Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Bengals present chance for Birds to right sinking ship
PHILADELPHIA » Only one team has survived an 0-3 start to reach the playoffs since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002.
It wasn’t the Eagles or their opponent here Sunday, the equally winless Cincinnati Bengals (1 p.m., Fox29, WIP 94.1-FM).
The 2018 Houston Texans are the club that lived to play in the postseason after starting 0-3, and their comeback ended abruptly in the wild card round.
The Eagles are 0-2 for only the third time in the last 17 seasons. The
The last time they were 0-3 was 1999. It’s not the stuff quarterback Carson Wentz or head coach Doug Pederson would want on their resumes.
Wentz is in the throes of a disastrous funk. He has an NFL-worst five turnovers, including four interceptions. Even his shorter throws have lacked accuracy, his 48.8 percentage a new low.
The outside criticism has been so loud that Pederson exploded when asked whyWentz was challenged to make the easy throws.
“I don’t know what’s being said,” Wentz said. “But what people say or how they feel, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. This is how I’ve been my whole career. I don’t get worked up about what people say, write, feel. I’m confident in myself, I’m confident in this team. Statistically, where I’m at with the turnovers and all those things, that’s all behind me. For me it’s all about going forward. I don’t get too caught up or worked out about it.”
Wentz hasn’t been the only underperformer on the Eagles. Pederson’s game plans have been a far cry fromthe creative “Philly Special” stuff highlighting the 2017 Super Bowl championship season. Pederson has a rebuilt staffwith a couplemore hands involved in the game plan.
Factor in the injuries ravaging the offensive line and the Eagles rank among the league leaders with eight sacks. Once the gold standard of offensive lines, the Eagles will hit Lincoln Financial Field Sunday with their third different starting lineup. Nate Herbig moves from right guard to left guard in place of the injured Isaac Seumalo, and Matt Pryor likely gets the nod at right guard.
“The guys, they have responded extremely well,” said Pederson, who applauded the week of practice. “One thing I love about this team this year is these guys understand that good football teams can’t continue to make themistakes we’remaking. So, obviously right now we’re not there yet. We’re not in that good category yet. We’re, I would say, below average because of the turnovers and some of the mistakes that we’re making. But the thing is, is they understand that, and they bounce back fromthat and they pick each otherup. This week has been really good.”
The Bengals have their problems, too, although unlike the Eagles they’ve had a shot to win both of their games.
Rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, the first overall pick in the draft, has played well enough to give the undermanned Bengals a chance to win.
Running back JoeMixon is going to be a problem for an Eagles defense that’s struggled to stop the run, and likely will have to roll with All-Pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox nursing an ailing oblique muscle.
Wide receivers A. J. Green, Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins present size-speed mismatches for most secondaries, particularly the Eagles.
The Eagles are among just two teams without a turnover forced by the defense. It could be tough getting it against Burrow, who has thrown three touchdown passes and just one interception despite six sacks.
“You can see why he was No. 1,” Eagles defensive captain Brandon Graham said. “You can see why he won a championship. He looks like he’s getting comfortable with the offense. He looks good back there. We have our hands full. We’ve got to make sure that we don’t take him lightly.”
The Eagles are 0-3-1 in their last four games against the Bengals.
The Bengals have lost 14 games in a rowon the road, although in this age of the coronavirus pandemic,
the empty stadiums have skewed the homefield advantage.
Almost overlooked in the analytics is that the Bengals have had extra time to heal and get ready for the Eagles. Second-year head coach Zac Taylor, who formerly of the Los Angeles Rams, runs the Sean McVay system that picked the Eagles apart last week.
“Our styles are the same and they’re different,” Taylor said of McVay. “We’ve got our own style here. You always look to take things from other teams, what they’ve had success with. But again, we’ve got to be true to ourselves and make sure we’re doing things that our guys have confidence in.”
Taylor said teams like the Eagles can turn the season around in one game.
Graham sees it much the same way.
“I’m not worried at all about the guys in the locker room,” Graham said. “We all had our talks. And I was just letting themknow, those two games, they’re done with. We’ve got the Bengals, let’s get it started now.
I think people have bought into that. All we’ve got to do is go show it on Sunday. We’re only one game back in the division but we’ve got to put ourselves in a better position by winning games.”