Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Pederson hopes Birds have flushed mistakes
PHILADELPHIA >> One more dropfilled, penalty-marred, no-sacks start and the Eagles won’t be able to look in the mirror, much less a video screen.
Head coach Doug Pederson was so disgusted after watching the replay of a 27-24 loss to the Detroit Lions Sunday, he felt the best way to get the Eagles ready for their Thursday night showdown with the undefeated Green Bay Packers (8:20 p.m., Fox-29, WIP 94.1-FM) was to direct them away from reviewing film of their last loss.
“We all know what happened last Sunday,” Eagles tight end Zach Ertz said. “You can’t dwell on it for too long when you’ve got to install a full game plan for Thursday night. You’ve just got to put it behind you, flush it and focus on the Packers, because if we focus on the Lions too much, we’re not going to win this one. And all that matters right now is trying to find a way to win this one.”
Moving on, the Eagles may be 1-2 overall but they’re 3-0 on Thursday Night Football with quarterback Carson Wentz, who is killing it on third down this season. He deserves better than an arsenal of receivers who dropped the ball seven times last week according to ESPN Stats, or four times per Stats LLC.
The return of wide receiver Alshon Jeffery (calf) should be a help, for he’s caught 30 of 38 passes thrown his way over his last eight games, a stellar 79 percent success rate. He’s also been tough in the red zone.
Then again, those Jeffery numbers are for regular season games. He tipped a pass to the New Orleans Saints with the divisional playoff game on the line last year. So, it’s not just Nelson Agholor and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside who were unable to haul in recent game-winners, as they did the last two weeks.
With a 56.2 percent conversion rate, the Eagles rank second in the league on third down largely due to the resourcefulness of Wentz. He’s completing almost 70 percent of his passes on third down. In short yardage situations, the quarterback sneak works 91 percent of the time.
The bad news is the Eagles are converting just 58.3 percent of their trips into the red zone into touchdowns, which is in the middle of the league with the ordinary teams.
In addition to Jeffery, the extended loss of DeSean Jackson to an abdominal strain and the inagain, out-again status of tight end Dallas Goedert (calf), who had a big drop last week, has enabled the opposition to roll the coverage to Ertz, who last season caught 116 balls to set the all-time receptions record for tight ends.
Ertz has 17 catches, but zero touchdowns in three games.
“They put a lot of guys on me last game,” Ertz said of the Lions. “Every passing situation I was getting double teamed. I can’t let it affect me mentally. I’ve got to view it as a sign of respect. I can’t too upset if I’m not getting the ball, especially early on, because those other guys are going to be able to make plays. I’ve got a lot of confidence in those guys to make plays. If they have two guys on you, especially when you don’t know exactly where the second guy is going to be pre-snap, it’s pretty tough. By the end of the day, by the rules they’re being taught, I shouldn’t be able to catch the ball.”
The challenge Thursday will be to get open against a defense that deploys up to seven defensive backs, per Pederson. That’s where the ground game with Jordan Howard and rookie Miles Sanders comes in. Particularly Sanders, who lost one of two fumbles last week.
The Eagles can capitalize by putting their big offensive linemen on the lean defensive backs. But the Eagles have to stay close. Coordinator Mike Pettine’s defense has interceptions by four different players as well as four fumble recoveries.
The Packers have a plus-seven turnover margin. They’re tied for the league lead with five forced fumbles, rank second with 35 points allowed and tied for third with a dozen sacks.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers barely has worked up a sweat in the conservative offense of new head coach Matt LaFleur. Rodgers has four TD passes, zero picks and a 96.5 rating primarily because his yards-per-attempt average is an ordinary 6.96.
“I think we’ll put a really good product out there Thursday night,” said Wentz, who has six TDs and two interceptions. “We’re excited to go show what we can do and get back in the win column. We’re not looking at this as a bad spot. We’re 1-2 but we’ve got a lot of season left.”