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Eagles QB Carson Wentz, coach Doug Pederson refocus for key games ahead

The Eagles coach and quarterback talked about staying confident in the players as they face a tough stretch of schedule ahead.

Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor fumbles in the second quarter.
Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor fumbles in the second quarter.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer
    by Gary Potosky
    Updated 
    Published 

Eagles coach Doug Pederson and quarterback Carson Wentz weren’t ready to see Sunday’s loss to the Lions as a season-defining moment.

“We’re only three games into the season, and we’ve got to get some things fixed, we know that," Pederson said in his postgame press conference.

Wentz said: “It’s high urgency [this week], coming off two losses, but we’ve got a game on Thursday. Nobody feels bad for us, we don’t feel bad for ourselves, and we have to be full speed ahead for Green Bay.”

Here are some of their thoughts on the game:

On the play-calling

Pederson: “I wouldn’t take anything back, [the Lions] were putting pressure on us with two guys on Zach [Ertz], trying to eliminate him. That left us with one-on-ones across the board. It was great defense by [Detroit], and a good learning experience for our guys.”

Wentz: “I wouldn’t say [play-calling changed without DeSean Jackson] drastically, I think guys really rallied around each other, just being creative getting mismatches.”

Lack of pass rush

Pederson: “That’s something we’ve got to look at, whether it’s with four, five or six [pass rushers]. We had a chance to make some plays down the field and we didn’t.”

» READ MORE: Eagles make too many mistakes to overcome in loss to Lions

On the key mistakes

Pederson: "We had penalties, fumbles, the kickoff return. There were enough mistakes to go around, you can’t point your finger to one thing. We just have to keep battling, keep fighting, go to work tomorrow, short week. We’ve got a lot of confidence in the players, just got to keep working.”

Wentz: “It’s just part of the game, guys make mistakes. Just have to keep building those guys up.”

On Miles Sanders’ fumbles

Pederson: “We just kept him out there for the most part. Only way you deal with it is you’ve got to have trust and confidence in a player. It’s a learning moment for a young running back in games like this, you gotta take care of the ball.”

On falling short at the end again

Wentz: “It’s super frustrating to have a shot like that and come up short like we did. We’re gonna flush this one down, move on, make the plays we left out here today."

Pederson: “Last two weeks we had an opportunity, the defense [today] had some nice stops late in the game, we had the blocked field goal and an opportunity there. Again, we have a lot of confidence in our guys, and we’ve gotta get better.”

    Gary Potosky
    Bluesky
    I am the Sports department's Assistant Managing Editor, managing columnists, the assigning desk, publishing strategy for multiplatform content, staffing and coverage of major events, enterprise stories, and special projects.
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