Eagles News: Doug Pederson has no answers

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Is time running out on Doug Pederson? - NBCSP
Whether it’s Pederson’s inability to get this team ready at the start of games, his failure to get Carson Wentz turned around, his bizarre in-game decisions, his terrible play-calling, Pederson right now is just really bad at coaching the Eagles. They’re never ready. Down 14-3 to the Rams. Down 17-0 to the Ravens. Down 9-7 to Ben Freaking DiNucci and the Cowboys. Down 13-3 in the first Giants game. Down 14-3 on Sunday. They never play well on both sides of the ball at the same time. They don’t run the ball enough. They don’t get takeaways. They can’t sustain any offensive rhythm. Their defense always seems to give up a touchdown when the offense finally gets something going. Their once-borderline-MVP quarterback stinks. Week after week after week. It just keeps happening over and over, and Pederson has no idea why or what to do about it. No answers. How do you watch what the Eagles have become and not think, “You know what? It was a great run. We’ll always have 2017, and we’ll always have the Super Bowl. But maybe it’s time for a change.” Maybe it is.

Eagles vs. Giants Week 10: 15 winners, losers, and I dunnos - BGN
Worst Doug Pederson game I can remember. Didn’t take some fourth downs he should have, didn’t call plays on third down to set up fourth down, made a wanton decision to go for a 2-point conversion down 4, and most importantly, brought a flat, unchanged, uninspired, rusty team out of the bye week for the fourth time in his career. Isn’t he pissed? Isn’t he tired of this? Doesn’t he want his job to be easier? The offense is panicky, afraid of its own quarterback, dedicated to Richard Rodgers and Greg Ward while Travis Fulgham and Dallas Goedert fall useless to the wayside. Pederson has failed to integrate any new ideas into the offense and regularly limits the existing offense with a the caricuture of freshness and ingenuity that is a Jalen Hurts power read. This is an aimless coaching staff.

The Kist & Solak Show #207: Throw the Chairs, Eagles Lose to Giants - BGN Radio
Michael Kist & Benjamin Solak recap the Eagles 27-17 loss to the Giants that eats into their NFC East division lead. Powered by SB Nation and Bleeding Green Nation.

Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-Giants game - PhillyVoice
The biggest criticism of Carson Wentz so far this season has been that Wentz has tried to play “hero ball,” as in, trying to play hero by attempting to make impossible plays that just aren’t there, and committing crippling turnovers as a result. Well, he certainly didn’t play hero ball on Sunday! He threw the ball away when necessary, and the Eagles punted a lot instead of fumbling or throwing interceptions. Wentz is unquestionably part of the problem, as he has very clearly been a bottom 10 (if we’re being kind) quarterback this season. But the issues with this Eagles offense go beyond just Wentz, who isn’t being put in a position to succeed.

Same Old Song and Dance - Iggles Blitz
The offense did not have a third down conversion in the game. Not one. The last time that happened was November of 2004 against the Steelers. That would be a big problem in any game, but it was magnified due to the Eagles poor field position. They didn’t have any drive start beyond their own 25-yard line. They had six drives start inside the 20. Ugh. The defense was awful in the first quarter, giving up 148 yards. They did settle down, but didn’t make any big plays and the Giants moved the ball on them at key moments in the game. Special teams was a problem area, once again. This was a team loss.

Would the Eagles be better off if they fail to win the NFC East and bottom out? - The Ahletic
The fan base is beholden to no such myopia. Over the first nine games, the Eagles’ bewildering sloppiness has laid bare a poorly constructed roster that is also underachieving and dangerously close to turning fan outrage into apathy. It’s fair to wonder whether the organization would be better off long term if it isn’t able to win the NFC East title no one deserves. The case for rooting against something like a 6-9-1 division title is about shocking the Eagles into making the kind of structural change they need. The reworked offensive coaching staff has produced one of the league’s least-creative offenses while a defense built to play Jim Schwartz’s desired scheme has underwhelmed in predictable ways (the linebackers are bad) and unpredictable ways (three highly paid defensive tackles do not, in fact, guarantee dominance at the line of scrimmage). Meanwhile, the roster construction of a team built on the foundation of highly paid players on the wrong side of 30 is crumbling and offers little salary cap relief in sight. To say nothing of the draft-pick consequences of making an empty playoff appearance (picking 19th in every round as opposed to somewhere near 10th), change is necessary, and losing would necessitate change.

