Maddox in ‘great spirits’ after scary hit from Sendejo
PHILADELPHIA >> The morning after a seasonresuscitating 34-27 victory in Green Bay, Eagles coach Doug Pederson acknowledged his team’s good fortune when it came to the physical toll inflicted on both teams during the game.
The most serious hit, it seemed then, was the one suffered by Eagles cornerback Avonte Maddox, who took the brunt of an accidental, helmet-first dive by teammate Andrew Sendejo.
Maddox showed movement right away after taking the blow to his head, but an Eagles medical team strapped him to a cart and wheeled him off as the Birds were trying to hold on late in the fourth quarter.
Teammates were remarking that Maddox was joking with them as he was being taken away. Despite a concussion diagnosis he was cleared later by doctors to fly home with the club, meeting them at the airport.
“He did come back with the team,” Pederson said at his Friday press conference at NovaCare Complex. “He’s in great spirits. I have not had a chance to meet with him this morning. He went and came back for further evaluation but I have not seen him (Friday).”
As far as Maddox flying with a concussion diagnosis, Pederson added the team medical advisors, “understood where we were and supported (bringing him home).”
Early in the game Green Bay running back Jamaal williams suffered a similar fate, hit hard Eagles lineman Derek Barnett while being tackled. He, too, was carted off the field and was unavailable late when Green Bay clearly needed a bit of a running game to supplement the work being done by quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Packers also lost top receiver Davante Adams to what was reported to be turf toe late in the game.
As for Williams, he was wrapped up by the Eagles’ Nigel Bradham and was still pushing for extra yardage when Barnett plowed into him.
Barnett told reporters there later that he “was running to the ball and didn’t hear a whistle . ... I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody because it’s our livlihood.”
Reportedly, the NFL office will not suspend Barnett for the hit, supposedly because he turned and hit Williams with his shoulder rather than helmet-first.
“Gosh, it was close,” Pederson said of the Barnett hit. “It was hard to tell, even last night kind of replaying it in my mind when the whistle blew and this or that and the other, but guys were still fighting. (Williams) was fighting for extra yards, and it’s just unfortunate. We don’t need that type of hit, obviously, but it was right about the time that the whistle blew.
“We instruct our players to play to the whistle and sometimes in loud stadiums like that it’s hard to hear what’s going on. It’s unfortunate and obviously I hope the player ... is healthy and can bounce back.”