The Philadelphia Eagles could be the most banged up team in football after two weeks of the regular season, and head coach Doug Pederson feels his players need all the rest they can get to recover for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions.
On Wednesday, the Eagles decided to cancel practice in favor of a walkthrough. That is incredibly rare for an NFL team on the Wednesday before a Sunday game. Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer said he can’t ever remember it happening for the team this early in the season, though they did hold walkthroughs in favor of practices on a couple of Wednesdays late last year.
I stand corrected. The #Eagles had only walkthroughs on the Wednesdays of Week 16 and 17 last year. But that was late in the season. Has never happened this early in the season. https://t.co/o3jvk4EWyh
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) September 18, 2019
Monday night’s game in Atlanta was basically a blood bath for the Eagles. Starting wide receivers Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson both left early with injuries (a calf injury for the former and hamstring injury for the latter), though neither is believed to be serious. Carson Wentz, Sidney Jones, Nelson Agholor, and Jason Kelce all had to go into the injury tent to be checked for concussions, but all were cleared. The most significant injury could be to defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan.
Jernigan is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. The veteran started on Monday in place of Malik Jackson, who suffered a season-ending foot injury in Week 1.
Several other players are dealing with minor injuries, so you get the point. Pederson is sacrificing preparation in the name of preservation. With how many players he has seen go down in two weeks, it’s hard to blame him.
