The Shadow's Shade

Word comes down from Les Bowen at the Philadelphia Daily News (via Michael Lombardi at the National Football Post) that Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson is taking leave for a second round of chemotherapy.

As we ourselves age, inevitably cancer finds people we know and love… or ourselves. Part of that truth – combined with advancements in treatment and early detection – has made cancer less threatening than it was a generation ago. Both my mom and an aunt survived breast cancer. And, given the toughness of these ladies, outside of a few moments of anxiety, that felt a foregone conclusion to me.

But no one seems to be sugar coating Jim Johnson’s second battle with melanoma, a particularly nasty strain of cancer at that.

I’m a big Jim Johnson fan. That might not be obvious, but it’s fact. I tend to focus my analysis on players because so much of what happens on the field veers sharply off script. And sportswriting, I feel, already places too much blame or adulation on the coach’s head. I’ll hardly deny the long hours the job demands and the work put it in. But at the pro level, the sport is more about the translation of this work through the players playing and the rare physicality we as fans witness in action.

Certain coaches get it. And Jim Johnson is one of those.

Much like his contemporary Dick LeBeau at the Steelers, Johnson runs a creative attacking defensive system, one that’s just as exciting to watch as any high powered offense because it refuses the contention that defenses are inherently reactive and therefore passive. Never mind that Johnson runs a base 4-3 and LeBeau a 3-4, their systems are blood brothers at their core.

And, as Lombardi points out, Johnson is a masterful in-game playcaller, not a trait normally bandied about with defensive coaches. His feel for rhythm – of the opponent’s offense, of his players’ performances – affords Johnson the freedom to dictate the pace of the game rather than have it dictated to him.

But what I appreciate most about Johnson is his way with his players. And that truth is most central to Johnson’s success in running a creative scheme and employing it masterfully on game days.

You can see Johnson's skill with his players in his development of midrounders into Pro Bowlers, like Trent Cole and Jeremiah Trotter. You can see it in the players that have left Philly and never matched their previous success, like Corey Simon and Bobby Taylor. You can see it in the respect former Eagles defenders have for the franchise despite owner Jeff Lurie's penny pinching (or "thrift" if you prefer).

Johnson has made an art of communication and adaptability. His scheme sticks to his basic tenets of aggression and relentless pursuit, but he builds its specifics around the skills of his players. It’s those kind of rare harmonius convergences that thrive in the NFL, evident in the Eagles Super Bowl run in 2004 and the championship game run last year.

So here’s hoping for Jim Johnson’s health for himself, for his family, for his friends. But here’s hoping for his health, not least of all, for the sport itself.