Philadelphia Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson spectacularly took to social media to fire shots at former defensive coordinator and new Arizona head coach Jonathan Gannon for his poor calls in Super Bowl LVII.
Last month in Arizona, the Kansas City Chiefs secured a dramatic 38-35 win over the Eagles in in an all-time classic Super Bowl contest. Kansas City star quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for 182 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Chiefs to a sensational win, which was secured by kicker Harrison Butker with just eight seconds remaining.
The Chiefs offence ultimately had their way with the Eagles defence in the second half, as Philadelphia let a double-digit lead slip through their fingers. The Eagles had 70 sacks last season - 15 more than any other team in football - but they struggled in the Super Bowl and failed to register a single sack on Mahomes, who took over the game late.
WIP reporter Eliot Shorr-Parks posted a video from the NFL Combine of Gannon discussing the Eagles' heavily criticised second-half defence in Super Bowl LVII, to which the new Cardinals head coach said: “They made a lot of good plays in that second half. We weren’t able to get some stops when we needed to. I obviously could have done a better job of coaching a couple of things that I wanted to call, so tough to swallow when you look back at that because it’s such a big stage and we didn’t get it done for the city, for Mr. Laurie, for Howie, for the head coach.
“I learned a lot from it and you’ve got to give credit to Kansas City but obviously I could have done a lot better job with what we were doing.”
Gardner-Johnson quote tweeted the video and took a shot at his former play-caller. The 25-year-old, who is an impending free agent, said: “You ain't put us in a position to make plays.”
He quickly followed up his inflammatory tweet and said that he was heading back to bed, essentially done with this conversation for the day as he added: “Going back to sleep” - along with a sleeping emoji and two fingers making the peace sign.
The Super Bowl defeat will take some time for the franchise to get over after the vaunted Eagles defence surrendered 38 points to the Chiefs in the defeat. Philadelphia’s offence admirably performed well but the defence failed to make plays - and stops - when it mattered.
The Chiefs did not punt in the second half, with three drives going for touchdowns while their fourth was an agonising drive that killed the clock and concluded with Butker’s championship-winning field goal. It was a heartbreaking end to a stellar season for the Eagles, who lost just three times during a dominant regular season.
While his defensive unit was excellent all year, Gannon will be remembered for failing to deliver on the biggest stage. He can only hope to banish his Super Bowl demons if the 40-year-old wins it all with the Cardinals - but don’t expect Gardner-Johnson to be heading to Arizona in free agency.
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