Eagles-Packers, Day After: ‘Can’t Throw In the Towel’

In most weeks, the mood in the Eagles’ post-game locker room last season was some combination of embarrassment and disappointment. But even after their back-to-back losses when they allowed 90 combined points a year ago, the atmosphere never felt quite like it did at Lincoln Financial Field following the Eagles’ 27-13 defeat to the Packers.

The Birds are far from being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but it wasn’t difficult to see how deeply their hopes were dashed on Monday Night Football. While Philadelphia is 1.5 games behind Washington for the second wild card spot, they rank 11th in the NFC behind five other teams vying for the final postseason berth.

The focus of the team seems to have shifted toward making sure guys don’t give up in the final five weeks of the season, which is a mentality you don’t typically see from a team who feels like they have a lot left to play for.

“We got to keep all the young guys in the right direction, staying positive, coming to work [and] not going off the reservation,” said Jason Peters, who felt the team “needed” to beat Green Bay to have a shot at the playoffs before the defeat.

“We just have to keep plugging along,” Carson Wentz added. “We can’t throw in the towel.”

“We’ll see what guys are made of,” Malcolm Jenkins noted. “You just want to make sure that the team stays together and that we just continue to prepare and continue the process.”

Doug Pederson set the tone when he addressed the team in the locker room after the game. His message? We’ll see over the next five weeks who really wants to be here.

Pederson appears to be reseting expectations to what they were before the season — before the Eagles got off to a hot start, and before they showed that while they’re a flawed team, they’re capable of claiming a playoff spot.

He’s taking the longview approach, talking about how he wants to build the roster through the draft and free agency. And instead of motivating players by focusing on a potential playoff push, he’s challenging their pride and explaining how he’s evaluating them even more so now on their effort now.

There have been plenty of problems for the Eagles as they’ve lost six out of their last eight games, but effort isn’t one of them. Still, as Pederson is preaching, that will be tested. Philadelphia travels to Cincinnati to play the Bengals on a short week on Sunday, before playing each NFC East team one more time and making another trip to Baltimore for the AFC North-leading Ravens. The combined win record of the Eagles’ final five opponents? 32-20-2.

Up to this point, the Birds have played at about the level of the preseason expectations outsiders projected. But now, their final five games will be much more telling about the future of this team, and whether — as Pederson believes — they’re heading in the right direction.

SOCIAL SKILLS

Packers allowed an average of 38.25 points in their last four games. Eagles only mustered 13 against Green Bay’s defense.

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) November 29, 2016

This was a one-possession game until the fourth quarter. And Doug still abandoned the run again.

44 called pass plays
14 called run plays

— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) November 29, 2016

Packers beat Eagles by winning on 3rd down. 71% success rate is the best for any team in any game this season.

— Steve Levy (@espnSteveLevy) November 29, 2016

Eagles had 20 sacks the first six games. They have six in the last five games.

— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) November 29, 2016

Carson Wentz wasn't good under pressure tonight. On 15 dropbacks, sacked 4 times, 1 INT vs. just 3 completions and 3 runs.

— Nathan Jahnke (@PFF_NateJahnke) November 29, 2016

Highest passer ratings in Eagles history by QBs in first 11 career games:
88.2 – Foles
83.4 – Wentz
79.3 – Feeley
77.6 – Hoying
68.9 – Kolb

— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) November 29, 2016

https://twitter.com/john_gonoude/status/803440871173722113

NOTABLE QUOTES

—Doug Pederson on benching Nelson Agholor:

“Well, it came down to basically just letting him see the game with a little bit calmer eyes, you know, just a different perspective on the game. Obviously he handled it extremely well. It was obviously a 90-minute decision. Even during the week I was still going back and forth with it. Just to let him take a step back, breathe a little bit, and see exactly how he can help this football team going forward.”

—Dorial Green-Beckham on Agholor not being active:

“We could have used him. We don’t have too many receivers.”

—Pederson on if Agholor will be inactive again against Cincinnati:

“We got to see and check on Jordan [Matthews], make sure that Jordan is okay, evaluate the film, see how the other guys did. I’m not going to rule it out at this time.”

—Pederson on using his final challenge of the game in the third quarter over a two-yard gain:

“Well, the thought process there was to where they were on the field. Yeah, it might have been only a two-yard gain, but you take into consideration second-and-eight, second-and-10. Backs them up two yards. You still want to play the field position game, whether they end up punting it or going for it on fourth down. If you can stop them, get them off the field, just an opportunity to keep them in a second-and-long situation knowing, yeah, that obviously it was an incomplete pass, knowing you were going to be out of challenges. Just needed something to keep them really at a little bit longer yardage at that time and try to help our defense.”

—Fletcher Cox on his costly roughing the passer penalty on third down, which extended a Packers touchdown drive:

“When you play as hard as I play and aggressive as I play, stuff like that happens. I did talk to the referee, he said it was just one of those things where it was close so he had to call that, that’s how they’re protecting the quarterbacks.”

—Carson Wentz on his interception:

“It just sailed on me.”

SNAPS

Offense

Player	# of snaps	% of snaps
Allen Barbre	59	100%
Jason Kelce	59	100%
Jason Peters	59	100%
Isaac Seumalo	59	100%
Carson Wentz	59	100%
Stefen Wisniewski	59	100%
Zach Ertz	55	93%
Dorial Green-Beckham	48	81%
Bryce Treggs	44	75%
Darren Sproles	31	53%
Jordan Matthews	24	41%
Paul Turner	23	39%
Wendell Smallwood	22	37%
Brent Celek	20	34%
Trey Burton	19	32%
Kenjon Barner	6	10%
Matt Tobin	2	3%
Beau Allen	1	2%

*Zach Ertz (93 percent) played his highest percentage of snaps this season, but he caught the ball just three times. Bryce Treggs (75 percent) played a career-high 44 snaps while Paul Turner (39 percent) played a career-high 23 snaps, but they combined for just one catch.

*With Ryan Mathews out, Darren Sproles (53 percent) played the most snaps among running backs, while Wendell Smallwood (37 percent) was second and Kenjon Barner (10 percent) barely touched the field. However, the running backs only carried the ball a combined 13 times.

*Because Isaac Seumalo filled in at right guard for a hospitalized Brandon Brooks, Beau Allen got a snap at fullback in the red zone. Carson Wentz ended up scrambling on that play for his first NFL rushing touchdown.

Defense

Player	# of snaps	% of snaps
Nigel Bradham	71	100%
Jordan Hicks	71	100%
Malcolm Jenkins	71	100%
Rodney McLeod	71	100%
Nolan Carroll	67	94%
Jaylen Watkins	58	82%
Fletcher Cox	57	80%
Brandon Graham	54	76%
Connor Barwin	49	69%
Jalen Mills	49	69%
Bennie Logan	44	62%
Vinny Curry	31	44%
Beau Allen	25	35%
Leodis McKelvin	24	34%
Destiny Vaeao	14	20%
Mychal Kendricks	13	18%
Marcus Smith	11	15%
Stephen Tulloch	1	1%

*Jaylen Watkins (82 percent) was on the field for 58 snaps, so that’s how much the Eagles played nickel. Because of that, Mychal Kendricks (18 percent) was on the field for just 13 snaps.

*Jalen Mills (69 percent) ended up getting more than twice as many snaps as Leodis McKelvin (34 percent), who gave up Green Bay’s first touchdown of the game.

*Vinny Curry (44 percent) once again played a minority of the defense’s snaps, while Brandon Graham (76 percent) played a bit more than Connor Barwin (69 percent).