Eagles Still Unsure on Status of Some Injured Players

PHILADELPHIA – Ribs, kidneys and ankles continue to be the focus early in Eagles coach Doug Pederson’s news conferences, and New Year’s Day was no exception.

Tight end Zach Ertz has a broken rib and lacerated kidney. He has not yet been cleared medically.

Pederson said, though, that Ertz would try to do some things during Wednesday’s short walkthrough practice.

“If we can get him at least in the walk-throughs and he can get mental reps, we can do that,” said Pederson, who did not want to speculate on whether Ertz could risk further injury if he were to play on Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks visit for a wildcard playoff game at 4:40 p.m.

“I’m going to leave that up to the doctors,” said Pederson. “Obviously when they clear him, they clear him and then we play, but until that time, I really don’t know.”

The Eagles used a lot 12 personnel all season, which requires two tight-end sets with one runinng back, and they didn’t change much in New York without Ertz.

“Twelve is obviously a good personnel group,” said Pederson. “We have been limited with the number of receivers we've had so we have had to be careful putting three guys out there or sometimes four. But, yeah, 12 is a personnel group that has given us probably the best production here lately.”

Added quarterback Carson Wentz later on Wednesday: “It (12 personnel) is something we’ve done all year, so to kind of stay with what we do and because Perk (tight end Josh Perkins) has done a great job stepping up. We’ve known what we’ve had in him going back to last year when he played some valuable reps.

“But we know what he can do, he’s been around, he knows the offense and he knows what’s going on out there. We have a lot of confidence in him if Zach does go down and we have to move some things around. Again, that’s been a staple of our offense, so we stayed with it.”

Then there’s the ankles, and a slew of them, starting with Miles Sanders and continuing with Lane Johnson and Jalen Mills.

Sanders suffered a low ankle sprain in Sunday’s win over the New York Giants. The original fear was the it was a high ankle sprain, which would have likely sidelined the rookie running back for the foreseeable future.

A low ankle sprain, however, means it is a matter of managing the swelling in the affected area.

“We have to be careful early in the week,” said Pederson. “I don't want to set him back at all. Again, he's another one that if we can get the mental reps from him, that's great, and then see where he is as the week progresses.”

Sanders did not participate in the pre-walkthrough stretches with his team, standing off to one side of the field inside the Eagles’ practice bubble on Wednesday.

Johnson has missed the last three games with a high ankle sprain, but he went through the pre-walkthrough stretching. He didn’t appear to be doing much with his offensive linemates, however, when the 15-minute viewing period for the media ended.

If Johnson cannot play, the Eagles will have two backup players on the right side of their offensive line against the Seahawks, since guard Brandon Brooks was placed on Injured Reserve on Wednesday and is facing shoulder surgery.

“If Lane can work in and play, then Big V (Halapaoulivaati Vatai), can work in at right guard,” said Pederson. “If Lane can’t then we could put Matt Pryor in, who played the other night, and keep Big V at tackle.

"And then, (Nate) Herbig could obviously get some reps over there if need be throughout the course of the week. So we have some scenarios, some things we have to look at starting in practice this morning.”

Mills was also going through pre-walkthrough stretches. The cornerback missed last week’s game against the Giants, as did fellow starting cornerback Ronald Darby, who was placed on IR last week.

The Eagles were able to get through the game against New York rookie quarterback Daniel Jones without getting beaten too badly in the secondary.

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, though, prevents a whole other challenge, so having the experienced Mills would certainly help on Sunday.

Add us as a preferred source on Google