Howard, Jeffery both land on injury report
PHILADELPHIA >> Eagles rushing leader Jordan Howard showed up on the injury report Wednesday with a shoulder issue that limited his participation in practice.
Not the greatest way to start a critical week, considering Howard leads the Eagles with seven touchdowns.
To make matters worse, the Eagles practiced without injured wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, their second-leading TD maker.
The Eagles have evolved into a run-centric offense thanks to Howard, rookie running back Miles Sanders and a top-shelf offensive line. Howard wears on defenses, proven by his work in the second halves of games. He’s rushed for 10 or more yards on 11 of his 61 second-half carries. Howard also has converted 76.9 percent of his rush attempts in short-yardage situations this season into first downs, well above the league average of 62.7 percent.
The good news is that Howard has missed just one game in four seasons.
Jeffery, second on the Birds with four TDs, and linebacker Nigel Bradham didn’t practice Wednesday.
Jeffery was unable to complete the Eagles’ win over the Bears two weeks ago with an ankle issue, yet is “day-to-day” according to head coach Doug Pederson.
“He’s still sore,” Pederson said. “Obviously a lot of guys are still sore, but (the bye) helped him. We’ll see.”
Jeffery caught three passes for 73 yards against the Patriots in Super Bowl 52. Bradham, who also has an ankle injury that has kept him inactive the past three games, had seven stops in that game.
Pederson is “optimistic” that Bradham could be available this weekend, which basically means the veteran is a couple of weeks away from a return.
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Offensive tackle Jason Peters had his knee scoped, per Pederson, and participated in practice for the first time in a month.
That should give him fresh legs for the Patriots.
If Peters is healthy, it makes sense to use him against the Patriots for rookie Andre Dillard, who has three career starts at left tackle.
“Obviously, we’ll see where he is at the end of the week,” Pederson said of Peters. “But he had (the scope) done to take care of that.”
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This is why Pederson usually defers when the Eagles win the coin toss: The Eagles have scored on 52.2 percent of their drives in the third quarter this season, second-best in the league.
Only the Cowboys (52.4 percent) have been more successful in that department.
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The Patriots have given up a league-low 98 points. They’ve scored 270 points.
They also lead the league with four defensive touchdowns. Their margin of victory is an NFL-best 19.1 points.
The Eagles have scored 224 points and surrendered 213. Their average margin of victory is 1.2 points.
The Birds are 3.5-point underdogs Sunday.
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Brandon Graham is impressed with Tom Brady’s longevity to the point that he believes his 10-year career has a handful of seasons remaining.
“It gives me hope,” Graham said. “I don’t want to play 20 years. But 15 years would be cool.”
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The Patriots reported that safety Patrick Chung (heel, chest), tight end Matt LaCosse (knee) and defensive lineman Danny Shelton (ankle) were limited at practice.
Safety Nate Ebner (ankle, back) didn’t practice.
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NOTES >> Eagles wide receivers have dropped five balls in the fourth quarter this season, the most in the NFL. With a dozen drops combined, the Eagles are tied for seventh in the league in that department. The Patriots have
10 dropped passes, tied for 14th. Not to beat a dead horse but Eagles wide receivers have zero receiving touchdowns since Week 7. The Patriots haven’t given up a TD to wide receivers in that time. … The Patriots are 27-1 when allowing fewer than 100 rushing yards in a game since the start of the 2016 season. That’s the best record in the league over that time.