Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Ertz up in the air due to concussion protocol
COSTA MESA, CALIF. » Eagles tight end Zach Ertz is in concussion protocol.
Ertz is sticking around with the team this week, according to head coach Doug Pederson, who didn’t feel the need to say a lot more on the subject.
The Eagles’ leading receiver banged his head off the ground trying to haul in a pass that went incomplete in the second quarter of the 24-10 loss Sunday night to the Seahawks. That triggered a trip to the medical tent.
Ertz played just 45 of the Eagles’ 75 offensive snaps. He was targeted four times and caught two passes for 24 yards.
The Eagles scratched linebacker Joe Walker (neck), who Pederson said is day to day.
Beyond that, quarterback Carson Wentz was shaken up, although he played the whole game and didn’t wind up in the medical tent.
*** Pederson became terse under cross examination regarding his decision not to challenge Wilson’s apparent illegal forward pass that led to the final touchdown of the game.
Just say Pederson and his press box observes didn’t have the benefit of immediate replays to sort it out.
“Watching it live and the information that I was getting,” Pederson began before backtracking into “and I’d already used a challenge in that quarter. The risk of losing a timeout in those situations, I didn’t feel it was the right time for me to make that decision to challenge it.”
Pederson also didn’t agree with insinuations he played it safe against the Seahawks with a couple of first-half decisions to punt on fourth down. On the Eagles’ first possession, a fourth-and-one at their own 47-yard line, Pederson punted. In a similar position earlier in the season, he got the first down against the Giants.
“Well I didn’t necessarily recall the Giants game when I made the decision last night to punt,” Pederson said. “I just wanted to make sure we flipped the field. It was early in the football game. I made the choice, and live with it. It’s part of football.”
*** The Eagles flew their practice squad here Monday, yet another bid to add normalcy to the work week as they preapre ot take on the Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The practice squad doesn’t travel to road games. It didn’t make the first leg of the trip, to Seattle.
“Doug, he just wants us to be there to help the team practice and prepare for LA,” safety Tre Sullivan said. “You can’t really have all the (first-team) guys doing too much. And he just wants to keep that team bond going like we have. If you look around, a lot of the older guys, anybody that’s active, they still treat us like we’re active players as well.”
Fellow practice squad player Billy Brown, a tight end, appreciates Pederson going the extra yard to “make us feel part of the team.
“They let us come to the home games and be on the sideline,” Brown said. “I think we’re one of the only teams that do that. It really makes us like feel we’re a part of the team. It motivates us to want to work hard.”
Sullivan chalked it up to Pederson’s players-coach philosophy.
“Nobody gets left behind,” Sullivan said. “That’s pretty much what it is, that no man left behind thing. So they’re bringing us along and help prepare them for the game.”