What They're Saying

VIKINGS COACH BRAD CHILDRESS:

"Great guy, man's man, I enjoyed coaching with him, he truly was one of the greats . . .My thoughts are with Vicky and the two kids right now, I know she loved him dearly and I just want her to know he fought a great fight . . . He cast a big shadow on the sideline; he was a remarkable coach, but an even better person."

GIANTS COACH TOM COUGHLIN:

"In talking with people who worked with Jim, you sense what a class act Jim was. He was great to work with and for, and he had his priorities in order. His players loved to play for him and his coaches loved to coach with him. It is a sad day for the National Football League to lose somebody the quality of Jim Johnson. It is a sad note on which to start the season. He coached right up to the very end."

CHARGERS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR RON RIVERA, A FORMER EAGLES ASSISTANT:

"Going into my fourth year in the league, he showed me how to script [plays]. He showed me how to put together a game plan. Then he'd have me write his game plan up for him and he'd ask me, 'Why would you do this?' He'd tell me why. 'That's not good enough,' or 'That's a good idea.' He was most certainly a teacher."

EAGLES SAFETY QUINTIN MIKELL:

"One of the most incredible things about him, and I hate to only think of him in a football sense, but to me it really was the way he was able to adjust, he was a genius. Even when he was in there doing his rehab on his knee he was still trying to think of ways to make the team better instead of focusing on getting better . . . You could really tell how much he enjoyed the game and being a part of the Eagles [organization]."

49ERS HEAD COACH MIKE SINGLETARY:

"I would like to express, from the 49ers organization, my condolences to the Johnson family and the Eagles family, from the 49ers family. Everything that I know about coach Johnson, is he is from the old school. He had a way of doing things and some of the people, players, coaches that know of him, speak very highly of him."