Why the Cardinals Believed Kyler Murray’s Hail Mary to DeAndre Hopkins Was Possible - MMQB
The Eagles feel less like first-place team than any I can remember. Yes, a big part of that is the fact that the NFC East is as bad a division as we’ve had in recent memory. But it’s not just that—Philly’s 3–5–1, its young quarterback looks lost way too often, the offensive line’s been shredded by injuries and the defense isn’t quite good enough to make up for all that. This stuck out to me too, from Doug Pederson postgame: “I felt like the guys were ready to go, I’m obviously disappointed, that’s on me the way we played today. Quite honestly, I felt the energy was good, it’s difficult obviously without the fans, but that is both teams to deal with it.” Credit to Pederson for taking the blame, but it sure feels like more change is coming here. And you have to wonder what will happen with the offensive staff going forward. Last offseason, the Eagles went through a second overhaul in that area, since losing OC Frank Reich and QBs coach John DeFilippo in early 2018. Mike Groh was fired and the team made runs at Chiefs QBs coach Mike Kafka, Cowboys OC Kellen Moore and Ohio State receivers coach Brian Hartline, before settling on hiring Rich Scangarello, pairing him with Press Taylor and leaving the OC title vacant. Could Philly fill it this offseason? Based on how all this is going, I wouldn’t rule it out.

NFL Week 10 PFF ReFocused: New York Giants 27, Philadelphia Eagles 17 - PFF
Daniel Jones has graded as a better quarterback than Carson Wentz this season coming into the week, and that gap is only going to grow after this one. [...] The Eagles, meanwhile, averaged nearly 7.0 yards per attempt on the ground with an efficient day from Miles Sanders and a long touchdown run from Boston Scott, but inaccuracy from Wentz kept their offense from really rolling. He completed just 57% of his passes, and you can’t point to drops by his receivers as the reasoning for it. Injuries around him didn’t help, but it’s hard to say that Wentz’s play hasn’t held this team back this year.

Week 10: Inside The Hail Murray And How The Cardinals Got It Done - FMIA
I think sometimes a head coach makes a call to try to either show his team he trusts them even though he shouldn’t, or because he’s trying to shake them out of their skid. Whatever, Doug Pederson going for two with 20 minutes left in the game and down to the Giants by four points was an absurd strategic decision Sunday. (It failed.) Why’d he do it? My guess: to light a spark under one of the worst quarterbacks in football right now, Carson Wentz. From his 2018 to 2020 numbers, Wentz is down 11 completion-percentage points and 29 passer-rating points; he was plus-14 in TD-to-INT margin, and this year he’s thrown 12 TDs and 12 picks. His line’s not helping, but Wentz is giving the Eagles significant reason to question his huge contract.

Carson Wentz, Eagles receivers still struggling with chemistry in Giants loss - Inquirer
To no surprise, the Eagles finally activated Jeffery Sunday. While that doesn’t forgive the inexcusable eight weeks they wasted with the receiver on the 53-man roster, it seemed as if the team would finally get something from its $16 million receiver. But Jeffery played sparingly and was targeted only once — an early Wentz pass that sailed over his outstretched hands. Was it worth not dressing youngsters JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Quez Watkins? Perhaps. It’s not like either has earned a role. The decision, though, all but seals what has been apparent about Arcega-Whiteside: The Eagles don’t believe the second-year receiver is worth developing. Twenty-four games is fairly quick to pull the cane on a second-round draft pick, but Arcega-Whiteside has just 12 catches over that span. He can’t even be trusted to play on special teams.

