Doug Pederson has chance to take control of message

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PHILADELPHIA — Every new NFL head coach has to tailor his approach to the team he inherited, which often means addressing issues that led to the previous coach’s downfall.

When Andy Reid became head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, he took over from Ray Rhodes. During Rhodes’ four-year tenure, there were a lot of problems. Reid tried to address many of them internally, in terms of discipline and organization.

While Doug Pederson said Sam Bradford was the Eagles’ No. 1 quarterback, coordinators Jim Schwartz and Frank Reich seemed to leave some wiggle room. AP Photo/Matt Rourke

One of the problems Reid perceived was that too many voices were offering too many conflicting points of view about the state of the team. An anonymous assistant coach might tell a reporter something that shifted blame toward some other part of the team, for example.

So Reid issued a list of rules for the media covering the team. The head coach and his coordinators, which included special teams coordinator John Harbaugh, would be available in regular sessions. Position coaches were available only by appointment, through the public relations staff.

Reid’s goal was to control the message coming out of the organization. Only Reid …

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