The Philadelphia Eagles are in the midst of an extremely disappointing season after winning their first ever Super Bowl this past February.
At 3-4 through seven weeks, there’s concern in Philadelphia that the Super Bowl hangover is real.
That was brought to an entirely new level at home against Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Holding a 17-0 fourth quarter lead, Philadelphia allowed the Panthers to score 21 unanswered points in the final stanza to drop its third game over the past four weeks.
Following the game, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson seemed to take his frustration out on the media in Philadelphia.
“You guys aren’t in there watching the tape like we are for 18 hours a day, and putting game plans together, and it’s easy to sit in a press box and say, ‘Hey, they should run the ball.’ Come down and stand on the sideline with me and make decisions,” Pederson said Monday, via Jeff McLane of Philly.com.
Pederson was specifically asked about a lack of balance on offense Sunday. Holding a three-score lead, he decided to throw the ball more with Carson Wentz rather than attempt to run out the clock on the ground. All said, Wentz dropped back to pass the ball 44 times compared to 24 rush attempts.
The issue here is that Philadelphia’s ground game was pointless in the loss. It put up 58 yards on those 24 attempts. Meanwhile, Wentz completed 30-of-37 passes for 310 yards with two scores and zero interceptions. It’s hard to have balance when one aspect of the offense isn’t doing its job.
In any event, going after the media might not do Pederson any favors moving forward. We know just how hard the local beat can be on coaches and front office figures in the City of Brotherly Love.
Further struggles from the Eagles this season could create an even larger divide between the media and Pederson himself.