Eagles can’t play their best without best players | Bob Ford

Perhaps when Doug Pederson arrived at the annual league meetings in March with his left leg in a walking boot, that should have been recognized as something other than a good omen for the coming Eagles season.

When even the head coach has to skitter around the Arizona Biltmore on a one-legged scooter, what hope is there for the rest of the team?

Unlike the players who went through offseason surgery or injury rehabilitation, or those who have fallen by the wayside during the first three games of the 2019 season, however, Pederson’s medical situation was voluntary. He finally had fixed a nagging Achilles condition that was going to become a tear eventually as he climbed out of a sand trap somewhere.

Pederson is fine now, which is good, because he might have to play left tackle Thursday night if things keep going as they have.

In the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s odiferous loss to Detroit, and in the calmly reflective day-after autopsy, there was a lot of yelling and gesticulating about a number of things. To review: There were too many dropped passes, too many fumbles, too many missed assignments, poor pass coverage, not enough defensive line pressure, no much-needed heroics from Carson Wentz, and a dreadful special-teams breakdown.

Other than that, it was a report card one would be proud to take home to mom.

The really shocking part of the Eagles’ poor showing is that people were shocked. What do you expect when 11 of the 22 offensive and defensive starters are either out with an injury, playing with an injury, or are noticeably underperforming for some undisclosed reason?

That list doesn’t even count starters or potential starters who are already gone or who haven’t yet returned from last year’s problems. Put Malik Jackson on that list, and Jalen Mills and Cra’Von LeBlanc. Make another list of the second-string guys expected to contribute, or perhaps be called upon, but are also struggling with something or other. Put Dallas Goedert, Corey Clement, Jordan Mailata, Andre Dillard, Vinny Curry, and Sidney Jones on that list.

Add up all the lists and the total is close to 20 players. Their absences or failings have pushed up lesser lights from the depths of the roster, or accelerated the timetables of rookies, or necessitated emergency fill-ins from other organizations or the street corners.

This is not the formula for winning football games, and it is the biggest reason the Eagles are 1-2. Yes, both the Atlanta and the Detroit games could have ended as victories. A quick check of the standings indicates they did not, however. And while it might be cathartic to blast Pederson’s play-calling, or Jim Schwartz’s schemes, or the failure of a franchise quarterback to, you know, sprout wings and fly around the stadium, the finger-pointing is crooked. It’s the injuries, stupid.

To his credit, Pederson does not shrug and take the easy excuse. He imparts classic NFL-speak about coaching up the guys they have, and having a next-man-up mentality, and keeping a laser focus on each play to limit mistakes.

It sounds great, but there is a reason the next-man-up wasn’t up in the first place. He isn’t as good as the previous-man-up. It’s terrific, for instance, that Akeem Spence has a job after being out of work two weeks ago, just before being brought in to help fill the gaping hole at defensive tackle here.

It’s wonderful for him that he got 21 snaps against Atlanta just three days after his first practice, and that he was on the field for 58 percent of the snaps against Detroit. That doesn’t mean the loss of Malik Jackson and Tim Jernigan isn’t a big problem, particularly with Fletcher Cox still limited by his foot/toe/whatever injury.

It is also well and good to instruct the receivers to concentrate more on their duties, maybe to stay after practice and take passes from the Jugs machine, or do that one-handed catch drill against the machine that fires tennis balls at them with Federer-like pace. The receivers are great at that one, so maybe the Eagles can petition the league to allow Wentz to throw tennis balls.

But the fact is that the guys replacing DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery aren’t as good as Jackson and Jeffery at catching regulation NFL footballs. It’s true that seven drops is a lot in any game, which is the number the Eagles had against the Lions, but it’s also true that the flubs weren’t intentional. They did the best they could and it wasn’t good enough.

This is frustrating, naturally, and Pederson briefly channeled his inner Marion Campbell when asked on Monday if there were any teaching points that could be imparted to the receivers as a result of the dropped passes.

“Teaching points?” Pederson said. “Catch the ball.”

If only it were that easy. Pederson has players who can catch the ball. He has linemen who can block and protect. He has coverage professionals. He has a roster full of talented football players. The only problem is that many of them are either unavailable or playing at a physical disadvantage.

This is very bad luck, but luck is a large component that determines which teams win and which lose in a given season. So, far, it doesn’t look like this will be a lucky year for the Eagles. Oh, well. You can wave your arms around and look for something else to blame, if that helps, but keep your eye on the ball. That’s solid coaching right there, and the one thing you can’t coach is health.