PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Eagles head coach Doug Pederson found himself defending defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz when he called in to SportsRadio 94WIP Monday morning. The Eagles' 38-29 loss in Pittsburgh on Sunday dropped them to 1-3-1 for the season.
The coach missed most of a on-air rant from a very critical caller who went so far as to challenge Schwartz to an old-fashioned playground fight for giving up so many points.
"He was ripping your defensive coordinator pretty bad,” Cataldi said.
“Why,” Pederson responded, perhaps seriously.
On Friday, most people would have believed that the Eagles scoring 29 points against the very talented, highly rated Pittsburgh Steelers defense, would have resulted in a Philadelphia victory.
But there was no Eagles victory, and the game-defining play late in the fourth quarter happened with a defensive scheme dialed up by the Eagles that many are questioning.
The Steelers were in a 3rd-and-8 situation on the Eagles' 35-yard line with about three minutes left in the game. Philadelphia trailed by two — and preventing a first down would have likely resulted in the Steelers either attempting a long field goal with the hopes of going up five, or punting the ball.
At that point in the game, Steelers rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool had two receiving touchdowns against the Eagles, and another one on the ground. It was a dominating performance by the young talent from Notre Dame. And instead of having one of the team’s best defenders against him in the most critical situation, somehow linebacker Nate Gerry was the one lined up across from him.
“Bad design, bad idea, bad result,” SportsRadio 94WIP’s Ray Didinger told KYW Newsradio with a little bit of a chuckle.
Claypool ran right by Gerry for an easy, wide-open, 35-yard game-sealing touchdown.
He finished with seven receptions for 110 yards, three receiving touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in his fourth NFL game.
“Ideally, would we like Nate to be on a receiver? No,” safety Rodney McLeod said postgame late Sunday afternoon. “We would prefer a defensive back, but that was the call that was made defensively, and they checked to a good play.”
Roethlisberger made an adjustment at the line of scrimmage and called something different when he saw how the Eagles were aligned.
“The coolest part about the whole thing is we’ve never run the play I called with that formation or that group on the field, so Chase has never been in that spot,” Roethlisberger explained.
Claypool confirmed that his position on the line is usually meant for tight end Eric Ebron.
“I actually had to ask him what I was doing, because I had one thing in mind, and I wanted to make sure that that was the right thing, because it was a crucial point in the game,” Claypool said. “And he just told me, kinda told the whole defense, which is my fault, but it worked out.”
It certainly did work out, and the explanations by Claypool and Roethlisberger arguably make the outcome even worse, because it was clearly not practiced in the fashion it was run.
Despite the scheme Schwartz dialed up obviously not being ideal for the lineup, Pederson would not point fingers at his defensive coordinator. But he took a few second to collect his thoughts before explaining why.
“If you really look at that play ... look at what (Steelers quarterback) Ben Roethlisberger did — he recognized the defense, and he did something, and you see him communicating with Claypool, and — listen — sometimes you have to give credit where credit’s due,” Pederson said.
Pederson doesn't see that as an excuse.
“It’s football. I don’t want to sit here and make excuses for our guys or coordinators. We have to own it. We have to own our jobs and our responsibilities, but I also have to look at both sides of this thing and Ben made a play that obviously iced the game for them.”
Pederson said he’s not down on Schwartz.
“It’s one game, and this business is tough, and I support him. And listen, he helped us win a championship a couple years ago. And it’s a matter of him putting guys in position to be successful, and then the guys have to strain. We talk about this every week and part of my messaging each week in talking to the team is taking ownership in their jobs and pride in their jobs, and that’s what we all do.”
Despite his defense of Schwartz, despite his team being banged up with injuries, and despite Pittsburgh being the underdog, Pederson didn’t hide his frustration with the loss. In his estimation, Philadelphians should have been happy Monday morning.
“Should’ve won the game, and that’s how I felt. That was my reaction after the game. The players felt that in the locker room that we should’ve won that football game against a really good opponent.”
Schwartz will likely say more about that play during his one and only weekly press conference on Tuesday.
NFC East or NFC Least?
Despite the loss, the 1-3-1 Eagles remain a half-game out of first place in the NFC East.
In almost every other NFL division, the Eagles would be at or near the bottom, and likely out of contention. However, the NFC East means a team like the Giants can be 0-5 and only two games out of first place.
The first-place Cowboys are 2-3 and only a half-game ahead of the Eagles. Some would call that lucky for Pederson’s squad. Others would call it fortunate.
Pederson doesn’t care what people think.
“I don’t care about the rest of the league,” he said. “I care about the Philadelphia Eagles, obviously our division. What are we? Still a half-game back? Look, it is what it is. I’m going to pull out my inner Bill Belichick and say I’m focused on Baltimore.”
The high-flying Ravens will flock to the Linc on Sunday. Pederson knows his team must show more consistency on both sides of the ball this time.
“We’re continuing to coach and get these guys ready to play and try to have complementary football,” Pederson continued. “If the defense struggles, the offense needs to pick it up, right? If the offense struggles, the defense needs to pick them up. We’re building toward that and we continue to work to hopefully put that all together.”
The Eagles are also moving forward with a younger group of players, as injuries continue to pile up. Cornerback Darius Slay is in concussion protocol after being forced to leave Sunday’s game.
Although Pederson likes their progress, he hopes some of his injured veterans will return to provide reinforcements.
“You’re trying to build chemistry,” he said. “You’re trying to build sort of a package of plays that these guys are comfortable with, and at the same time, you’re hopefully bringing back a couple of veteran players that could give your offense a boost.”