McCaffery: Pederson accepting blame was right call

PHILADELPHIA >> Before leaving the locker room Sunday for his made-for-TV postgame press briefing, Doug Pederson made one promise to the Eagles.

He would take it all. He would take responsibility for the penalties in a 23-21 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. He would absorb the blame for the failing offense. He would not let one of them, not one, be criticized for any defensive lapses. No, that would be him, out front, above it all, providing single coverage.

Andy Reid, that’s who he’d be, quick with the essential message that he would have to start putting them all in better position to succeed.

The throat clearing, though, would remain an option.

“Basically, I was going to take it for the team,” Pederson said. “The way they’ve been playing and performing, it starts with me.”

Quick quiz: What was the fundamental flaw, the essential coaching fumble, the source of the thorough ridiculousness of that announcement?

Answer: If a coach is going to do the take-it-for-the-team dance, then it would only work if he doesn’t blurt it out that his plan is to do the take-it-for-the-team dance. For if he’s literally broadcasting that he is up there to provide cover for their mistakes, then he is only revealing his true thought that the mistakes led to the defeat. And in a game where Pederson used one of his three second-half timeouts on a fourthquarter play while the clock had just been stopped and wasted another on a failed replay challenge, it was his players who should have volunteered to cover for him, not the other way around.

Not three seconds after proudly announcing that he would do the blocking for the post-game rush, in fact without even taking a breath, Pederson plowed on. “I want to make sure that the guys understand that you can’t do these things,” he said. “You can’t self-inflict. Championship teams just don’t do that. And we’re doing that right now. So I have to self-examine myself first. It starts with me.

Did they self-inflict? Or were they victims of coaching? Of course, it was a mixture. It’s never just the coaches. It’s never just the players. But it was curious that as the Eagles lost for the third time in four games, Pederson volunteered to take blame, then tried to defend some of his most questionable decisions. And just because the Eagles lost, it did not make them wrong decisions. No, that would be rude second-guessing. But they were questionable. And on that day, they became heavy. The list: • Down, 20-6, with 12:12 left in the fourth, Carson Wentz threw an incomplete pass to Alshon Jeffery, stopping the clock. So whatever needed to be called at that point could have been called. Instead, Wentz needed to call a timeout before the next play, leaving Pederson with two remaining in a game likely to turn tight.

• When that drive ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to Wendell Smallwood to trim the difference to eight points, Pederson elected not to cut it to seven. Instead, he called for a twopoint conversion, willing to bet that the Birds could draw within six at the risk of remaining behind by eight. Though there was some robust media second-guessing at that point, Pederson’s call had value on two levels. One, it reaffirmed the reputation of a coach whose book is entitled, “Fearless.” But in addition to putting the Eagles in position to win with a seven-point touchdown, a successful conversion would have allowed for the possibility of two field goals forcing overtime.

“The calculation was that if I make it, a touchdown wins the game,” Pederson said. “Or if I don’t, I know what I need to do. ... Two points to tie and go for two and make it, we can with a touchdown. And if I don’t make it, I know what I need to do, two points to tie, or to win and then tie at the end. That’s a pretty simple calculation right there.”

The Eagles made it, Smallwood steaming around right end to pull the Birds within 20-14 … or within two Elliott field goals.

• On the next Minnesota possession, Pederson challenged a 13yard Stefon Diggs reception, hoping replays would find an out-ofbounds violation. They didn’t. And there went Timeout No. 2.

“Could have been a big momentum swing there at the time,” Pederson said. “So I wanted to get that challenge in there.”

• Nigel Bradham, however, ended that Minnesota drive, forcing and recovering a fumble. And with 9:17 left, there were the Eagles at the Minnesota 40, facing fourth-and-20. Though those two timeouts already had been spent, Pederson acted as if he would have plenty of time to concoct a victory, a quintessential Reid maneuver. So after the Eagles failed to draw the Vikings offside, Pederson called for a punt rather than to allow Elliott to attempt a 57yard field goal.

Though there was no wind in the Linc, and though Elliott was 5-for-6 as a rookie from 50 yards or better, including a 61-yard three-pointer to defeat the Giants, Pederson chose to punt.

“Right decision to punt the football with time left,” Pederson said. He added: “It wasn’t a desperation kick at the time. And the guys did the right thing and we ended up punting.”

Naturally, Minnesota accepted the gift and spent the next 6:24 on a drive that would lead to a 52-yard Dan Bailey field goal and a 23-14, two-possession lead. So when the Eagles scored with 1:09 left, they were down to hoping to recover an on-side kick. They didn’t.

“Guys are busting their tails,” Pederson said. “So we’re going to get it fixed. And it starts with me.”

Pederson was not the total cause of blame as the defending Super Bowl champions dipped to 2-3. But his DNA was found at the scene. So he took the blame. And he should have taken the blame. It just would have been better if it seemed more sincere.

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@21st-centurymedia. com; follow him on Twitter @ JackMcCaffery