On the day when head coach Andy Reid gave his post-mortem on the Eagles' 2010 season, he addressed the status of both his offensive and defensive coordinators.
On the offensive side of the ball, there have been rumors that Marty Mornhinweg is drawing interest in league circles as a possible head coaching candidate, specifically in Cleveland, where Mornhinweg has connections to team president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert. However, Reid said there haven't been any official inquiries for an interview from the Browns as of yet.
"I haven't received any papers on that," Reid said.
Yet, while Reid would love to have Mornhinweg back next season to head an offense that set a franchise record in points scored for the third consecutive season, he also said that Mornhinweg fits the mold of a successful would-be head coach.
"Marty was my graduate assistant at one time, so he and I have known each other a long time and I'm a big fan of his," Reid said. "So I would love him to have an opportunity to be a head football coach in this league, again. I think he deserves that opportunity. There are some great second-time head coaches out there, (New England Patriots head coach) Bill Belichick and (New York Giants head coach) Tom Coughlin being the two great ones. And so, I think statistically if you look at things for second-time head coaches, Marty certainly fits a lot of the criteria that makes him a worthy candidate for a position. So it's just a matter of, you know, an owner going in that direction or president, whoever it might be who's making that decision, going in that direction. But I think if you interview Marty Mornhinweg it doesn't take you long to figure out that he knows what he's talking about."
On the other side of the ball, Reid answered unequivocally "yeah," when asked if defensive coordinator Sean McDermott would return in 2011. The Eagles defense held the Packers below their season average of 24.3 points in the season-ending loss, though Reid said the third-down and red-zone defense will require off-season maintenance.
"I would tell you you're dealing with a guy that's a tremendous worker and is a very smart individual," Reid said of McDermott. "And so I look at it a little bit different than what you do in that I've seen him work with young guys, I've seen him work through injuries, I've seen him stay positive through those situations and still put us in a position to win football games and knowing that he's going to do nothing but improve as a coach, just like all of us, with experience. And so, I have a lot of respect for him and the way that he does business.
"I appreciate the coaches that I have and the job that they've done."
-- Posted by Bo Wulf, 5:18 p.m., January 10
