Carson Wentz and the Eagles hope Alshon Jeffery can provide a boost, as they face a Green Bay gut check
It's still early in the season, but a 1-3 start would be a huge handicap to overcome.
This is as big a challenge as a healthy Carson Wentz has faced, maybe since the Dec. 10, 2017 road game against the Rams, when the Eagles were coming off a loss at Seattle and needed to prove their worth as championship contenders.
Wentz answered that 2017 gut check forcefully, too forcefully, it turned out, shredding the Los Angeles defense but also tearing his left ACL on a scrambling third-quarter dive toward the end zone. Nick Foles stepped in and preserved the 43-35 victory, providing some neat foreshadowing.
There were significant challenges last season, but the Eagles’ injury list got out of hand early, and everyone knew Wentz was a little limited, coming off knee surgery. By the time he got his legs under him, his back was injured, and once more, it was up to Foles to write the story of the stretch run.
Foles is in Jacksonville, with a broken collarbone, and the Eagles again have something to prove. They are a limping, careless, underachieving 1-2 team that was expected to play at the Super Bowl level of two years ago, and they are headed for Lambeau Field Thursday night and the 3-0 Packers.
Wentz was asked Tuesday if he saw this situation as a test of his leadership.
“In what way?” he said.
Well, the team’s in a bad spot, missing some key pieces, 4.5-point underdogs to a top NFC opponent, looking at the strong possibility of a 1-3 start, which would make the rest of the season an all-out scramble for a wild-card berth, probably. That sort of thing.
“We’re not really looking at this as a bad spot. We’re 1-2, yeah, but we have a lot of the season left,” Wentz said. “Little things here and there in each game that we know are going to get corrected, and we’re going to be in a good spot. … We’re excited Thursday night to go show what we can do, and get back in the win column.”
The emphasis Tuesday at Wentz’s presser, and throughout the NovaCare Complex, really, was on a sort of quiet determination. Maybe it’s too early in the season for a lot of fiery, rally-‘round-the-flag-boys rhetoric, or maybe the assumption is that the team culture is strong enough that players understand the stakes, and will rise to the occasion without anyone going to the whip.
Before Wentz spoke Tuesday, offensive coordinator Mike Groh was asked what sense of urgency he had instilled over the past few days, in the wake of the two lost fumbles and six or seven dropped passes that doomed the Eagles against Detroit Sunday.
“These are pro guys that have made a lot of plays,” Groh said. “We obviously point out the things that we need to improve on, whether it’s how we want to hold the ball, or looking through our hands and focusing on getting the ball tucked away. We talk about those kinds of things. Our guys are urgent; they’re ready to respond. This is a resilient group. We haven’t lost any confidence in ourselves, and we’re excited to go up there and play on Thursday night.”
Wentz said his method of dealing with such mistakes was to “keep building those guys up, keep telling them the ball’s coming right back to them.
“That’s kind of the mindset we have around here – we’re all going to make mistakes. We’ve just got to learn from it. … I don’t get too caught up in that. It’s their job to catch the ball and they’re going to do that. I’m going to keep trusting them and giving them the chance to make plays, and I’m confident that they’ll make ‘em.”
It looks as if Wentz will be a little better equipped than he was against the Lions. Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, who missed the Detroit game with a calf injury, participated in Tuesday’s walk-through practice. Eagles coach Doug Pederson told a conference call with reporters who cover the Packers that he thought Jeffery would be able to play in Green Bay, though later in the locker room, Jeffery was noncommittal.
“I was just jogging around, just seeing how I feel,” Jeffery said. “I feel pretty good. Just taking it one day at a time, though. It’s still undecided; [Wednesday] I may come in sore, I don’t know.”
However, the Eagles waived wideout Greg Ward, brought up from the practice squad last week in response to the injuries to Jeffery and DeSean Jackson (abdomen, won’t play this week). They used Ward’s roster spot for a cornerback, Craig James, in the wake of Ronald Darby’s hamstring injury, suffered against Detroit. So they clearly believe Jeffery is playing.
“Having Alshon out there is a difference-maker,” Wentz said. “He’s a matchup problem for a lot of guys. Even when he’s covered, we always think he’s open, and he’s able to do some different things that are special.
“To have him out there, that would be a huge lift for this offense, and I think it would definitely put a little fear in their defense.”
Wentz is 3-0 on Thursday Night Football, all on the road – twice at the Giants and once at Carolina. Wentz said the key to playing well on Thursday night is to “get your body back ready to go. I think everyone kind of has their own method of doing that. I feel confident with how I’ve approached that.”
He said playing a defense you don’t face often, with little prep time, is a challenge.
“It’s still, studying the tape – everything just gets sped up – sometimes things get simplified, do what you do best,” Wentz said. “We’ve been successful in these games lately.”