By MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer
WESTFIELD (AP) — Jonathan Gannon knew Shane Steichen was destined to be an NFL head coach almost from the moment they joined the Philadelphia Eagles staff in 2021.
So Gannon started taking notes.
Now, three years later, the two coordinators who helped lead the Eagles to the 2022 NFC championship, have been reunited for joint practices this week in their new roles — head coaches of the Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts.
“The first thing I noticed is he’s a really great communicator and a great teacher, and you could tell he head the ‘it’ factor,” Gannon said when asked about his thoughts on Steichen. “He is very detailed. I learned a lot from him, but I had to get more detailed just to keep up with him.”
Together, they formed one heck of a tag-team tandem along with the guy who hired them in Philadelphia, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni.
Sirianni and Steichen worked together as offensive assistants with the Chargers before Sirianni left in 2018 to take the Colts offensive coordinator job. Two years later, after the Chargers moved to Los Angeles, Steichen became the Chargers coordinator.
So when Sirianni took the Eagles job in 2021, he brought Steichen to lead an offense that flourished as Jalen Hurts emerged as an MVP candidate.
Gannon also had a Sirianni connection going back to their Indianapolis tenures when Gannon was the Colts defensive backs coach in 2018. Three years later, Gannon followed Sirianni to Philadelphia for a chance, his first, at being defensive coordinator.
It was there that things really took off.
“Shane’s as good as they come,” Gannon said. “We worked for a really good boss, but we were kind of in the foxhole together and really learned a lot about him.”
The trio took the Eagles to the playoffs in their first season together then helped the Eagles land the NFC’s top seed with a 14-3 mark while reaching the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl.
Not surprisingly, their successful runs instantly turned Gannon and Steichen into hot commodities as head coaching candidates. It didn’t take long for both to leave the Eagles and pursue their passions as head coaches.
Steichen wasn’t surprised.
“Absolutely great leader,” Steichen said of Gannon. “The two years I was working in Philly, just a tremendous guy, great energy. You can feel him on the defensive side of the ball, and then sometimes as a coordinator you get a chance to talk to the team in team settings. And when he spoke, you could feel he would be a great head coach.”
How successful either will be remains to be seen.
Neither made the playoffs last season. Neither is considered the favorite to win their respective divisions this season. Both are relying on high-profile draft picks who are tabbed as franchise quarterbacks and who each have injury histories. And both are trying to solidify their receiving groups and while getting their defenses to make big jumps in 2024.
But the coaching intangibles haven’t changed, and it’s a primary reason they agreed to hold two workouts against one another at Grand Park Sports Campus in suburban Indianapolis — prior to Saturday’s second preseason game.
The shoving matches and fights that have become a feature of other joint practices were largely avoided over both days, though a minor scuffle between the teams occurred on a kickoff drill Thursday night.
It was all by design.
“Shane’s got like eight plans, but the practice schedule will be the same as yesterday,” Gannon said before the rain arrived Thursday. “I thought it (Wednesday) was a pretty clean practice, the right way, good intensity. I thought we did a good job, both teams did a good job of protecting their teams as well.”
Steichen said Thursday he would not play his starters Saturday night. Gannon said he wouldn’t decide until later this week.
While they were all business on the field, off it they got a chance to share some time together.
When the Cardinals arrived in Westfield, on Tuesday night, Steichen took the Cardinals coaches to dinner — with his trademark script.
“As soon as we packed into that restaurant, he put up a Power Point — this is where we’re going, this is what we’re doing,” Gannon said with a laugh. “I know how he runs his team, I know how we practice, I know how they practice. It just matched up for us to come and get some good work in.”
