The Philadelphia Eagles have released their final injury report ahead of this Sunday’s must-win encounter against the New Orleans Saints.
#PHIvsNO Status Report
Out- CB Darby (knee), CB Mills (foot), TE Perkins (knee), RB Sproles (hamstring)
Questionable- T Johnson (knee), DT Ngata (knee)
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 16, 2018
Like last week, the Eagles will be without both of their starting cornerbacks which is a huge setback given the notoriety of their opponents. The Saints are scoring at an alarming rate and don’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Drew Brees has completed nearly 80% of his passes in the last two weeks and the offense is fresh off of dropping 50 points on the Bengals. This is not the game you want to be without both starting corners. Luckily for the Eagles, help is on the way.
Sidney Jones, who has missed the last three games with injury has not been listed on the injury report, hinting that he will be good to go for Sunday. This means that Rasul Douglas and Sidney Jones will likely be the outside corners tasked with slowing down Michael Thomas and company, while Avonte Maddox drops into the nickel to help out, with Corey Graham the lone safety. This is less than ideal, but certainly a much bigger step forward than starting the newly-signed Cre’Von LeBlanc for instance.
This will be a big game for Jones, who will likely be experiencing his first test playing outside at the NFL level.
In his first game back from injury, Eagles CB Sidney Jones will face his toughest challenge
Elsewhere, it’s encouraging to see Lane Johnson listed as questionable after being a game-time scratch last week.
‘Yeah, he’s a lot closer.’ Pederson said. ‘He’s had a really good week of practice. Feels a lot better health-wise. So, I would expect him to go, yes.’
This is absolutely clinical for the Eagles, given how much adjustment they had to make to help out Halapoulivaati Vaitai. Although he was statistically sound, he had a lot of help from running backs and tight ends throughout the night which took a target out of Wentz’s progression and removed a layer from any given play that said player was asked to chip or block. Vaitai was serviceable but the dip in performance from an All-Pro was certainly notable.
Haloti Ngata shouldn’t be playing anywhere near the snapcoutn he is due to durability and that could be hurting him as we approach the cold winter months. However, if he can play for even just 10-15%, it may take some of the workload from the shoulders Fletcher Cox.
There is conversely lot of discussion regarding the return of Timmy Jernigan.
‘Starting with Tim, still optimistic.’ Pederson said. ‘We have to get through today and tomorrow obviously with him and see where he’s at. So it’s just a matter of – it’s kind of day-by-day, and getting through practice to see where he’s at’
It’s all a waiting game, but if Jernigan was able to play on Sunday, that would be monumental for the Eagles front four.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
