Challenges, injuries continue to mount
PHILADELPHIA >> Through the offseason, through training camp, through a miserable preseason and a 4-5 start to a would-be championship encore, Doug Pederson always expected the Eagles to be themselves again.
By Monday, a day after a 2720 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, he clearly was tiring of that vigil.
A night earlier having given his players the standard look-in-the-mirror instruction of the otherwise stumped, Pederson took his regular Monday morning press briefing to wonder out loud when it would begin to work.
“I’ve said this before,” he said. “It’s the resiliency of this group and how they bounce back on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, leading up into the next week. But the thing is we have to string more of these weeks together with these wins. And that’s not the case right now.”
The Eagles have lost four of their last six, and their last three at home. Injuries have been plentiful and proven difficult to overcome. The latest is to Ronald Darby’s ACL, which he tore dur--
ing a third-quarter collision Thursday. Announcing that the starting cornerback would be out “for the year,” Pederson seemed to realize that the final seven games of the season could be painful.
“We can make excuses of injuries and all that kind of stuff, and we try not to do that,” he said. “But what I really respect about this group, and what I heard in the locker room after the game from some of our leaders, is that they’re disappointed. They’re disappointed in the way they play. They’re disappointed in the outcome of the game. And they know that we talk about having no regrets.”
Late Sunday night, though, Pederson hinted at some possible practice-time regrets, saying out loud, “Are we doing enough? Are we giving enough? Each week, it’s a strain.” The implication was that the Birds were leaving something on their practice field other than spent water bottles.
“There are times throughout the course of the past couple years when you walk off the practice field and are like, ‘That wasn’t good enough today,’” Pederson said. “And we haven’t had too many of those this year, honestly.”
Then why the public challenge to someone, anyone, to accomplish more on nongame days?
“I guess what I mean by that is when there’s a defensive period or and offensive period, it’s just focusing in on those six, seven, eight plays, whatever they are, and finishing each play,” Pederson said. “It’s making sure that maybe you tap off on the runner or the receiver if you’re a defensive guy. Or if you’re a receiver, that you’re blocking down the field. And you get in that habit of finishing the drill or finishing the play, that carries over into the game.”
It carried into at least four games. As for the five others? Not really. But while he was the one who invited the topic, Pederson was oddly quick to deny that whatever it is that is missing in practice has driven the Eagles into their third-place (by tiebreaker) NFC East straits.
“No, I don’t think that’s necessarily the case,” he said. “I do think sometimes it can affect certain aspects of the game. But I don’t think it necessarily comes down to the win or the loss. I think the wins and losses just come down to execution and just what we’re seeing and how we react in the game. We just have to make more plays.”
That has been known to help.
But the Eagles have been overwhelmed by injuries all season, with Darby’s perhaps being one too many. Pederson is hopeful that Sidney Jones, who has missed the last three games with hamstring trauma, will be available to replace Darby Sunday in New Orleans. He also dumped praise on De’Vante Bausby, a career practiceteam value.
Lane Johnson missed the Dallas game with a knee injury, but early whispers are that he could face the Saints. And Jalen Mills, who has a foot injury, has not been ruled out for this week.
“It’s a little difficult, obviously,” Pederson said. “But, listen, if we all had superstars at our positions, coaching would be easy. That’s why we wear the ‘C’ on our hat, to coach everybody. So my challenge to the staff is just that. Let’s be teachers. Let’s be hard on our players. Let’s keep them accountable and coach them, coach them like they’re the starters, because they are.
“So that’s where we’re at.” They are also at a point where they must start winning regularly. Sunday, they sounded willing to begin that process on the practice field.
“This one hurt,” Carson Wentz said, after the game. “I know we have a lot of veterans, a lot of leadership. Like Coach said, and I’m going to keep echoing the same thing, we all have to look in the mirror. What can we do differently? Where can we be better?”
It’s been a tiring vigil for the players and the coaches.
Pederson, though, is not ready to quit.
“We don’t want to have any regrets during the week, and no regrets on Sundays,” he said. “And right now, we have to continue to work on that.”