Eagles' Doug Pederson says he wants to remain aggressive despite having a 17-point lead

A day after watching the film from Sunday’s 27-17 loss to the Washington Football Team, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson is still disappointed in the outcome.

Speaking during his weekly Monday appearance on Sports Radio 94 WIP’s Angelo Cataldi and the Morning Team, Pederson reiterated the team’s need to remain aggressive, even with a 17-point lead close to halftime.

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“In this league, I do not care if it is 17-0 or 20-0, when you look around, 17 points in this league is not a win,” Pederson told Cataldi. “By no means am I going to sit on the ball and do any of that. I trust my guys, and I put my guys in the position to be successful. It is unfortunate, and it is a costly mistake. It wasn’t the only one, but I am going to continue to put our guys in that position. I feel as if we get better as a team, we have to show confidence in our guys.”

The Eagles went into yesterday’s game without starting right tackle Lane Johnson, who is still recovering from ankle surgery he had in August. Rookie tackle Jack Driscoll stepped in and started for the Pro Bowl tackle. Pederson said that Driscoll did a good job considering the situation he was placed in Sunday. The head coach also said they did not change a lot of the offense with Johnson’s absence.

“We were a little more aware with Jack Driscoll as a rookie going up against Ryan Kerrigan, Chase Young, and Montez Sweat,” Pederson said. “They have a really good defensive front. Maybe helping him with tight end and (running) back protection over there. All in all, when you look back at it, he held up really well for his first game in a tough situation like that. We didn’t change the game plan as much as just being more aware of where our protection was going.”

Pederson addressed the eight sacks that the offense gave up to Washington, including one late in the third quarter on third down. Pederson said a running back had was not looking in the right direction and missed a blocking assignment, leading to the turnover on downs. The head coach said that after looking at the film, a receiver was breaking open, and it could have been a big play. Pederson said the offense has to work on their protection and limit the mistakes.

“You can pin some of them on the QB, you can pin some of them on the offensive line, and you can pin some of them on the running back in protection,” Pederson said. “Sacks are not a quarterback-driven thing or an offensive line driven thing. It’s a lot of moving parts. We’ve got to do a better job. Carson (Wentz) can do a better job of just throwing the ball away, or the (running) back’s vision needs to be a little better. There are all kinds of things we can work on.”

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