Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said last week that he was looking forward to returning to Philadelphia for the first time since being fired as the Eagles head coach after the 2020 season and the crowd at Sunday’s game made it clear that they fondly remembered the Super Bowl title that Pederson helped secure during his tenure.
Pederson was greeted with loud cheering before the game and the only boos that could be heard were directed at the Eagles after his Jaguars jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter of the game. The Eagles righted the ship and won 29-21, which Pederson called “unfortunate” while talking about an otherwise warm welcome back in his postgame press conference.
“It was great. It was a great crowd,” Pederson said. “A great welcome. It was good. . . . It was my normal routine, just seeing guys. At the end of the day I have a job to do and get the Jags ready to play. It was good to see a lot of people. When you spend as much time here as we did, do the things we did, it was good to see a lot of people.”
They can’t match the Eagles’ 4-0 record, but Pederson’s gotten the Jaguars off to a solid start to the season and more of the same should make him a popular guy with the fans in Jacksonville as well.