Grotz: Birds are one loss away from total panic mode
PHILADELPHIA >> The last time the Eagles started 2-3, the head coach got fired.
That was in 2015, the year owner Jeffrey Lurie ordered a few cases of those 53 Angry Men T-shirts following the highlight of the season, a road win over the New England Patriots. Hard to believe Chip Kelly never warmed up to the bling.
Doug Pederson and the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles are 2-3 this season after a 23-21 loss to the Minnesota Vikings Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field, which, judging by the boos, was full of angry fans. And there were at least 53 angry men in the Eagles’ locker room, though the players and coaches weren’t wearing the expressive T-shirts.
Offensive linemen Lane Johnson and Jason Peters blamed themselves and the play of the line for the defeat. We can confirm that. The line gave up three sacks, one by Johnson that resulted in a 64-yard score by Vikings defensive tackle Linval Joseph. Isaac Seumalo, promoted to the starting job at left guard, had a chance to catch the aforementioned fumble, bat it away or tackle the
330-pound runner. He went
0-for-3.
Oh, and the cat who lost the left guard job, veteran Stefen Wisniewski, implied in a tweet on his certified Twitter account that the demotion wasn’t performance-related. You can’t un-ring that bell.
Pederson countered Monday that all lineup decisions are performance-related, which is what he had to say, yet also laughable. If they were, half of the starters would be benched, maybe even the quarterback.
But back to the angry theme.
Malcolm Jenkins, the leader of the defense, spoke of how close the pass rush was to taking down Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, who threw for 301 yards and a touchdown but was sacked just once. OK, maybe that was more frustration than anger. When all of those young guys in the secondary learn to maintain coverage a fraction of a second longer, the rush will get to the quarterback.
Jenkins should have a conversation with cornerback Jalen Mills, the definition of angry in what for him has been a very challenging season.
A few plays after Mills gave up a 68-yard completion to Vikings vet Adam Thielen on a double move (stop me if you’ve heard that one), he was shouting in the face of his opponent after breaking up a pass at the goal line. It bothered defensive tackle Fletcher Cox to the point where the big guy, fearing the Eagles would be penalized, got in a shoving match with Mills.
While Pederson tried to blow the issues off, he knows he and his team are one loss from panic mode. The seeds of discontent have been sown. If the Eagles don’t turn it around on the road Thursday night against the New York Giants (1-4), there could be more changes. Making their task all the taller was the news Monday that Jay Ajayi is reportedly done for the season with a torn ACL in his left knee.
When it rains...
“I see their frustration, like our frustration, when things don’t go our way,” Pederson said of his players. “And I see leaders on the football team standing up and leading. And that’s what we need right now. We need those guys. We’re sitting here at 2-3. We’re 0-0 in our division with an opportunity this week to make some hay there and we’re looking forward to this week and moving forward. But our guys are competitive. I think that’s the culture we’ve created, and that part of it, if we didn’t have that, there would probably be some more issues going on. But the fact that the guys want it so bad and they are standing up and holding each other accountable, I think that’s a credit to the players.”
Then there is Carson Wentz, clearly unhappy, who said he and his teammates needed to take a really hard look in the mirror because in his estimation, the Eagles are making rookie mistakes. He’s right, of course.
Let’s face it, Wentz doesn’t strike the same fear into the hearts of opponents as he did before tearing his left ACL in the playoff-clinching win over the Los Angeles Rams. The quarterback, the line, the receivers and the running backs are out of sync.
The play calling of Pederson and offensive coordinator Mike Groh has been so uninspiring that just one play really stands out in the first five games, that “Philly Special” to Nick Foles. What’s more, the Eagles rarely get off to a good start, as they’ve been outscored, 23-7, in first quarters and 61-46 in the first half of this season.
In the first five games of 2017, they outscored the opposition 41-3 in the first quarter and 60-24 in the first half. That does wonders for the run game. It’s simply not the same team.
The Eagles did the wrong thing letting big back LeGarrette Blount walk instead of giving him a raise and the football. Peters looks like he’ll be the next O-lineman to get a seat on the bench, and that would be based on merit, even if it’s couched as an injury. The 36-year-old icon just can’t put four quarters together every week. Alshon Jeffery isn’t 100 percent, Nelson Agholor isn’t the guy who can regularly take the top off a secondary and the Eagles sure miss Brent Celek’s leadership and blocking.
Except for Cox, Beau Allen would have been an upgrade over everything the Eagles have at defensive tackle. Slot cornerback Patrick Robinson made more big plays than bad plays, the latter of which is an ongoing problem for the Eagles.
Contact Bob Grotz at bgrotz@21st-centurymedia. com; follow him on Twitter @bobgrotz