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Eagles coach Pederson hasn't been reassured over future
Written by Sports Desk. Posted in NFL. | 01 December 2020 | 281 Views
Tags: American Football, Carson Wentz, Data, Doug Pederson, Nfl, Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said he has not been given reassurances that he will finish the NFL season as his team continue to struggle.

The Eagles (3-7-1) crashed to their seventh loss in 2020, beaten 23-17 by the high-flying Seattle Seahawks on Monday.

Philadelphia have suffered three consecutive defeats as pressure mounts on beleaguered quarterback Carson Wentz and Pederson, who guided the Eagles to their first Super Bowl in 2017, and he was asked about his future.

"I haven't been reassured one way or another," Pederson told reporters on Tuesday.

"Listen, I've been around this league a long time, 25 years, I believe, as a player and a coach, and we're always based on and evaluated on our performance.

"Right now, that's obviously not my concern, as far as that decision goes. That's out of my hands. But what's in my hands and in my control is getting the team prepared and ready for Green Bay this weekend.

"So, I'm not going there mentally. I'm looking forward to playing again this week, getting back on the grass [Wednesday] with the players, and getting ready for Green Bay."

Pressed on Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, Pederson said: "Our relationship is good. We communicate a lot throughout the week. We have our typical weekly meeting and cover a lot of ground.

"But that relationship is good. Listen, some of these questions might be for Mr. Lurie obviously, but my job is to prepare the team and get ready for Green Bay."

Eagles quarterback Wentz has come under fire this season and question marks over his long-term future in Philadelphia continue to make headlines.

Wentz was 25 of 45 passes for 215 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, while he rushed for 42 yards on five carries against the Seahawks.

The Super Bowl champion and Pro Bowler was sacked six times by the Seahawks, taking that tally to an NFL-high 46 this season, while he also has a league-high 15 interceptions to go with his 16 TD passes.

Philadelphia's first five drives against Seattle equated to minus-one total yards, zero points and zero total downs, but their final drive prior to half-time resulted in 75 total yards, six points and seven first downs.

"I'm not going to sit here and throw people under the bus. We can do that during the week of preparation and practice," Pederson added. "Guys just have to understand the sense of urgency that it takes to play a game and to prepare not only coaching, but also players.

"It's a long season. The season is a grind. It's a tough sport mentally and physically, and probably more so mentally than anything else. And it's frustrating because we do prep and practice and study and meet all week long, and coaches spend countless hours putting game plans together and trying to somehow come up with a plan that can beat your opponent.

"And then, whether it's execution or sometimes physically, you just get beat. It's a frustrating thing. It's something that we have got to – again, if it goes back to simplifying game plans, we can keep simplifying as much as we can.

"We've got a lot of moving parts, a lot of moving pieces, particularly in the offensive line. I alluded to that a little bit this morning [on SportsRadio 94WIP], that continuity and stability. That's also been an issue with us. Some young players on the perimeter, new targets that Carson is throwing to. So, we're definitely not where we want to be, that's for sure. We're going to continue to work to improve."

The Eagles are third in an underwhelming NFC East, which is topped by the 4-7 New York Giants.