Eagles throwing out the Lions tape thanks to short week | Early Birds
The Eagles don’t have the luxury of trying to fix all of the mistakes that came up against Detroit.
Good morning, Eagles fans. Or is it? The Eagles are 1-2 after a sloppy home loss to the beatable Detroit Lions and they’re missing several key players because of significant injuries. To make matters worse, they’ve got a short week to prepare for a good Green Bay Packers team. The team will have a walk-through Tuesday that will mostly be closed to the media. Jim Schwartz, Carson Wentz, and Mike Groh will have news conferences Tuesday afternoon.
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— EJ Smith (earlybirds@inquirer.com)
Moving on and getting over
The Eagles’ sluggish start to the season has made Thursday night’s matchup against the Packers about as close to a must-win game as you can have this early in the year.
Dropping to 1-3 would dig the team into a hole that few have climbed out of. Since 2010, only 13 percent of teams that fell to 1-3 managed to make it to the playoffs. FootballOutsiders gives the Eagles a 27 percent chance of earning a postseason slot, docking them 22 percentage points after Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Detroit Lions.
What’s more, the Dallas Cowboys are 3-0 after beating the lowly Miami Dolphins, 31-6, on Sunday. FootballOutsiders gives the 'Boys an 87 percent chance of making the playoffs, and an 81 percent chance of clinching the NFC East.
Perhaps it’s this urgency that motivated coach Doug Pederson to toss out Sunday’s game tape. Or maybe he just wanted to spare his team the dismal viewing experience. The Eagles didn’t play well on Sunday. They had seven dropped passes and three fumbles, leading to two turnovers. They gave up a kick return for a touchdown in the first quarter, and haven’t been able to generate a pass rush without risking their coverage on the back end.
“We have actually been focused on Green Bay today,” Pederson said during his Monday news conference. “We won’t watch this game at all. We are getting ready for Green Bay right now.”
The Eagles don’t have the luxury of trying to fix all of the mistakes that came up against Detroit.
There’s no time.
“I have to flip the script," Pederson said. "Now we can come back when we get some time and watch this game and make corrections from that, but at the same time, gosh, we have a couple days, so we’re right on to Green Bay.”
The Packers sit atop the NFC North at 3-0 after beating the Denver Broncos, 27-16, on Sunday. They’re led by All-World quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and their defense has been one of the best in the NFL so far.
Green Bay’s defense has a league-leading eight takeaways this year. The Eagles’ offense is tied for seventh-worst with five giveaways. The Packers’ ability to win the turnover battle has gotten Pederson’s attention.
“The defense has been opportunistic,” Pederson said. “They can give you a lot of problems on third down. They will play five, six, seven [defensive backs] and [Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine] has a pretty good blitz package."
What you need to know about the Eagles
It’s always bleak after an Eagles loss, but Doug Pederson has earned the benefit of the doubt, hasn’t he? Mike Sielski believes so.
The Eagles have a different set of problems than the ones they had after the Falcons loss, and that’s the biggest problem, writes Jeff McLane.
There was a lot to nitpick about Sunday’s loss, but Paul Domowitch breaks down the five main reasons the Eagles did not prevail.
Andre Dillard had an injury scare, but he’s expected to be fine in short order. Ronald Darby? Not so much. Yours truly gives you the updates from Monday’s injury report.
Bob Ford writes that if the Eagles want to play their best, having their best players on the field would help.
Remember the viral Eagles fan screaming on Sunday’s broadcast? He’s actually Penn’s dean of admissions, as Rob Tornoe writes.
Curious what that angry fan was saying? Science writer Tom Avril talked to lip-reading experts to find out.
The local hero catching babies — yes, babies — thrown out of a burning building made sure to take a shot at Nelson Agholor. Watch the hilarious video clip in Rob Tornoe’s story.
From the mailbag
The defensive line hasn’t been able to generate a pass rush without the help of blitzing linebackers and defensive backs. This is a problem mostly because defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is not a fan of sending extra help. One of the staples of the team’s successful defensive units in the past has been the ability to create pressure on the quarterback with just the front four defensive linemen. Fletcher Cox played 46 out of 64 possible snaps on Sunday and didn’t show up on the box score at all. He’s dealing with very frequent double teams now that he has lost both Malik Jackson and Timmy Jernigan as his running mates. But I’d still chalk up his ineffectiveness to the foot injury that sidelined him for much of the offseason and put his return for the start of regular season in question.
Derek Barnett has actually been getting to the quarterback a good amount this year, but he hasn’t been able to convert any of those plays into sacks. I’d give it a few more weeks before panicking, though. Once Cox is back to being 100 percent himself, he can completely change the picture for the defensive front. He’s an impact player when he’s right, the Eagles just need him to get there.