Do you believe? Pederson says he still does

Playoffs? Playoffs?

"Isn't that a great thing?,'' Eagles coach Doug Pederson told reporters Wednesday. "I don't feel it from you guys, though. I just don't feel it. C'mon.''

The Eagles are 5-7. They've lost seven of their last nine. They've given up 26 or more points in five or their last six games. Not even the most cockeyed optimist thinks they have a shot at the postseason.

But while they may be realistically out of the playoff hunt, they still aren't mathematically out of it. For now, that's Pederson's story and he's going to stick with it.

"We're still in the (playoff) conversation,'' the Eagles coach said as his team began preparations for Sunday's game against the Redskins (6-5-1) at the Linc. "Even though (our chances are) down there, we're still in the conversation.

"Four games is a lot of football. It's a quarter of your season. By no means do we want to ease up now. This is the time to push forward and be aggressive and do the things that we did earlier in the season and try to get back to that level of play. With three out of the next four at home, that becomes huge down the stretch in hopes of getting to where we want to be.''

NOTES: Ryan Mathews (knee) and Jordan Matthews (ankle) are likely to practice Wednesday. Pederson said he expects both of them to play Sunday against the Redskins. Mathews missed the last two games. Matthews sat out Sunday's loss to the Bengals. Pederson said neither offensive tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai (knee) nor wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham (oblique) will practice Wednesday. Vaitai won't play Sunday. Green-Beckham appears to be very questionable.