RIP Eagles DC Jim Johnson

very sad to hear he lost his battle with cancer. i always liked and respected jim johnson. one of best coordinators of all time. rip.

Yeah on the serious, he was a pretty good dude. Had a strong sense of family. Didn't crave accolades, just came to work every day year in year out and worked hard. Being local to Philly, I'd hear him give the occasional interview to local TV or radio and he seemed like an admirable guy.

Can't say I mind having both him and Spagnuolo out of the division, though.

Yeah on the serious, he was a pretty good dude. Had a strong sense of family. Didn't crave accolades, just came to work every day year in year out and worked hard. Being local to Philly, I'd hear him give the occasional interview to local TV or radio and he seemed like an admirable guy.

Can't say I mind having both him and Spagnuolo out of the division, though.

That's what I liked about him. Very under publicized coordinator & didn't ever appear in any reports as a potential head coach. He was the ideal nfl coordinator & really did a great job of getting that D to step up every game.

I always thought that those good philly teams of the early to mid 2000s were relatively easy to move the ball on between the 30s, but once you got in their territory they locked down & brought serious pressure.

On a self-centered skins fan note: I hope this doesn't inspire their team to play over their heads.

Wow. R.I.P. Jim Johnson. Looking at this as a fan of the game and not the Redskins we've just lost one of the brilliant d-coordinators of the last generation. My heart goes out to his family, it always seems like cancer is just one of those diseases that is a never ending battle that always wins in the end. Even though he was the d-coordinator of a team that I dislike immensely I give him a lot of credit for being one the premier defensive minds in the game. You always knew his defenses came to play. Unfortunately the Eagles will use this as big motivation for the season but nothing ever came easy so I'm looking forward to the challenge of playing them twice this season.

On a side note, is anyone else not happy with how ESPN is devoting 95% percentage of their coverage to Brett Favre staying retired? I would think losing a man like Jim Johnson is more important than playing up to a diva like Brett.

thought the exact same thing.

Jim Johnson should be in the HoF. I don't feel like I hop on that "He died, he deserves the HoF" bandwagon often. However, this guy changed the way defense was played and his aggressive nature was loved by his players and hated by opposing defenses. The NFL definitely lost a good one in Jim Johnson.

Wow. R.I.P. Jim Johnson. Looking at this as a fan of the game and not the Redskins we've just lost one of the brilliant d-coordinators of the last generation. My heart goes out to his family, it always seems like cancer is just one of those diseases that is a never ending battle that always wins in the end. Even though he was the d-coordinator of a team that I dislike immensely I give him a lot of credit for being one the premier defensive minds in the game. You always knew his defenses came to play. Unfortunately the Eagles will use this as big motivation for the season but nothing ever came easy so I'm looking forward to the challenge of playing them twice this season.

On a side note, is anyone else not happy with how ESPN is devoting 95% percentage of their coverage to Brett Favre staying retired? I would think losing a man like Jim Johnson is more important than playing up to a diva like Brett.


I was asking myself the same thing. Jim Johnson was a great football figure and they barely even paid him his dues. The Brett Favre thing had become such a circus at that point that we all could have used a break from it anyways. ESPN has become such a blatantly, ratings-driven network that it is sickening. I as a football fan am pretty ticked off that they glanced over this story and if i was a Philly fan, i would be livid.

I was asking myself the same thing. Jim Johnson was a great football figure and they barely even paid him his dues. The Brett Favre thing had become such a circus at that point that we all could have used a break from it anyways. ESPN has become such a blatantly, ratings-driven network that it is sickening. I as a football fan am pretty ticked off that they glanced over this story and if i was a Philly fan, i would be livid.

Not to nitpick but what network isn't driven by ratings?

That said I am Favre and Vick'd out right now, but I just change the channel.

I loved Johnson's aggressive style. He was certainly one of the top 3 or 4 DC's over the last decade. Between his death and the FA departure of Brian Dawkins, I can see Philly's D taking a step back this year. The NFL pundits seem to ignore this, picking Philly for a deep playoff run. I don't see it.

I was asking myself the same thing. Jim Johnson was a great football figure and they barely even paid him his dues. The Brett Favre thing had become such a circus at that point that we all could have used a break from it anyways. ESPN has become such a blatantly, ratings-driven network that it is sickening. I as a football fan am pretty ticked off that they glanced over this story and if i was a Philly fan, i would be livid.

The coverage of Favre was a bit much (definitely wasn't 95%) but it still is a big story that has many tentacles (for lack of a better word) that is probably still not done. Not to be rude, but there's only so much to be covered about Jim Johnson's death. As for ESPN becoming such a blatantly, ratings-driven network. Yeah ratings are hugely important to any network. Without ratings there are no advertisers without advertisers there's no money without money there's no tv. But that's not the only driver.

But anyway, this thread is about Jim Johnson. I don't know that he's a Hall of Famer. Tough for a defensive coordinator to make it without rings.

Rip jj