The statue stands in front of the Philadelphia Eagles’ stadium, just a few steps from where Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson will roam the sideline on Sunday. It’s a sculpture of Pederson, then the Eagles’ head coach, with quarterback Nick Foles calling the iconic “Philly Special” in Super Bowl LII.

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“It’s probably a weird feeling to have a statue of yourself outside of the opposing team’s stadium,” said Eagles All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson.

It might be a similarly odd feeling playing — and coaching — against someone who has a statue outside the stadium.

Pederson was immortalized by the Eagles as the fearless coach who helped lead them to their first Super Bowl before he was dismissed following the 2020 season.

Philadelphia then hired Nick Sirianni, a little-known coordinator who took the office of a franchise icon. Sirianni helped lead the Eagles to the playoffs in his first season, and they’re now 3-0 to begin Year 2. The predictive model of The Athletic’s Austin Mock has the Eagles as Super Bowl favorites. That should indicate Sirianni is carving a strong reputation of his own and not coaching in the shadow of a statue (or the coach whose likeness it bears).

But it’s not as if Pederson is floundering in post-dismissal life. After a year away from football, Pederson was hired by the Jaguars in February and is 2-1 after three games. They’re ranked No. 2 in DVOA, and Pederson has brought Super Bowl credentials and play-calling chops to an organization with one winning season in the past 15 years.

There’s no way of knowing how the Eagles would have done had Pederson remained in Philadelphia for a sixth year, but in hindsight, the fresh start seemed to benefit both sides.

“It just was a really good time for me to step away, refocus and regroup myself,” Pederson said during a video call on Wednesday. “And come back with a lot of energy and passion, and pour everything I learned in five years into this job, and make it the best I can be. … Have a little more fun with what we do, and don’t be so stressed out all the time.”

He followed that by discussing the post-Pederson Eagles: “Sometimes you have to go through changes to have success, and you have to go through a change to change things. Just a fresh start for everything.”

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That all might be true, but it doesn’t paint the entire picture of the drama surrounding Pederson’s return this weekend. Even if both he and the organization recovered, it did not exactly end with a parade. A coaching stint seldom concludes on good terms. Otherwise, it probably wouldn’t end.

Even by those standards, Pederson’s dismissal was atypical. A coach is often fired because he didn’t win enough, but in Pederson’s case, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie cited a “difference in vision” — a kind way to suggest Philadelphia wanted to reset and Pederson wanted to reload. Management saw the need to get younger, accumulate draft picks and build a roster for beyond 2021. Pederson wanted to maximize the 2021 window (and, left unsaid, a familiar coaching staff). In fact, Lurie even suggested Pederson didn’t deserve to get fired.

“It’s not based on does someone deserve to hold their job or deserve to get fired. That’s a different bar,” Lurie said in January 2021. “Very few people probably after success deserve to lose their job. This is much more about the evaluation of whether the Eagles, moving forward, our best option is to have a new coach. That’s really, really what it’s about. It’s not about did Doug deserve to be let go. No, he did not deserve to be let go.”

That might simply be a coaching version of “it’s not you, it’s me,” and letting someone off easy. But beyond the pleasantries, the Eagles were at a different place as an organization after the 2020 season than they appear to be now.

Pederson’s time away proved to be necessary on a personal level. He lost his brother to pancreatic cancer last October. He became a grandfather for the first time and watched his son get married. For someone who went from a backup quarterback to the sideline as a high school coach to an NFL coaching track without time away, the 2021 season allowed him to catch his breath. He said on Wednesday that he’s moved on from the way it ended in Philadelphia.

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“That was a long time ago, two years ago,” Pederson said. “I’ve got to get my team prepared. And I’m personally excited (about) coming back to Philly. Obviously have a lot of fond memories there. And what we did in 2017 is something we’ll always remember.”

Pederson was on the staff in Kansas City when Andy Reid returned to Philadelphia to coach against the Eagles after 14 years leading the team. He remembers the standing ovation that Reid received.

“Hopefully it’s in that realm,” Pederson said of the reception he expects. “It’s Philly. Anything is possible with these fans.”

Eagles center Jason Kelce, who’s in touch with the psyche of Philadelphia’s fans perhaps more than any athlete in the city, was quick to express that Pederson deserves a hearty ovation from Sunday’s crowd.

“I think he’ll get it, too,” Kelce said. “I think he left this city on good terms. … It didn’t end well. Most people appreciate what he did when he was here.”

That includes his players. Johnson suggested Pederson helped resurrect his career. Jalen Hurts appreciated Pederson’s role in drafting him. Brandon Graham’s best seasons came with Pederson as his coach. But they also know Pederson’s visor will have teal on it, and that the only Eagles paraphernalia will be found on the statue outside.

