Doug Pederson Addresses Anonymous Quotes
Doug Pederson has seen the anonymously-sourced quotes being disseminated by ESPN reporter Josina Anderson, but the Eagles coach isn’t paying much attention to it.
“You don’t like to have anonymous guys, but at the same time, I hate to say it, but we’re kind of focused on the Cowboys right now,” said Pederson.
For the second straight year, Anderson is revealing quotes from an anonymous source inside the Eagles’ locker room.
Last year, she used anonymous quotes indicating there was unhappiness with tight end Zach Ertz getting all of quarterback Carson Wentz’s attention in the pass game. Ertz finished with an NFL record 116 catches as the Eagles advanced to the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
Now, before the team’s biggest game of the year Sunday night in Dallas, Anderson turned to her source once again for two quotes.
The first had someone saying that Eagles “dropped the ball” for not trading for cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who was dealt this week to the Los Angeles Rams for three draft picks, including two first-rounders in consecutive years.
The second had Anderson claiming a source told her, “We need to make (bleep) simpler. Sometimes we need to just handle what is manageable. Even Peyton Manning knew when to check it down.”
Checking down hasn’t really been the issue with the Eagles and Pederson doesn’t believe his game planning is overly complex.
“I’m not a smart guy and I can figure out the offense,” said Pederson. “It’s not that complicated.”
Pederson added that he had not talked to the team about the leak, but may end up addressing it at some point.
Going deep has been more of an issue with the Eagles than not checking down, especially with DeSean Jackson out of the lineup for the past month.
Asked if this was the first time he ever heard anyone complain that there should be more check downs in the offense, Pederson laughed and said: “I think so. I never heard that one before. We’re not throwing it deep enough and now we’re not throwing it short enough. I don’t get it.”
Wentz certainly doesn’t feel like the reason the Eagles will take a 3-3 record into Dallas, where the Cowboys are also sitting at 3-3 after losing three straight games. He as 12 touchdown passes to three interceptions and two of those interceptions came against the Falcons when the Eagles didn’t have tight end Dallas Goedert or receivers Alshon Jeffery and Jackson.
The Eagles are thee third-best team in third down efficiency and Wentz is a big reason why. The Eagles quarterback is the third highest-graded passer in the NFL despite the Eagles leading the NFL in dropped passes.
Wentz is among the highest-graded quarterback in the league with over 100 or more drop-backs and is Pro Football Focus’s second-highest graded quarterback at 90.6, behind Seattle’s Russell Wilson.
“I’ll tell you this,” said Pederson. “For those of you who know football and watch football, a check-down is a part of the game, but what people sometimes don’t understand is you may lose your (running) back in protection, he may get caught up in the wash of the protection, he may not get out.
“So it is an aspect of something we teach that when the throw is not there down the field and if you have the availability of a back or a tight end in that position we will utilize it. There’s a lot of factors that go into that, and it’s not on the quarterback.”
