Jeffery back to work, looking for a hit; no decision on Sunday
PHILADELPHIA » The cleared-for-contact nerds had their prayer answered Wednesday when wide receiver Alshon Jeffery received medical clearance to practice this week.
Jeffery hasn’t played since the Super Bowl, and it has shown up in the lack of Eagles’ offensive punch over the first three weeks of the season.
“Alshon is doing well,” Doug Pederson assured on Wednesday. “He’s cleared and we’ve decided to get him in the mix and see where he’s at. But we’ll make the final decision whether he plays later in the week.”
Consider the latter decision a formality, unless Jeffery gets hurt while working to get better. He caught 57 passes for 789 yards (13.8 yards per catch) and nine touchdowns last year and was a terror in the postseason. He did much of the damage with a torn rotator cuff that subsequently required surgery.
Jeffery practiced last week and was a game-time scratch. He echoed the boss when asked if there was a good chance he’d be able to go on Sunday when the Eagles trek to Nashville to play the Tennessee Titans.
“We’re a long away from that. We’ll see,” Jeffrey said. “It was good to be back out there with my team just flying around and just being in the huddle. I’m pretty sure I’ve still got to be able to take a hit. That’s the biggest thing, the other hurdle. I haven’t gotten hit yet, so we’ll see.”
For the Titans, head coach Mike Vrabel said quarterback Marcus Mariota was practicing and the likely starter Sunday. Mariota has an elbow issue that’s causing pain in his fingers.
Mariota is all the Titans have right now as Blaine Gabbert, who started last week, is out with a concussion. Mariota came off the bench to rally the Titans to a 9-6 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Austin Davis was signed as an emergency backup quarterback.
But back to the Eagles. When Jeffery is on the field, he draws defensive attention away from tight end Zach Ertz and wide receiver Nelson Agholor. Picture a celebrity entering a party where Ertz and Agholor are guests.
“If he’s doubled, it obviously leaves them singled,” Pederson said. “And that helps out right there. But I think just having those three guys together kind of feeding off of one another, the route combinations and understanding concepts helps Nellie, helps Zach and really helps Alshon.”
Pederson said Jeffery adds to the continuity and flow of the offense and that quarterback Carson Wentz will play better “when we start getting more of the pieces around him back.”
“As well as he played, he can still get better,” Pederson said of Wentz’s triumphant debut last Sunday. “And so now when we start getting some pieces back, it’s not going to be where we picked off at the end of last season. It’s just not. It’s going to take some time.”
Pederson said running backs Darren Sproles (hamstring) and Jay Ajayi (back), who were scratched last week are feeling “really well, and excited to get some time this week in practice.”
That time did not come Wednesday as both sat out practice. Jeffery, on the other hand, was a full go. And we all know what happened when he was part of the offense last year.
“It definitely gives us, offensively, a shot in the arm,” Pederson said. “And he can become a big impact, quite honestly, with the offense and the way Mike Groh and myself make up the formations and moving our guys around, moving him inside, moving him outside. There’s going to be a progression with him, and I don’t think it will be instantaneous. At the same time the more comfortable he gets, the better he becomes. He becomes a target defensively as you saw in some of the games last year where he was doubled a lot, especially in the red zone and we know that is going to happen. He makes a huge difference for us.”