PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Eagles seem ready to take control of the NFC East — but you’d never know it by the reaction of Eagles Nation after Sunday’s victory.
The Eagles defeated the Cowboys at home, moving to 3-4-1 on the season. They moved further ahead of the Cowboys in the weakest division in football. They’ll return from their bye on Nov. 15 for another division game against the Giants.
However, Sunday night’s victory was far from perfect, and quarterback Carson Wentz committed four turnovers. Head coach Doug Pederson believes his team will have an opportunity to get better during their bye week. and he’s hoping the return of several injured players will help his team improve in the second half of the season.
“We're a game and a half up in the NFC East,” he said. “We have a chance to get healthy here at the bye. We have a chance next week against the Giants to hopefully get some more starters back and see what happens, and correct some of the things that are going on.”
The Eagles will have more time than usual for corrections during this year’s bye week. Players will be staying in the area due to COVID-19 restrictions. The team will meet on Wednesday and then enjoy four days off, but all of the Eagles will remain in the Delaware Valley.
“It keeps our team grounded right here in our city,” Pederson continued. “It gives us a chance to really work and bring the guys back in and get some stuff done and look at some tape and self-scout and show them with calmer eyes. We're not game-planning this week, yet we can go back and watch us and see where we need to improve, and also show them the good that came out of the first eight weeks.
“It’s important that we do that, and obviously if there is a positive with the COVID, it’s the fact that we get to stick together as a team.”
Pederson is also sticking with his quarterback. Wentz continues to go through a roller coaster year, and the Eagles were able to pull off Sunday night’s win despite a subpar performance from their quarterback.
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Pederson re-emphasized his faith in Wentz, though he understands his quarterback must take better care of the football.
“Carson is our starter, and we have a lot of trust and faith in him that he can get the job done,” said Pederson. “It’s just something that we’ve got to continue to coach and we’ve got to continue to get better. He understands he has to get better in that area.”
The Eagles are well aware that they are fortunate to be in the NFC East. They are also aware that if they play the way they did against Dallas in the playoffs, they will face an early exit.
However, Pederson is confident the combination of correcting mistakes and getting reinforcements back will make the Eagles a better team in the second half of the season.
“It’s a marathon,” Wentz said. “It’s long, right? It’s not a sprint. You don’t sprint to the finish. Are we where we want to be? Yeah, we’re first place in the NFC East, but at 3-4-1, it could easily be the other way, right? It could be 4-3-1 or 5-3 or whatever it could be, but there’s a lot of positive that we see as coaches on the inside that give us the encouragement and the opportunity to get better as a team.”