It’s been a chaotic week for the Philadelphia Eagles. Speculation surrounding the future of the quarterback position has been swirling after another disappointing display from Carson Wentz. If there’s one man who can put a definitive end to that, it’s Head Coach Doug Pederson…but that’s not what happened on Wednesday.
As expected, Pederson met with reporters and did very little to help the situation. His mannerisms, attitude, and overall responses to questions asked by reporters have been very different this season. Passive aggression, sarcasm, bluntness, and sighs have all become constants in these short virtual meetings and as soon as the decision to bench Carson Wentz was mentioned, he snapped right into form.
Q. You’re not making that move right Doug? To a different quarterback? (Tim McManus)
COACH PEDERSON: Not today on Wednesday, no.
Q. Possibly for Monday? (Tim McManus)
COACH PEDERSON: I’m focused right now on getting better today. I don’t know. I mean, I would say, no, no, no.
Q. QB Carson Wentz is your starter for Monday? (Tim McManus)
COACH PEDERSON: Yes.
Saying that you’re not benching Carson Wentz ‘today’ to be purposefully sarcastic is a very dangerous game. It’s either going to come across as unnecessary or cause genuine concern that Wentz could be benched. In this case, it did both.
It took the Eagles QB confirming he’s starting on Monday night in order to put the issue to bed, but for how long? Eventually, Pederson is going to say the wrong thing and it’s going to start something he won’t be able to end.
Pederson was later quizzed about what he’s doing to help Carson Wentz and his response was about as broad as one could imagine:
“I mean we keep going round and round with this. I’ve gone back and looked at ‘17 and ‘18 tape, our coaching staff has, I know he has. We’ve looked at everything from play calling, me, am I different? Am I using personnel right? Am I making decisions that are beneficial for the team? I look at a bunch of that stuff. It comes down to just each person, each player, each coach taking a look at yourself, looking in the mirror, see what you see. If you don’t like what you see, we got to change, and you got to make improvements and you got to get better. So these are all the things that we’re doing and we’re helping him. We’re helping the offense. We’re helping the offensive line. We’re helping the receivers. We’re helping everybody get better and we’re using everything we can to make these adjustments.”
So what Pederson is saying there is – He is coaching. Which is his job.
The short-term future looks rocky for the Eagles at best and with Pederson’s continued decline in press conference etiquette, it only further heightens the concerns and raises even more questions.
Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire
