Philadelphia Eagles: 2 Concerning statements from Doug Pederson

The Philadelphia Eagles lose again, and the sound bytes are aplenty.

Who are we kidding? If you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan, you saw the game, or you, at least, scrolled through a few highlight reels following another embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Browns. Two consecutive wins over the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys feel like they were four months ago thanks to two consecutive losses by the Birds in Weeks 10 and 11.

Philly’s lost before, so believe it or not, we can handle that. Carson Wentz has been bad all season, so two more interceptions won’t change our minds about how much he’s struggled. Doug Pederson has, more often than not, looked lost, so even though none of us approve of what we’re seeing, believe it or not, as fans, we’ll be able to handle that too.

What we can’t handle is what came after the game. Buckle up Eagles fans. If you missed Coach Pederson’s post-game presser, there are a couple of things that you need to hear. Here’s some fair warning. You may want to sit down if you aren’t already doing so.

Yes, Philadelphia Eagles fans, it gets worse.

It may not sound like they should, but Eagles post-game press conferences are almost as infuriating as the games themselves. If it isn’t Carson Wentz’s delusions or his statements that he’s a gunslinger that will walk a fine line between knowing when to give up on a play and when to extend one, it’s the constant ‘we gotta be better’ thing.

Following the Eagles’ Week-11 loss, Doug Pederson’s post-game talk with the media was more of the same. First, when asked about the possibility of benching Wentz, he said ‘No questions about it, he’s our starter’. Really? No questions huh?

Though you can appreciate Coach’s allegiance to his quarterback, there should be some questions asked, and that’s why so many people are discussing the topic. This franchise and coaching staff needs to ask serious questions about whether or not ’11’ needs to be on this field the next time Philly plays a football game.

Well, at least he didn’t harp on ‘that’s on me’ or ‘we’ve got to get better’. Philly’s next test and stop on their tour through 2020’s NFL regular season leads them to their final prime time game of 2020, barring any potential layoff appearance of course. Wait. You do know that they might still make the postseason, don’t you?

Coach touched on that as well as he stated that benching Carson Wentz sends the wrong message to a team that’s trying to earn a postseason berth. Take a look.

"Look, I think if you get to that spot whether you don’t start him or you bench him, I think you’re sending a wrong message to your football team that the season’s over and that’s a bad message… We have to work through this. When times get tough, sometimes that might be the easy thing to do. This business is about work. This business is about detailing, having ownership, things I talk about with the team. That’s what we gotta do. That’s coaches and players. That’s not one guy. It’s bigger. This sport is bigger than one guy. We all have a hand in it and we all have to fix it."

Well, it kind of makes sense, but there’s just one issue. If benching the worst quarterback, statistically, sends the wrong message. What does he or anyone else that agrees with him thinks sticking with him when he’s losing the trust of his teammates states?

What kind of message does it send when other guys who are struggling see less playing time but QB1 is allowed to continuously put his teammates in some bad spots? Maybe Coach ought to consider that before he loses this team entirely.