A Lot Of Nerve
Eagles, Pederson need to shake the shakes
PHILADELPHIA >> It was the question about the jitters that rattled Doug Pederson at his Monday news conference.
We can all agree the heavily favored Eagles didn’t show up in the first quarter of their opener against the personnel-strapped Washington Redskins Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. The crowd confirmed it. The merciless booing went into the intermission locker room with the team.
The Eagles fell behind, 170, and trailed, 20-7, at the intermission before rallying for a five-point victory.
All the puttering around in the preseason, all of Pederson’s talk about how he knew his team was ready to start the season was just that - talk.
The Eagles got away with it in Week 1 but it won’t be so easy next Sunday at Atlanta, where the Falcons are coming off a sloppy 28-12 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. They’ll tighten that up.
But back to the jitters. What’s up with that, Doug?
“That’s not a preseason deal at all,” Pederson said. “That’s being excited for the home opener and a great crowd that we had. I was feeling it. I was excited. I was nervous and had butterflies. It was a great atmosphere and you can kind of feel that with the players, just the excitement and nervous energy a little bit before the game. But it’s all positive and it’s all good.”
Call it whatever you like, it wasn’t the Eagles.
You could argue that Pederson didn’t show up until the third quarter. It took him forever to figure out the Redskins couldn’t cover DeSean Jackson, who broke the game open with touchdown catches of 51 and 53 yards from Carson Wentz.
Pederson said he challenged the offensive line to take over on the first possession of the second half, and it turned into a marathon of a touchdown drive. The reality is the Redskins had to back up and give the runners room to be sure Jackson didn’t blow past them again.
Pederson was pretty ordinary in the first half. You’d like to give him a pass for being bold on fourth-and-two at the 29-yard line of the Redskins early in the second quarter. But when you’re trailing, 10-0, you’re at home and it’s an inferior opponent, you typically take the field goal.
Two plays later, Terry McLaurin made it 17-0 for the
Redskins on a 69-yard pass from Case Keenum. Eagles cornerback Rasul Douglas, who had no help on the play, basically would take a back seat to Sydney Jones in the second half for that misnomer.
Then there’s perennial Pro Bowler Zach Ertz, who set a record for tight ends with 116 receptions last season. Ertz had one catch in the first half. Spreading the ball around isn’t mandatory. Winning is. This is the NFL, not a popularity contest. How in the world does Nelson Agholor rate three targets in the first half to a couple for Ertz? Tell us they’re not doing that to groom Agholor for a trade.
Then there was that timeout Pederson called with the Redskins in third-andfour at their own 47-yard line with 48 seconds left, the Eagles in a 17-7 hole. The Redskins were out of timeouts. Was that really the occasion to stop the clock for the visitors even if you believe your defense – which hadn’t stopped the opposition in the first half – suddenly would hold? It didn’t work. The Redskins kicked a 48-yard field goal with four seconds left to go up 20-7. Eagles defensive end Derek Barnett helped the Skins by jumping offside to shorten the field goal.
Does any of that sound like a coach and a team ready to start the season?
There were plenty of encouraging moments in the opener.
Wentz threw the ball away on the first snap, the Eagles’ receivers bumping into each other and failing to get open. First of the season, first one in the script and the timing is awful. No, that’s not the preseason.
Wentz ditched a bunch of other throws, as well. Excluding the quarterback sneaks he converted, he didn’t take a big hit, which considering his willingness to run over opponents, is outstanding.
The Eagles expertly used veteran running back Jordan Howard, who gained 44 yards on six carries and as an outlet, caught two passes for 11 yards, one off his shoestrings.
Jones did a decent job in coverage. Decent, not great. Luckily, he didn’t get beat over the top like Douglas had.
Cornerback Ronald Darby, on the other hand, had a rough day. He dropped what should have been an interception in the first half. And he allowed 35-year-old Vernon Davis to hurdle him on the sideline en route to a 48-yard touchdown. And oh, by the way, that marked the first time the Redskins scored a TD on an opening drive in Week 1 since 2004.
The Eagles handed two monster plays to a Redskins team that isn’t like the Falcons, who have the likes of Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu, Devontae Freeman and Matt Ryan laying in wait.
That means the Eagles better hit the field running without jitters next Sunday night.