Philadelphia Eagles players fully committed to Doug Pederson

Despite suspect play-calling against the Washington Redskins, the Philadelphia Eagles players have confidence in Head Coach Doug Pederson.

The Philadelphia Eagles and Doug Pederson managed to pull off a solid win against the Washington Redskins last Sunday 30-17. In short, the Eagles nearly gave the fans a heart attack as we tried to figure out whether or not Kirk Cousins was going to give us yet another loss. Luckily, the Birds managed to squeeze out the win. Now, should it have been this difficult?

Specifically, I want to get into the play-calling. In many instances, the Eagles utterly confused the fans. First, the run game was non-existent, primarily because Coach Pederson didn’t call many run plays. Of the 63 total offensive plays, 24 were runs. For those doing the math, that’s 38 percent of the offense. Of those 24 runs, 14 went to LeGarrette Blount. For a player like Blount to thrive, he needs the ball. He’s what’s called a “volume runner”. Simply put, that’s inadequate.

In addition, the Birds tried far too many screen passes. One of those screens resulted in a turnover. For some reason, Pederson would call a screen pass when the team should call for a run. Now, I understand that screens are vital to the “West Coast” offense, but he rested on that crutch far too many times. Ultimately, it may have been more of an issue of execution, but on third and short, why wouldn’t you run the ball? I get that the defense could just overload the box, but why would bring in a big body like Blount if you’re not going to use him in that situation?

Nevertheless, the players have their coach’s back.

Player’s Coach

Now, after the win on Sunday, Doug Pederson received a Gatorade bath from his players. If you don’t know, a Gatorade bath typically signals that the person receiving it had a huge impact in the game. If a coach gets drenched, you know he rallied his men well. Now, some players felt Pederson deserved this momentous honor, as you can see here:

After the game, several key players came to the defense of their head coach. Players like Zach Ertz and Jason Peters both sang high praises of Pederson. According to Tim McManus of ESPN, Peters especially saw the need to get the win for Pederson, saying that he’s a “Second-year head coach. Pressure is on him, [the] pressure is on us. We had to get this win for Doug.”

Ertz came out with his own sentiments about the second-year head coach:

At any rate, this makes sense. Pederson has been hailed as a player’s coach ever since he earned the job. This only emboldens that narrative even more. To me, as long as he can rally his troops, Pederson will find success. Now, he still has to work on play-calling, but if the players like him, it may work out.

Next: Philadelphia Eagles: The good and the bad from Week 1 win

Yes, Doug Pederson has his flaws. He calls screen passes at inopportune times. He also doesn’t run the ball enough. Nevertheless, players resonate with him as both a person and a leader. As long as he can keep his players in line, this Philadelphia Eagles football team can compete in the NFL.