IN A SLIDE
McCaffery: 2018 Eagles have yet to show that championship mojo
PHILADELPHIA >> Carson Wentz has played two games, without a preseason and with a contraption bracing his left knee.
Jordan Matthews has been around for just over two weeks, that after last having played for the Eagles in 2016.
Jay Ajayi has been hurt. Darren Sproles is always hurt. Alshon Jeffery has played one game. Brent Celek and LeGarrette Blount no longer work there. The offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach left to take different jobs. And Nelson Agholor, ring owner or not, has had the occasional trouble hanging on to thrown passes. So where is the mystery? Why should it be a surprise that the Eagles are one of eight NFL teams that have scored 82 or fewer points as Week 5 approaches?
“I think it’s the fantasy football owners,” Matthews said, tongue in cheek. “They’re putting too much pressure on us, man.”
Maybe the fantasy owners do have an agenda. But so do the billionaires who own real NFL teams. And because they have decided that point-scoring makes for better TV, and that better TV makes for more money, they routinely make it easier for professional players to score.
With more frequent penalties on perceived pass-interfering defensive backs, restrictions on how quarterbacks can be tackled and offensive-minded coaches more willing to commit football on fourth down, even the bad teams should have better endzone access. And according to Yahoo, scoring, touchdowns and passing touchdowns are at NFL record highs after four games.
What? Did somebody forget to tell the Super Bowl champions how it works?
“Obviously, you talk to any DB, they’ll tell you it’s easier for receivers,” Matthews said Thursday after practice. “Ultimately, for us, it’s more just a case of finishing. It’s something we’ve decided that we’ve got to get to work on. We have to get in rhythm and get in better position to score touchdowns. We are getting way too many field goals.
“There has to be a sense of urgency getting into the end zone.”
The Eagles needed five periods to run up 23 points last week on two touchdowns and three field goals … and that was their highest scoring game of the season. Whatever happened to the urgent outfit that smeared New England with 41 points in February?
“The mentality hasn’t changed,” Jeffery said. “No one is panicking. Onto the next one.”
That will be Sunday at 4:25, in the Linc against Minnesota. And didn’t the Eagles score 38 on the Vikings last January, winning that trip to the Super Bowl?
“It’s another week, another opportunity to write our page,” Ajayi said. “We turn the page on last week. So it’s another opportunity for us. We are home. We will take advantage of that. But really, what it comes down to is us playing our game and executing.”
Ajayi, Matthews, Jeffery and Wentz will all play, are only marginally troubled by injuries and will have been together long enough to gain comfort. And while it has become popular to blame the defense for the Birds’ 2-2 start, they are not going to win in the 21st century NFL while averaging fewer than 21 points a game.
“I think the way practice has been going this week has been really good,” Matthews said. “I felt like last week it was pretty up and down. I wasn’t in every day. I know I missed part of Thursday. I know Alshon was up and down last week. Nelson was taking a ton of reps.
“We all had a great day today. We should all have some continuity Friday. So I think we’ll have a much better product Sunday.”
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Jalen Mills, whose cornerback follies in Tennessee Sunday were less than roundly applauded by fans, slid away from TV cameras, along with some trailing reporters again Thursday. He has not been visible all week.
For that, Ronald Darby was cornered into being something of Mills’ professional character witness.
“It’s unfair,” the Eagles’ other starting cornerback said of the Mills criticism. “Outside looking in, people don’t know the plays that we were in. So all of those plays weren’t even his fault. But people don’t know that.”
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One difference between the Vikings who fell to the Eagles,
38-7, in the last NFC championship game and the team that will visit the Linc Sunday is new quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Then again, considering that Cousins had played in Washington for the past six years, it’s not like the Eagles will need to pull an all-nighter to ace his scouting report.
“Actually, he’s pretty similar to what we’ve seen,” Jordan Hicks said. “He’s doing the same things. Looking good. Slinging the ball. Still has the ability to run. Putting up some pretty big numbers. So, it’s the same Kirk that I’ve been used to. A solid player. He gives you a lot to handle.”
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After not practicing Wednesday, Jeffery (chest) and Fletcher Cox (ankle) practiced fully Thursday. Jason Peters (quad) had a full practice after being limited Wednesday.
Derek Barnett (shoulder), Corey Clement (quad) and Sproles (hamstring) did not practice.
Cox: “I’m good. I feel good. I went down Sunday with an ankle. But I’m back. I’m fine. I practiced today and am ready to roll.”
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The Eagles added rookie defensive tackle Bruce Hector to their practice squad. The undrafted free agent out of South Florida had been waived Tuesday after playing in 18 snaps over the first four games.