Doug Pederson says the 4-6 Eagles are “a play or two or three away from flipping the script”

Eagles head coach Doug Pederson spoke to the media on Wednesday ahead of practice, and talked about some of the comments coming from the team leaders about accountability and ownership over the issues plaguing the team — he also spoke about Mike Groh’s comments about incorporating Golden Tate.

Here’s what the head coach had to say:

Injury Updates and Personnel Moves

• Jalen Mills is day-to-day so he probably won’t practice on Wednesday, as well as with Avonte Maddox and Rasul Douglas.
• Jason Kelce will for sure practice this week, and should be ready to go on Sunday.
• Timmy Jernigan is officially cleared and good to return to the field. (Yay!) Pederson also said he anticipates Jernigan having a big role moving forward, but “we’ll see”.

On the state of the team

Q. At least publicly you make sure that -- I guess you don’t appear ticked off or put pressure on the players publicly. Behind the scenes, do you put pressure on them? Show kind of that ticked-off emotion, so to speak?

That’s why they’re behind the scenes. That’s fair, right? Yeah, because I’m not going to air that with you guys. What I talk about -- I talk about some things in this meeting or in this process here with you guys, what I talk to the team about, but those things are between me and the team.

Q. How do you feel about 4-6 though?

That part now, okay, you say, “4-6,” and that’s what we are. We’re a play or two or three away from flipping the script. So, we’re close.

On the comments from Malcolm Jenkins

Pederson was asked about the comments about ownership and accountability by Malcolm Jenkins, and he noted that it was mainly directed at himself, but that they’ve been emphasizing ownership throughout the organization. He continued to say that Jenkins comments sends a message to everyone with the team that they need to be held to a higher standard.

He did clarify however that he doesn’t think that Jenkins’ comments were directed toward any one player specifically, but rather the group as a whole needs to step up their game. And that’s something Pederson tries to do as well each and every day he goes to work.

Pederson also talked about how his comments on the efforts of the team on Sunday differed from Jenkins, but said that there were a lot of opportunities left on the field and that each guy has to ask themselves whether they gave enough effort or could have done more.

Later he was asked about the messages coming from veteran leaders like Jason Kelce and Jenkins and noted that they and the rest of the team is disappointed with how things are going and not meeting expectations coming out of training camp.

He was sure to clarify though that neither of those players is pointing fingers at their teammates, and that they are including themselves in their criticisms. Pederson noted that the guys hold themselves accountable, but that they come in and practice hard each and every week and don’t leave anything on the practice field.

On Golden Tate’s usage

Pederson was asked about OC Mike Groh’s comments on Tuesday about it being “challenging” to incorporate Golden Tate into the game plan.

“Any time you bring a player in that adds value and adds talent to your roster, I don’t care what position it is, there’s going to be a learning curve. Now, in Golden’s case, this guy has played a ton of football, and he’s a sharp guy, and he understands the scheme of a route or the actual route design. But now how we call the play or how we call that route is where, for his learning curve, is where he needs to learn that and obviously get caught up. He’s spent countless hours with [Eagles wide receivers coach] Gunter [Brewer], with [Eagles offensive coordinator] Mike [Groh], asking questions of myself in these last, what, three weeks or so to try to get himself caught up.”

He went on to say that even with the time needed to get him caught up, they still brought him in because he added value to the offense. Pederson also said the offense didn’t have enough snaps on Sunday to be able to work him in the way they would have liked.

Pederson also alluded to simplifying things if they need to in order to prevent some of the miscommunication issues on Sunday, like with only having 10 men on the field.

On Giants prep

“I think the Giants, offensively, they’re playing with a lot more continuity, making more plays, being more explosive. I think, defensively, their scores aren’t outrageous. They’re holding teams down from scoring, and it’s the same group we played a few weeks ago. It’s a good group. Obviously, they’re better, and it’s another great challenge for us.”