Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Birds’ Johnson in no mood to be criticized for winning
PHILADELPHIA » With black paint streaking below his eyes, still in a sweat, still breathing hard long after the Eagles’ 1910 victory Monday over the Oakland Raiders, Lane Johnson didn’t want to hear what he knew was coming.
He didn’t want to hear that he had committed some penalties.
He didn’t want to hear that the Eagles nearly lost.
He especially did not want to hear that his team was not as prepared, successful or satisfied as it was just a few weeks ago.
“It just gets to the point where we are winning the game, but nobody is satisfied anymore,” he said. “So we won the game. That’s all that matters.”
Though the Eagles are on a three-game winning streak, they are not winning with the seeming ease that had carried them through a nine-game streak earlier. In that, Johnson feels, they are paying an unfair fee for earlier success.
“If we don’t win in a certain fashion, it will be, ‘Well, we’re not good enough,’ and this and that,” the veteran right tackle said. “I’ve been hearing it my whole career. So, we’re moving forward. We have to drown out distractions and try to win one game at a time. And that’s really hard.”
The Eagles’ offense produced only one touchdown. And Johnson was flagged twice for second-quarter penalties, one for holding that negated an 11-yard Nelson Agholor catch. Neither was able to push him into apologizing for the effort. Indeed, it thrust him onto the offensive.
“I didn’t think Khalil Mack had a sack, did he?” Johnson said. “He’s supposed to be the best player in the league. Go back, and I am not happy about the holds. I’m sure that ref will be reviewed on his calls. Personally, I don’t think about getting caught. It was ticky-tack bull-bleep, and you can put that in the paper, I don’t really care. Other than that, it is what it is.”
By then, Johnson was relieved that the Eagles found a way to win, improve to 13-2 and earn the home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
“It was just a hard-fought game,” he said. “It was ugly. There was nothing pretty about it. IT is what it is.”
If anything, Johnson was willing to put the night behind.
“Nobody cares about the wins,” he shrugged. “It’s all about the playoffs.”
While Johnson was citing Mack’s empty boxscore line, he was forced to acknowledge the Birds’ 1-for-14 thirddown inefficiency.
“Yeah, that puts us in a tough position,” he said. “We not able to execute. Other than that, we have to go back and look at the film. That is something we can correct.”
To his thinking, though, the Birds didn’t need to correct much … even if they didn’t seal the victory until the final minute.
“I’m really proud of how the defense played,” he said. “They won us the game. It wasn’t pretty. We have a lot of work to do. But other than that, I am fine with a win.”