Doug Pederson says pressure is off Eagles after latest loss

Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson offered up an eyebrow-raising quote after his team’s latest loss.
The Eagles blew a 17-0 fourth quarter lead on Sunday to lose at home to the Carolina Panthers, dropping the Super Bowl champions to a disappointing 3-4 on the season. Pederson responded to that defeat by claiming that the pressure was off his team now, and they could go out and have fun.
Pederson: message to teams is- quite frankly told them have to learn from these. These are games that galvanize football teams. Pressure’s off of us. No one’s given us a chance to do anything. Go out and have fun.
— Michael Barkann (@MBarkannNBCS) October 21, 2018
Pederson: pressure’s off? No one’s given us a chance anyway. Had to live up to expectation. No one given us a chance going into games.
— Michael Barkann (@MBarkannNBCS) October 21, 2018
Pederson: pressure really off? No it won’t be but it doesn’t have to come from us.
— Michael Barkann (@MBarkannNBCS) October 21, 2018
This is a rather bizarre angle to take. Plenty of people expected a lot from the Eagles, and hearing their coach say the pressure is off despite a losing record is unlikely to satisfy demanding Philadelphia fans. Instead of contending for another championship, the Eagles are, at least for the moment, being trolled online by the teams that beat them.