Philadelphia Eagles: 3 Concerning statements from Doug Pederson

For Philadelphia Eagles fan there isn’t much to like about what Coach is saying.

By now, if you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan, you’ve probably learned that your head coach, Doug Pederson, may not be the voice that you want to hear in moments of crisis or after crushing defeats. On the Monday following Philly’s second overtime tie with the Cincinnati Bengals in the last four meetings between these two teams, two games that should have resulted in victory, Coach, as he always does on the Mondays following games, sat with the media.

Here’s a spoiler alert. If you’re a ‘Birds’ you’re not going to like a lot about what he had to say.

Here are a couple of the highlights Philadelphia Eagles fans need to hear.

So let’s start with the injuries. One of the most notable surrounds one of the Eagles’ best players on offense, Dallas Goedert. Expect Zach Ertz to see a lot of double-teams over the next few weeks as Dallas Goedert will miss some time with a lower-body injury. So will Avonte Maddox. DeSean Jackson is getting that ‘day-to-day’ tag, but according to Pederson, he may be ready for Sunday as will Jason Peters.

The latter was dealing with some fatigue issues late, and as for those who are inquiring about where JJ Arcega-Whiteside was, it was learned that he was also dealing with an injury that led his coaches to believe that the best course of action was to limit his snaps. According to Pederson, there’s no determination one way or another that says Alshon Jeffery will or won’t be ready for the next game. That’s the first thing you need to know.

The second is this. Just in case you were wondering, Doug has no intention of giving up the playcalling duties. He says he enjoys the responsibility and that’s because, as a former quarterback, he sees the game as the players do, so as of now, he hasn’t thought about relinquishing those duties at all.

If you aren’t irritated as a Philadelphia Eagles fan yet, this should do it.

So, now that you’ve had time to calm down following the tie, how do you feel? Should Doug have gone for it on fourth down? Was punting the right decision? People may argue about that all season, but it sounds like Coach has had a change of heart.

During his most recent Monday morning phone call with Angelo Cataldi that we hear during every football season, it sounded like Pederson now regrets punting. Here’s a quote.

"Looking back on it, I would have probably gone the other way and maybe taken a shot down the field and put the ball up in the air. Looking back on it, with clearer eyes this morning, a lot of things could have happened, DPI (defensive pass interference), illegal contact, could have been an offensive holding, could have been a sack. There’s a lot of things that go into those plays. Looking back on it, that’s probably what I would do."

Let’s be frank though guys. Punting was the right decision, and honestly, you’d have to ask why Coach would second-guess himself now. That isn’t the best course of action, and here are a few reasons why. There was nothing to state that Philly would have converted a fourth and long, but there’s also this. Failure would have given the Bengals the ball at midfield with a chance to get into field-goal range. Are you confident that the Eagles defense could have stopped the Bengals one more time?

In the end, an 0-2-1 record is better than an 0-3 record any day, and in a bad NFC East division where the champion could have a losing record, a tie is better than a loss. Fans are hurting. Coach Pederson is still irritating them with his words, but we can’t sit in sadness. There’s another game on Sunday night. Look at the bright side. At least Doug and Carson Wentz understood the overtime rules (if you’re an Eagles fan, you got the joke there).