Eagles fall at New York to open season’s second half - PE.com
1. The offense failed to convert a third down as drive after drive stalled. For the first time since the 2004 season – November 7, 2004 at the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 27-3 loss – the Eagles didn’t convert on third down. They were 0-for-9 on Sunday (one of their third downs was converted on a Giants pass interference penalty in the second quarter). “Too many third-and-longs,” Head Coach Doug Pederson said. “It’s hard to overcome. We’ve got to do a better job on first and second down. Too many third-and-longs.” The ledger on the distance on third down for the offense – 1, 3, 1, 4 (converted via penalty), 11, 14, 11, 18, 10, 10. The average (not counting the penalty conversion): third-and-9.

How the scores from the bye week affected the Cowboys - Blogging The Boys
Given what happened with the Football Team, Wentz now is probably no better than the third-best starting QB, depending on how you view Andy Dalton. Or Garrett Gilbert, if Dalton is not able to go against the Minnesota Vikings. Heck, Wentz may just be number five out of four teams. (I will refrain from the Jalen Hurts jokes, because the Eagles seem committed to only using him as a wildcat type player, which so far has been a dismal flop.)

Washington’s comeback falls short; Lions win 30-27 - Hogs Haven
Alex Smith just had his first back-to-back 300 yard passing games in his career. He finished his first start in 728 days with a 38/55 390 yard stat line. J.D. McKissic scored his first TD since 2017, and Antonio Gibson scored twice. Washington entered the 2nd half with in a 17-3 hole following another 1st half filled with missed opportunities. They tied it up with under a minute to go in a game that looked like it was going to overtime. Matthew Stafford wasn’t having that, and he got them in field goal range with the help of a Chase Young roughing the passer penalty. Matt Prater finished it off with a 59 yard FG.

The Winners and Losers of NFL Week 10 - The Ringer
Everything’s setting up well: The 3-5-1 Eagles are still leading the division, and the 3-7 Giants are now in second place, just a game back. The dream scenario of a 4-11-1 division champion is still alive (and, honestly, not that implausible). The Eagles need to finish the season at 1-6—and considering they’re playing terribly and five of their final seven games are against teams currently above .500, that’s entirely possible. The rest of the NFC East also needs to continue sucking—but I don’t think that’s going to be particularly tough. It’s not that uncommon for a division to have three bad teams and one competent team that feasts off them en route to a playoff berth. What makes the NFC East special is that there’s no one team capable of doing that. It’s bad from head to toes, which is why its head is lower than Kyler Murray’s shoulders.

How the NFL playoff picture looks coming out of Week 10 - DraftKings Nation
The biggest wins of Week 10 go to the Cardinals on a Hail Mary against the Bills and the Rams, who held off the Seahawks at home. The low key valuable win might have been the Giants beating the Eagles with relative ease. Philly remains in first place in the NFC East, but the 3-7 Giants are suddenly within spitting distance of the 3-5-1 Eagles!

DeAndre Hopkins snatched a Hail Mary away from 3 Bills defenders to win the game - SB Nation
The Arizona Cardinals were down to their final play against Buffalo Bills in Week 9. After trailing 23-9 early in the second half, the Cardinals stormed back behind quarterback Kyler Murray to take the lead. Just when Arizona’s offense thought it had won the game, the defense let Buffalo march down the field and surrendered the go-ahead touchdown on a 12-play, 78-yard drive that ended in a Josh Allen strike to Stefon Diggs. After the ensuing kickoff went for a touchback, the Cardinals were trailing by two points with 34 seconds left. Fortunately, Murray had a little more magic left. The QB launched a Hail Mary to DeAndre Hopkins, who made a spectacular catch to win the game between three Buffalo defenders. You might not see a better ending all year. [BLG Note: Good thing the Eagles didn’t trade for Hopkins! Or Diggs, for that matter.]

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