Cool Cox has no answers for his lack of production

On a day when the Eagles fell to 1-3-1, Fletcher Cox didn’t make a solo tackle.

On a day when the Eagles allowed the Pittsburgh Steelers to score on five consecutive possessions, Fletcher Cox had half a sack.

On a day when the Eagles lost, 38-29 at Heinz Field, Fletcher Cox added one assist to what has been a lackluster statistical season for a tackle expected to be among their defensive pillars.

“We’re the type of team,” Cox said, “that won’t point fingers at anybody.”

In the fifth year of a sixyear, $103,000,000 contract, Cox has been in on nine tackles, has hit the quarterback four times and has been the face of a defense that has allowed 155 points.

Good for him, then, that the Eagles don’t go all fingerpointy whenever they lose. Frustrating?

“No,” Cox said. “I never get frustrated. I know that my time is coming. And I tell the guys in that room all the time, that if I stay calm, they stay calm. And the minute I lose my stuff, they lose their stuff. Then everything gets out of whack.

“So if I stay calm, they stay calm and everybody will be fine.”

It’s relatively early, the NFC East is shallow, and the Eagles will play their next three games at home. But Jim Schwartz’s defense is allowing 30.1 points per game, and it is counting heavily on Cox, five times an All-Pro tackle, once an NFL champion. It’s largely because of Cox’s accomplishments and reputation, though, that opposing offensive lines are doubleteaming him with regularity.

For that, he will not worry about his lack of statistical production, at least not in Week 5.

“There’s plenty of food on that plate for everybody to eat in that room,” he said. “Anybody who is making a play on my shoulder, I am happy for them. Any time I make one, they are happy for me.”

The Eagles’ problem is that too few players are making enough good plays. But Sunday, Cox went back-door on a standard sports rationalization, saying that statistics don’t matter, just the results.

It was almost as if he didn’t comprehend that his team is lugging one victory into Week 6.

“Winning is the most important stat, when you get down with it,” he said. “I’ll give up whatever number of points, as long as we come out with a win.

“Obviously, we didn’t take care of business today. But it doesn’t matter if you give up 38 points or 30 points. If you still get a win, I am OK with it and we’re not having this conversation. But at the end of the day, the most important stat is to get that win. And we didn’t do that today.”

The Eagles would have won if they gave up 28, but Ben Roethlisberger was only sacked once and threw three touchdown passes, including a dagger with 2:59 left.

“If we win this game, we’re not talking about the defense giving up 38 points,” said Cox, doubling down on his theme. “That’s the most important thing. Obviously, we had a couple of penalties that gave them opportunities to make more plays. So you’ve got to get off the field. And we have to win. I mean, I’d rather give up however many points to get the win. That’s all that matters.”

So that’s the plan, apparently: Ignore the numbers and endeavor to win. Somewhere in that plot, though, there is a requirement for the best defenders to make enough plays to contribute to being victorious. And Cox, who already has earned franchise legend status in his nine seasons, is expected to be a touch more visible at the line, in the backfield and on the stat sheet.