Doug Pederson says Jason Peters remains the Eagles’ starting left tackle; on blame, there’s ‘plenty to go around’

Eagles coach Doug Pederson, asked about Jason Peters’ struggles after an apparent early-game leg injury in Sunday’s loss at Cleveland, said: “Yeah, He’s our left tackle moving forward. There were several things that stood out after watching the film, from a number of positions, not just one spot or aspect of the game, offensively. … There’s enough to go around. O-line, running backs, tight ends, the quarterbacks, the receivers. A lot of work still needs to be done, but we can get it done.”

Peters had a brutal day against a Cleveland defensive front that was missing its best player, Myles Garrett. At least two and maybe three of the Browns’ five sacks seemed to involve Peters.

Under further questioning about his answers to questions after the game about possibly benching quarterback Carson Wentz, Pederson went back to the “everyone’s to blame” topic.

Pederson said he is to blame for the scarcity of rollout-type plays, which seem most effective with Wentz right now. “Probably it’s just me calling it more,” he said. Pederson said some such calls Sunday were checked down to runs, based on how the defense lined up.

Pederson said Wentz did have a chance to get the ball out to Jalen Reagor before he was hit by Denzel Ward on a blitz, leading to the first of two interceptions, and that tight end Richard Rodgers saw Ward too late, missing the block that would have kept the hit from happening.

» READ MORE: Five reasons the free-falling Eagles lost to the Browns and are 3-6-1

Pederson was asked if, by not considering the benching of Wentz at 3-6-1, is he sending a message that the quarterback is not accountable, that mistakes are excused?

“We still have a lot to play for, and we still have a lot to fix,” Pederson said. “In this city … it’s all about the QB and the head coach. And everybody else can almost go by the wayside, I guess. It’s almost like a two-man band. But there’s enough work to be done … by all positions. Receivers can play better, you know? The O-line can play better — we played all nine [active] offensive linemen yesterday. … It was another one of those days. Running backs — we need to hang on to the football. Quarterback needs to play better. Defensively, we’ve got to get off the field on third down; we’ve got to be able to tackle better. The same way on special teams, you’ve got to be able to tackle in space.”

“There’s enough to go around. None of it’s excusable. We all hold each other accountable, coaches and players. And that’s why I keep saying that we’ve got a lot to play for, there’s a lot of pride here, and that’s what we’re going to do.

“We’re still leading the division, and we have a lot to play for right now.”