TIME TO GO?
It might be time for the Eagles to part ways with TE Zach Ertz
The day after the Eagles’ third loss of the season, Doug Pederson applauded Ben Roethlisberger’s gameclinching 35-yard scoring pass to Chase Claypool as if it was The Catch.
With all due respect to Big Ben, the play isn’t going to wind up in Canton with the video of Joe Montana connecting with Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone to lift the 49ers to a win over the Cowboys in the 1981 NFC championship game.
This play is just evidence the Eagles’ coaching staff is too slow to react in the thick of the battle.
On and on Pederson went about what a great call Roethlisberger made and how it pretty much finished the Eagles, who bussed away from Heinz Field on the wrong end of a 38-29 decision Sunday. He might as well have said the Eagles can’t play defense well enough to beat a veteran quarterback who calls an audible, so, what are you going to do?
“It’s as much a really good call by the Steelers and really, between Ben and Claypool, than it was the call on defense,” Pederson said. “He saw what was going on. He read the coverage, and it was just a oneon-one situation.”
By the time Roethlisberger saw the coverage the Eagles were in and finished moving three of his receivers around, Eagles linebacker Nate Gerry was one-on-one with Claypool, who was playing so lights out he was within shouting distance of the late Gayle Sayers’ single-game rookie record of six touchdowns set in 1966.
Instead of Gerry versus Claypool setting off alarms, Pederson, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and all
11 of the Eagles playing defense thought it was a good idea to go ahead rather than call time and reset the D.
It wouldn’t have been the first time the Eagles took a moment to talk strategy. The previous week the Birds – ahead by just five points - used their second timeout after the San Francisco 49ers reached their
33-yard line with seven sacks left. Darius Slay batted the ball away in the end zone to secure the win.
No, this time the Eagles played the defense and Big Ben and Claypool played them for the long touchdown completion. Nothing to see here.
“You burn a timeout in a situation where you’re trying to stop the offense on a third-and-seven, third-andeight,” Pederson said. “Listen, we as coaches have to put our players in situations to be successful, and that falls on me as the head coach. I’ve got to make sure that I do that. I didn’t want to burn a time-out in that situation because I knew that we were going to have to get the ball back, and we could have used those timeouts there. So, listen, it’s all about them making a play and recognizing the defense and making a play. I mean, we sit here today and go, OK, yeah, call a different defense. Okay, yeah, do this, do that, and it’s – it is what it is – they made a play.”
Got that?
While the touchdown pretty much finished the Eagles, as Carson Wentz launched his ninth interception under duress the following series, at least Pederson still had two timeouts left.
That wasn’t the only coverage gaffe. In the first half Claypool lined up wide behind three teammates in a bunch formation. The Eagles were clueless trying to figure it out, and Claypool scored.
Pederson had a solid offensive game plan. The Eagles converted 10 of 14 third downs, a sizzling 71 percent success rate just a few points below that of the Steelers, who were good on 11 of 15 third downs.
But the in-game decisions have left much to be desired. In the first half the Eagles called a play for rookie receiver John Hightower, only to burn their final timeout because he didn’t get out of bounds. The Steelers were walking into the tunnel for the intermission because there were two seconds left after JJ Arcege-Whiteside hauled in a 37-yard pass to the 12yard line.
Attempting a 57-yard field goal with 3:23 left on fourth-and-five at the 39yard line, as Pederson chose to do, isn’t the worst call in the world. Then again, even if Jake Elliott converted, the Eagles would have led by just one point with Roethlisberger still having plenty of time to win the game.
That decision is not nearly as awful as trying to convert fourth-andone at the oppositions’ sixyard line leading by only six points with two minutes left, as Mike Zimmer did with the Vikings. The Seahawks got the stop and Russell Wilson – who had a league-leading 18 TD passes – got his 19th with
15 seconds left to make Zimmer look foolish.
Back to Pederson and Claypool’s fourth and final TD. It was just, uh, unstoppable.
“It’s great execution by the Steelers,” Pederson said. “I mean, I don’t know what else to tell you guys. They recognized the defense, attacked and got the touchdown.”
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The Eagles (1-3-1) host the Baltimore Ravens (4-1) Sunday at 1 p.m.
The City of Philadelphia said it will announce its decision about how many, if any fans, will be allowed to attend the game.
Under state guidelines, the Steelers made 5,500 seats available to fans when they hosted the Eagles this past Sunday.
The paid attendance for the game was 4,708.
The Ravens are 7.5-point favorites over the Eagles.
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Eagles All-Pro offensive tackle Lane Johnson was getting a “second opinion” on the problematic ankle that has reduced his availability in the past two games.
“I am waiting,” Pederson said. “Medically, we’re waiting on a second opinion, so there’s some reports still coming in on Lane, so I don’t have any update yet with him.”
Johnson played 39 of
59 snaps, with rookie Jack Driscoll stepping in to play
27 snaps, the extras coming in short yardage.
Jordan Mailata, Nate Herbig, Jason Kelce, Matt Pryor and Johnson started their second game together. Driscoll started the opener.
Elsewhere on the injury front, cornerback Darius Slay is in concussion protocol, which sidelined him after 60 of the Eagles’ 75 defensive snaps.
Pederson also put his weekly plug in for the return of injured receivers DeSean Jackson (hamstring) and Alshon Jeffery (illness, foot).
Pederson said he was “hopeful” of returning them to practice this week. “We’ve got to make sure that these two guys are healthy first,” Pederson said. “Make sure they are
100 percent heading into the game.”
Jackson hasn’t played since Week 3.
Jeffery hasn’t been on the field since Week 14 of last season.