By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Though there still may be a vocal minority of Charlie Manuel detractors, most who follow, support or work(ed) for the team hold Manuel, the winningest manager in Philadelphia Phillies history, in the highest regard. With all due respect to baseball (hey, it's the primary sport I cover), Manuel "only" guided the Phillies to a World Series title. If Doug Pederson leads the Eagles – these Eagles – to the franchise's first Super Bowl title, the city may construct a statue of him and place it at the top of the art museum steps.
Regardless of how a Super Bowl victory would be treated as opposed to a World Series, the path that Pederson has taken shares many similarities to that of Manuel.
Neither was an especially popular hire.
At his introductory press conference in 2004, Manuel had to answer questions about why the team chose him over Jim Leyland, the preferred managerial candidate of many. The Eagles may have hired Ben McAdoo if the Giants didn't promote him to head coach. Some wanted the Eagles to make a serious push at McAdoo's predecessor, Tom Coughlin, even if they knew he probably would only coach for a few more years. Even I wrote in January of 2016 that the Eagles head coaching search felt like something Jerry Jones would lead – in other words, they were looking for someone who wouldn't rock the boat first, and could coach second.
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Like Manuel, Pederson didn't immediately gain traction with the fanbase or the city.
The Phillies won 173 games between 2005 and 2006, but weren't able to break a long playoff drought. Manuel, whose southern drawl was initially mocked by many, very easily could have been let go after the 2006 season, when the Phillies regressed by three wins from the previous season. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Leyland, in his first year as manager of the Detroit Tigers, had taken the Tigers to the World Series, just three years after the team went 43-119.
As for Pederson, the Eagles started off 3-0 in his first season with the team, but then went 4-9 the rest of the season. Rookie quarterback Carson Wentz showed promise, but in his first year as a full-time playcaller, Pederson often looked overmatched. Aggressiveness has become Pederson's trademark as a coach, but it often got him in trouble in his first season. Many felt that Pederson cost the Eagles a chance to win against the New York Giants in Week 9 of the 2016 season, when the Eagles went 1-4 on fourth down.
Even into the 2017 season, there were questions about Pederson. Three players told Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer in September that "it had become well-known" that defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz was "waiting to usurp power" from Pederson. This came after the now infamous video where Michael Lombardi of The Ringer said that Pederson might be "less qualified to coach the team than anyone I've ever seen." After the team's Week 2 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, when Pederson called less than 15 running plays and Wentz was forced to throw the ball 46 teams, there certainly wasn't much confidence in how the Eagles would fare against formidable opponents moving forward.
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Perhaps the best thing that both did during their times of dealing with public uncertainty, was work to win over those that they were coaching.
Manuel's absolute best quality as a manager was that while he did have a tough side, players liked playing for him. He was a great hitting mind, but what the Phillies needed most with what was a loaded offensive team was someone who knew when to press the right buttons. There were times where Manuel asserted his power – he benched Jimmy Rollins on various occasions. But when the team you coach employs Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard at their peaks, it's important not to be a micro-manager. In four seasons as manager, Larry Bowa, Manuel's predecessor, posted a .522 winning percentage. But he lost the clubhouse, because "he kept the clubhouse tight." Manuel created a loose environment, one that allowed a talented team to thrive.
It's hard not to marvel at the culture that Pederson has helped build in his two seasons as the Eagles head coach. The Eagles lost Darren Sproles, Chris Maragos, Jason Peters, Jordan Hicks and Carson Wentz, among others, to season-ending injuries this season. Yet, here they are in the Super Bowl. Pederson has three productive running-backs in Jay Ajayi, LeGarrette Blount and Corey Clement, who he and running backs coach Duce Staley seem to have kept content. Locker room leaders like Malcolm Jenkins have helped to push the "we all we got…we all we need" message through any turmoil this season, but that type of culture comes from the top. Pederson deserves a ton of credit for keeping the team focused through numerous injuries that in other seasons would have spelled an end to the team's chances to compete in the postseason.
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For as much as some felt the two were overmatched early on (and perhaps they had a point) as coaches, both proved their worth in magical playoff runs.
Manuel worked wonders with Brett Myers, who became an offensive hero in the 2008 playoffs, after he was demoted to Triple-A in July of that season. He called on Matt Stairs to pinch hit in the Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS, before Stairs delivered the biggest home run in franchise history. And after Game 5 of the 2008 World Series was suspended due to rain, Manuel called upon veteran Geoff Jenkins, who had been largely disappointing that season, to lead off the bottom of the sixth, when the game restarted. Jenkins rewarded Manuel by smoking a double into the right-center field gap, and eventually scoring a run in what went on to be the clinching game of the World Series.
After Wentz went down in Week 14 with a season-ending ACL tear, no one would have really faulted Pederson if the Eagles were one-and-done in the playoffs. Instead, Pederson and his staff used the postseason bye week to continue to acclimate Nick Foles, who had a miserable finish to the regular season, with the first-team offense. He put together what was an incredible game plan for the team's NFC Divisional Round matchup with the Atlanta Falcons, largely working around Foles in a cold weather game, and adding new wrinkles into the offense that allowed Nelson Agholor to have a game-defining 21-yard rush in the second quarter. A week later, he put together a game plan that allowed the Eagles to blow the Vikings off the field, with a successful flea-flicker highlighting a career-defining performance from Foles in a 38-7 NFC Championship win. As you know now, the Eagles weren't favored to win either game. It's hard to remember a Philadelphia coach having a better overall year than Pederson has had this season.
Like Manuel, Pederson seems to have silenced the criticisms of him heard early in his tenure in Philadelphia. He can silence any remaining critics with a win over the greatest dynasty in NFL history Sunday.
Brad Lidge, who closed out the 2008 World Series for the Phillies, said this of Manuel in the 2008 Phillies video yearbook: "It took him some time, but damn, if he didn't win over the toughest town in sports." The Eagles may need to win Sunday before Eagles fans nominate Pederson for sainthood, but gosh, he hasn't done too badly himself.