“I love Doug,” Graham said. “I just know he’s coming in here trying to win. And it was a bad taste probably in his mouth leaving this place, especially after winning the Super Bowl for the Eagles and the way things went down. We know we’re going to say, ‘Hey, give the love,’ but it’s competition. And we’ve got to get out there and get after it. And that’s always in the back of the mind, that Doug’s trying to hurt us out there.”

If Sirianni is reading this, he might be pumping his fist after seeing Graham’s quote. That’s because it plays right into the culture Sirianni has created. Nary a day goes by when Sirianni doesn’t discuss competition. Before the Eagles played Carson Wentz and Washington last week, he showed the team a video of Kobe Bryant pummeling through a Pau Gasol screen during the 2008 Olympics. At the moment, Gasol wasn’t Bryant’s teammate. He was Bryant’s foe. And that’s what Pederson will be on Sunday.

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Make no mistake: This is now Sirianni’s team. It might be filled with many of Pederson’s former players — 23 on the 53-man roster — but Sirianni has endeared himself to the group. He’s done it with authenticity and credibility. Sirianni did not arrive with the pretense of a coach who believed he had the answers. What stood out to Graham is how much input Sirianni takes from the players and that he’s not dogmatic about an old-school coaching style. Even Pederson has noticed.

“He’s a smart guy, he understands ball, he understands his team. And that’s the thing I think is a quality to be successful in this league as a head coach, is to understand your players,” Pederson said. “He does that. He connects with them on a personal level, which is really good.”

Sirianni entered a different situation than many first-year coaches, who take over teams with losing histories and try to implement major changes. The team Sirianni inherited had its share of roster problems, but it made the postseason in three of the previous four years and was strong on both lines of scrimmage.

“I wasn’t like a first-year head coach last year in the sense of what usually happens with a first-year head coach is, they’re not great on the O-line, D-line, because that’s where you win football games,” Sirianni said. “I had quite the opposite scenario as a first-year head coach. … It’s unbelievable how good of players they are at those positions and how good Howie (Roseman) and his staff have built this team.”

The quarterback position was less clear when Sirianni took over. Pederson came to Philadelphia and drafted Wentz, and he considered himself married to the franchise quarterback. (To continue the analogy, they divorced each other and the organization during the same year.) But Sirianni had an arranged marriage with Hurts, and he needed to adjust to Hurts as much as Hurts needed to adjust to him.

In Year 2, it appears to be working. Hurts has turned into an MVP candidate just in time to face Pederson, who was part of the decision to add Hurts in 2020 and oversaw Hurts’ first year of development. Hurts ranks fourth in the NFL behind Patrick Mahomes, Tua Tagovailoa and Josh Allen in EPA per dropback, a spike that is making the controversial 2020 draft pick look more prescient with each victory.

“Nothing surprises me with Jalen, just knowing the type of person he is,” Pederson said. “Everything that you’re seeing now is what we saw in him when we drafted him. … He’s going to defy all odds. That’s the way his career has been built. … Not surprised that he’s playing this well.”

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Pederson also noted the benefit of Hurts maintaining continuity with the offensive system and coaches, which has eluded Hurts during his football career. It was part of the reason Wentz emerged as an MVP candidate in his second season. And that’s why Pederson made the distinction that this is the first year in the system with his new quarterback pupil, 2021 No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence, even though it’s Lawrence’s second year in the NFL.

In that respect, Pederson’s Jaguars team is similar to the 2016 Eagles. They started that season 3-0 and finished 7-9, but established a foundation for the Super Bowl the following year. Pederson has spent time this season thinking about 2016, learning from his experience and reshaping some of his messaging.

“I’d say we’re probably ahead of the curve here than we were in ‘16,” Pederson said.

The Jaguars have a projected win total of 8.4 in Mock’s latest projections. They’ve only topped eight wins once since 2008. Pederson said the franchise is “learning how to win” because they haven’t done it. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here — to flip that well,” Pederson said.

The Jaguars enter Sunday as 6.5-point underdogs against the Eagles, a position in which Pederson is familiar. He was an underdog when he agreed to call the Philly Special.

Pederson admitted to Jacksonville reporters he has never seen the statue in person. He joked it’s an honor to have his likeness along with Rocky Balboa in Philadelphia. But he won’t pay it a visit; the reminiscing will come when his career is finished. Because he’s not traveling to Lincoln Financial Field for a coronation. He’s an opponent — even though he’s the standard-bearer for those who coach at the stadium that displays his statue.

What Pederson accomplished is something Sirianni yearns to do: win a championship in Philadelphia.

(Top photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

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