagles at the Vet. Koy Detmer threw TD passes to Irving Fryar and Freddie Solomon.
Week 17, 1999, Eagles 38, Rams 31: A month later the Rams won the Super Bowl, but in the regular-season finale – the final game of Andy Reid’s first year as Eagles head coach – Donovan McNabb outplayed Kurt Warner and threw TD passes to Duce Staley, Chad Lewis and Torrance Small at the Vet.
Week 12, 2001, Eagles 23, Chiefs 10: Reid and Vermeil met again two years later, this time with Vermeil coaching the Chiefs. So as it turned out, Reid and Vermeil were both coaching for teams they took to a Super Bowl and against teams they took to a Super Bowl. Duce Staley had 146 scrimmage yards in the Eagles’ win at Arrowhead Stadium.
Week 4, 2005, Eagles 37, Chiefs 31: Big Red improved to 3-0 vs. Vermeil thanks to Sheldon Brown’s pick-6 off Trent Green and three field goals by substitute kicker Todd France at Arrowhead.
Week 3, 2013, Chiefs 26, Eagles 13: In Reid’s return to the Linc, Reid won his only meeting with his successor, Chip Kelly, with Alex Smith outplaying Michael Vick. LeSean McCoy ran for 158 yards and a touchdown against his former coach.
Week 2, 2017, Chiefs 27, Eagles 20: Eighteen years after Doug Pederson was Andy Reid’s first opening-day quarterback with the Eagles and later an assistant under Reid with both the Eagles and Chiefs, Reid and Pederson coached against each other at Arrowhead, with the Chiefs winning despite 333 passing yards and two TDs by Carson Wentz. The Eagles won their next nine games on their way to the Super Bowl Championship.
Week 4, 2021, Chiefs 42, Eagles 30: Reid faced off against Nick Sirianni in an intriguing matchup at the Linc. Sirianni had been Chiefs wide receivers coach in 2012 and interviewed with Reid when he replaced Romeo Crennel after the 2012 season. At the Linc, Patrick Mahomes threw five TD passes, three to Tyreek Hill, who was 11-for-186.
Week 4, 2022, Eagles 29, Jaguars 24: The Jaguars took an early 14-point lead in Pederson’s return to the Linc, but the Eagles scored 29 straight points to beat the only coach to win a Super Bowl championship with the Eagles. James Bradberry picked off Trevor Lawrence and Miles Sanders rushed for 134 yards and two TDs and had 156 scrimmage yards.
Super Bowl, 2022, Chiefs 38, Eagles 35: No need to go too deep into this one at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ.
Week 11, 2023, Eagles 21, Chiefs 17: Sirianni and the Eagles went into Arrowhead and came from 10 points down to win on a couple Jalen Hurts TD runs. D’Andre Swift had a big game with 107 scrimmage yards and a TD.
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