There’s no love lost between Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and the team’s former defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon.
When speaking to the media on Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Gannon — who was named head coach of the Cardinals following the Eagles’ Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs — spoke about missed opportunities in last month’s crushing 38-35 defeat.
“[The Chiefs] made a lot of good plays in the second half, and we weren’t able to get stops when we needed to,” Gannon said.
“I obviously could have done a lot better job of coaching a couple of things that I wanted out of the calls so, tough to swallow when you look back at that because it’s such a big stage and we didn’t get it done.”
Gardner-Johnson noticed Gannon’s remarks and didn’t hold back criticism of his former coach.
“You ain’t put us in position to make plays,” the 25-year-old defender tweeted Wednesday in a message that has since been deleted.
Although the Eagles are weeks removed from the Super Bowl, the loss still stings for the organization as a whole.
Howie Roseman, the executive vice president of the Eagles, elaborated Tuesday on “Pro Football Talk Live” how Philadelphia plans to make it back to the Super Bowl.
“Just because you say you’re going to get back, every team that loses in the Super Bowl says, ‘We’ll be back, we’ll be back,’” Roseman said. “Well, we’ve got to make that happen. How do we make that happen? By continuing to do the right things, have the right process and give our coaches the right kind of players.”
The Eagles held a 24-14 lead over the Chiefs at halftime before Kansas City’s superstar quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, carried the team on one leg to top Philadelphia in Arizona last month.
Mahomes, who re-aggravated an ankle injury right before the half, sliced through Gannon’s defense, completing 13 of 15 passes for two touchdowns in the second half with the Chiefs scoring on each possession.
Although Gannon is moving forward in Arizona for the 2023 NFL season, he and the Cardinals will play against the Eagles at some point in the year.
