Not once did Doug Pederson mention playoffs.
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Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews said a cheap shot he suffered Monday night is to blame for a separated AC joint in his left shoulder. He talked about how so many of his players are in their first or second years.
Having drawn within 17-13 on a 50-yard Caleb Sturgis field goal with 5:26 left in the third quarter, the Eagles cornered Rodgers on a third-and-4 from his 31.
Rodgers finished the night completing 30 of 39 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns. The crowd wants you to do something. “We knew this was going to be a unique stretch”. Every stinking football dork in the Greater Philadelphia Area has been railing about it. It was ruled a catch on the field, and Pederson challenged it. And lately he’s been the Packers go to guy at receiver.
Let’s just say that ill-fated challenge by Pederson isn’t something he’ll put at the top of his resume.
Take the Birds’ run game. Odd game with the number of possessions.
You can argue that Monday night was only a snapshot of a team in its early stages of development.
But the Eagles have lost six of eight and suddenly they’re thinking about next season and beyond, even though they’re mathematically still in contention.
The Eagles gave Ertz a five-year, $42 million extension at the start of the year, and the 6-5 tight end has become a favorite of the rookie Wentz. Speaking for most of the men watching the game, thank you, Aaron.
“This is the National Football League”, said Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills. They were credited with just two QB hits. When they lose, just the opposite.
The schedule also does not help the Eagles. As he jukes CB Leodis McKelvin (21) with a nifty inside move off the line of scrimmage, Adams puts his hand up at the 35-yard line to let Rodgers know his man is beat. He has four sacks and forced a fumble while knocking down two passes.
And maybe the defense will bare its teeth, and maybe this truly is a season of preparation for better things to come.
Point spread: The Packers opened as 3.5-point favorites, and the total was 46.5 early in the week, according to sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark (line updates and matchup report).
“Yeah, I hurt my hamstring on our first drive in the second half there as I was extending the play”, Rodgers explained. On a third-and-1 on the Packers’ second possession, Rodgers had Ty Montgomery, Randall Cobb and Jared Cook lined up with him in the backfield.
That wasn’t Pederson’s message with reporters or with his team in the postgame locker room Monday.
“It’s huge. We snowball off that”, Adams said.
If Pederson elected to cut back Agholor’s playing time, working in other players throughout the game, that would have made sense, considering the mistakes he made against Seattle last Sunday.
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Think of it as a challenge … the biggest challenge facing Pederson and the Eagles this season.
