Agholor drops the excuses after blowout loss
PHILADELPHIA >> There are just too many Nelson Agholor moments to believe the former first-round draft pick has much time left with the Eagles.
The talking points just this season include, among others, the waist-high sideline throw he couldn’t get to in Week Two against the Falcons. Should have been a touchdown. Then there’s the grief he took from the hero who caught children being thrown out of a burning building in Philly. Guy said he hung onto the kids “unlike Agholor.” This past Sunday there was the bomb that veered away from him in a 37-10 loss to the Cowboys. Agholor was open all the way to Plano.
In a nutshell, Agholor said he was unable to see Carson Wentz’s throw until it was too late to lay out. In all fairness, the ball dropped straight down and perpendicularly on Agholor. There was no touch on the throw. DeSean Jackson in his prime might not have been able to get to it.
“When I located the ball, all I could do was dig, try to run as hard as I could,” Agholor said. “And I do not feel that I was in position with the way my stride was to leave my feet. For those that think that they would have done that, respect to them. I’ve asked one of the best deep-ball players in DeSean Jackson what I could have done to be better and he said ‘Nelly, if you see it earlier you may be able to run under it perfectly.’
“It is what it is. Everybody is going to have their opinion because that’s a play we should have connected on, that we’d have loved to connect upon. We lost a football game so you’re going to highlight whatever you need to highlight when you lose a game.”
With three touchdowns, Agholor is tied for the team lead with Alshon Jeffery. Agholor is third on the Eagles with 25 receptions, one fewer than Jeffrey, and is averaging 10.2 yards per grab. That’s despite an ever-changing role with the Eagles, who cannot seem to decide if they’re better off with the two-tight-end offense or the vertical game.
Agholor is tired of defending himself. It’s a lose-lose situation.
“You watch the tape, you never want to have an excuse,” Agholor said. “But there’s a reason. And me saying all that, I also want to say that no one cares. You’ve got to complete the ball. No one wants to hear me talk about the excuses. I want to complete the ball.”
One look at the footage of Agholor running full seed and the ball veering off course and you can see what a difficult chance it was. The man had to come back and change angles just to get close, all at hyper-speed.
Feel free, of course, to blame Agholor and not the four giveaways leading to a slew of Cowboys points for the defeat.
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Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is hopeful of getting more help back in the secondary this week as the Eagles get ready for quarterback Josh Allen and the Bills.
With Orlando Scandrick cut, Schwartz mentioned Avonte Maddox (neck, concussion) and Cre’Von LeBlanc as possibilities to play the slot.
It’s not a given that Sidney Jones will be there. He didn’t play a defensive snap against the Cowboys.
“I’ll see where we get to Sunday,” Schwartz said. “You guys know I don’t like to be pigeonholed into things or whatever. (Jones) can play that position. Obviously, Malcolm Jenkins can play that position. Malcolm layers a little bit different because of all the different roles he plays. And then at some time we’ll trend to get Avonte and Cre’Von back, too.
“So we have a lot of different players who can play in that position. Sid started last year at the beginning in that position and was able to hold that position. So we have confidence that whoever we put in there will be able to accomplish that role.”