On July 28th 2009 Jim Johnson, lost his battle with cancer and passed away. Just a few days ago the Eagles announced that Sean McDermott would be Johnson's replacement as Defensive Coordinator while Johnson was getting treatment for his cancer. Training camp just opened up a few days ago and it was the first without JJ in over a decade. Johnson served as one of the best coordinators in the league since his arrival in Philly back in 1999 and turned down some head coaching positions in the NFL to stay in Philadelphia. Many outsiders may look at the success of the Philadelphia Eagles over the past 10 years and say it was Andy Reid who brought the winning pedigree to Philadelphia but most know that it was Jim Johnson and his blitz happy defensive schemes. Johnson was quoted as saying "It was around 1994 or '95, when I was with the Colts, and we were playing against San Francisco with Steve Young running the West Coast offense, releasing receivers all the time, guys getting by you. The idea was don't let these people dictate to you. You have to put more pressure [on the quarterback], and every year we tried to figure out how to do that." From then on Johnson's plan was to attack the quarterback from everywhere on the field. He blitzed more then any other coach in the league. Players who played for him loved him and loved playing for him. In his tenure as an Eagles coach players have been selected to 26 Pro Bowls, Brian Dawkins led the way with 7. Others to go to the Pro Bowl while under Johnson in an Eagles uniform are, Troy Vincent(5), Jeremiah Trotter(4), Hugh Douglas(3), Lito Sheppard(2) and Trent Cole, Michael Lewis, Asante Samuel, Corey Simon, and Bobby Taylor each with one. Quarterbacks in the NFC East and around the league feared everytime they stepped onto the field against a Jim Johnson Eagles defense. Jim Johnson will be missed and in the word's of Jake Taylor in Major League, "I guess there is only one thing left to do......win the whole fucking thing" Eagles, lets win a Super Bowl for the man who created one of the best defenses in the league with the players he coached himself.
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