"When Andy Reid fired Sean McDermott, one of first people he called was Ron Rivera.

Four days after the season ended with a playoff loss to the Packers, the Eagles' coach decided that McDermott's two-year reign as defensive coordinator had run its course. But Reid wanted to buy his young protege some time to find another job. So he contacted another of his former charges, who had just landed the Carolina Panthers' head-coaching position.

"When all that was going down, I talked to Coach Reid, who was very candid about it," said Rivera, who was in North Texas for Super Bowl XLV. "He said, 'Ron, Sean's in a tough, tough position. He's following [the late] Jim Johnson.' "

If Rivera hadn't left the Eagles in 2003, he would have likely been the legendary Johnson's replacement. Rivera was the linebackers coach then and left to take the defensive coordinator's job in Chicago. From there, he went to San Diego before being named Carolina's coach on Jan. 11.

Two days later, McDermott was cut loose. He interviewed first with Rivera and then with Denver. By Jan. 15, however, the 36-year-old's firing became public.

"Andy wanted to have it be seamless, and unfortunately it wasn't," Rivera said. "Andy's whole guise in my discussion with him was, 'We've got to make people understand that it was not as much because Sean did a bad job or anything. It was just as much always going to be tough and unfair for him. We've got to create a situation.' "

Although McDermott did not have much success in his two seasons leading the Eagles' defense, Rivera hired his former colleague. McDermott's units ranked 12th in the NFL in both years but were near the bottom of the league in passing touchdowns allowed with 27 and 31. The Eagles also had the worst red-zone defense in 22 years in 2010.

"When you talk about great Philadelphia defenses, they talk about Jim Johnson," said Rivera, who likened McDermott's predicament to that of Dave Wannstedt, who followed Mike Ditka as Bears coach when Rivera was a Chicago linebacker. "So there was a tremendous amount of pressure. Sean grew up in the area, so there was even more pressure."

Rivera, who will use a 4-3 scheme, said that McDermott was his first choice."