During the question-and-answer session on Thursday night, new Arizona Cardinals coach Gannon was lauded for his ability to deal with the media and was asked if that level of comfort came from his time with the Philadelphia Eagles the past two seasons – with the host implying that the Philadelphia media market is tough to handle. It seemed like a relatively harmless question, but Gannon’s response has since caused quite a stir.
Gannon replied to the question acknowledging that Philadelphia is a “very hard media market,” and went on to detail quite a testy interaction he claims occurred with Philadelphia reporters last season.
“I’m very comfortable talking to the media,” Gannon said. “Philly is a very hard media market. We were 9-0 and I did my presser and they say, ‘Coach, we want you fired.’ And I said, ‘We’re the number one defense in the NFL right now, in every statistical category. Why do you want me fired?’ ‘You don’t blitz enough.’ I said, ‘Well we lead the league in sacks by thirty-plus sacks, so if you want to come call the defense, then you can have at it.’”
That would certainly be a harsh interaction with the Philadelphia media, but there’s no indication that it actually happened – or even any other interaction resembling it, for that matter.
As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, the Philadelphia Eagles send out every transcript of every assistant-coach press conference and there was not a single interaction that resembled the one he described here. Florio notes multiple instances where a reporter asked Gannon about the team’s blitzes, but all of them seemed to acknowledge that the Eagles blitz often and effectively.
While Gannon has taken plenty of heat for essentially fabricating an encounter with the Philadelphia media, sports anchor Cameron Cox of NBC affiliate 12NEWs in Arizona came to Gannon’s defense in a tweet.
“I see folks in Philly jumping down JG’s throat for this comment and trying to make it bigger than it was,” said Cox, who was at the event. “While obviously the events he listed didn’t transpire word for word — it’s no secret in Philly his defense at times was a punching bag for sports talk. Nick Sirianni even came out and said so. That was the point he was alluding to and we in that room Thursday night got it… People still taking shots and trying to ask him about the Super Bowl when he’s taken responsibility for it multiple times. Keep it moving.”
Regardless, it is certainly ironic that Gannon caused this whole ordeal while answering a question about how good he is at dealing with the media.
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