Birds expecting cornerback reinforcements this week
PHILADELPHIA >> The Eagles’ alternates having failed famously a day earlier in Minneapolis, Doug Pederson Monday was looking forward to some cornerback reinforcements.
At his day-after news conference, Pederson said he expects Jalen Mills, who made sizeable contributions to the run to a championship two seasons ago, to resume practicing this week. Also, Ronald Darby is likely to recover from a hamstring injury in time to face the Cowboys Sunday night in Dallas.
Mills has been inactive since midway through last season due to a foot injury said to be a Lis franc fracture. As he was still on the Physically Unable to Perform list as training camp broke, he became eligible to return only after the Eagles had passed Week 6.
Considering that cornerbacks Rasul Douglas and Sidney Jones were victimized by plenty of Kirk Cousins’ 333 passing yards in a 38-20 loss Sunday to the Vikings, Pederson and the Eagles should welcome help from any direction. Pederson, though, will exercise caution.
“You have to be careful with Jalen, No. 1,” the head coach said. “He hasn’t played in a while. That’s why the practice is so important this week for him. I think you still have to have a plan. Obviously if he can’t go 60 minutes, I don’t think it would be smart on our part to put him out there for a full 60-minute game.”
While on the PUP scroll, Mills was ineligible to participate in any practices. He has, though, been running at full speed, has regained full physical shape and is experiencing no pain. Last week he indicated he would be ready to face the Cowboys.
“That’s like riding a bike,” he said. “But for sure, when I play, it’s going to be exciting. I am going to go out there with a lot of energy.”
Darby started the first three games of the season, his third with the Eagles after two productive years for the Buffalo Bills. The hamstring issue kept him out of the last three games, but Pederson would not hesitate to trust him for an entire game.
“You probably could do that just because he’s played and he’s played this season,” Pederson said. “Two different guys. But I would expect Darby to maybe play a little more if he’s healthy and ready than Jalen.”
Either way, the Eagles need help after being hit with four touchdown passes Sunday, including three to Stefon Diggs good for 62, 51 and 11 yards. Each time, the Eagles appeared befuddled in the secondary.
“On the first one, we were in cover-four,” Pederson said. “Both safeties were obviously in cover four. They’re run-support safeties. They were low and Diggs ran a good route. He just ran past us and then Cousins put the ball in a position where only Diggs could make the play. That was a win for them.”
On the 51-yard Diggs reception, Pederson identified safety Malcolm Jenkins as being “out of position.”
“I know he made some comments about that after the game,” Pederson said. “He took ownership on that. Obviously we can’t do that. Communication is imperative in the back end, and they caught us there again.”
With Mills and Darby likely to face the Cowboys, Pederson Monday remained uncertain of how he would dispense the cornerback playing time.
“We’re still putting the final touches on yesterday’s game,” he said. “But I want the guys to understand that we’ve played six games, and sure, the season hasn’t gone so far the way we’d like it. We’ve had opportunities in a couple games to win those games and it could be a different outcome right now. But I have to show confidence. I believe in our guys. I totally do. And we’re close. When I say we’re close, we’re close, in a lot of areas.
“We are playing some young guys in some spots. They are getting better every week. We’re going to continue to work and we’re going to get better.”