Doug Pederson says he should have called timeout before the Eagles’ failed 2-point conversion
The Eagles coach said there was some confusion on the run-pass option with his team down two points on its final chance to tie the game.
If Doug Pederson could do it over again, he would have used a timeout before the pivotal 2-point conversion that dashed the Eagles' hopes Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.
The Eagles coach called a run-pass option with his team down two points on what would be the team’s final chance to tie the game. The Eagles barely got the play off before the play clock expired, and there appeared to be some confusion, as two Ravens defenders were left unblocked, blowing up the run in the backfield and leading to the Eagles' 30-28 loss.
During his Monday morning news conference, Pederson said a timeout would have given the team a chance to draw up a better play, or to at least give the offense a chance to function with a longer play clock. In an interview with a local radio station earlier in the day, Pederson said the coaching staff had exhausted all of its red-zone play-calls up to that point in the game.
» READ MORE: Dubious Doug Pederson fails Eagles with two-point conversion, among other issues | Jeff McLane
“A timeout in that situation could have been beneficial probably to get the play, or a better play, possibly in there, so that’s on me," Pederson said. “We didn’t execute as an offense, and that’s coaches and that’s players.”
Still, Pederson contended, the Eagles didn’t lose the game solely because of that mistake.
“That didn’t lose us the football game,” Pederson said. "Obviously it was a big play that could have tied the football game, we had opportunities throughout the course of the game to really make a difference in this football game. I talk to the team a lot about how three, four, five plays a game could determine the outcome, and some of that’s decisions on coaches, too, so we all had a hand in it, and we can definitely execute that play a little better.”
On the massive number of injured players going into this Thursday’s game against the New York Giants, Pederson said he hadn’t yet gotten any medical updates. Miles Sanders, Zach Ertz, Jack Driscoll, Malik Jackson and K’Von Wallace all left Sunday’s game with injuries, and the team is also hoping to get Lane Johnson, Matt Pryor, DeSean Jackson, Alshon Jeffery, Avonte Maddox back at some point.
“Alshon and DeSean have been practicing with us,” Pederson said. “Obviously I’m optimistic, but it’s a short week, you don’t know how guys are going to respond physically. We’ll see where they’re at because with short weeks, we don’t get actual live reps in practice."