Davis: no decision on Fletcher until end of week
Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis said Tuesday that he will decide at the end of the week whether corner Bradley Fletcher will start in the season finale against the Giants. Not that it matters now.
Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis said Tuesday no decision has been made about whether corner Bradley Fletcher will start this week against the Giants. Davis said he will decide by the end of the week.
Of course, at this point, with the 9-6 Eagles eliminated from the postseason, it hardly matters, but fans might want to get some sort of idea on whether Nolan Carroll can do better in Fletcher's spot, going into the offseason. Davis said all his corners will play against the Giants, since they regularly play three wideouts.
Asked if his defense is better now than it was a year ago, when the Eagles made the playoffs, Davis said that in several areas, it is, but in the crucial areas of deep passes given up and penalties, it is not.
Davis said moving Marcus Smith back and forth from outside to inside to outside linebacker contributed to the lack of practice consistency Chip Kelly cited when explaining why Smith couldn't get into games. Davis said Brandon Graham played well last Saturday, against the run and the pass, in his first start since 2012.
Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said he looks forward to working with a healthy Nick Foles next season. Right now, Foles looks like the Eagles' best quarterbacking option going forward.
Shurmur said he wanted to avoid "recap" questions, in his last scheduled session with reporters, but then Shurmur unexpectedly waxed eloquent, when talking about the key to the team's downfall, its NFL-high 35 turnovers.
"Whoever has the football has the hopes and dreams of the organization in their hands. They have to take care of it," Shurmur said.
That just might serve as the postcript to the Eagles' 2014 season.
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