Doug Pederson and the Philadelphia Eagles have now dropped to 3-4 on the season after a disastrous collapse against the Carolina Panthers which saw them lose despite a 17-point fourth-quarter lead. That loss has put another huge dent on their chances to successfully defend their championship.
However, Pederson believes that it could be a blessing in disguise. When asked about his message to his team following the loss, Pederson says he told his players that the pressure is now off of them, so they can now be able to play more freely.
“The message is that — quite frankly I told them we have to learn from these,” Pederson said per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “These are games that galvanize football teams, and this is going to do that. This is going to bring us even closer together. Basically told them pressure’s off of us. Nobody on the outside world is giving us a chance to do much of anything. Pressure’s off, so we can go play, have fun, and just relax. A lot of football ahead too. We still have a bunch of games, and still anything’s possible, anything can happen. We still treat it as one week at a time.”
Pederson has done well to spin such a disastrous defeat into a positive for his team. Obviously, the Eagles have done their playoff hopes no favors with this latest setback. But as he says, there’s still a good number of games left for them to make a run.
It remains to be seen whether the “pressure-free” Eagles will heed their head coach’s message. They’ll have the chance to do so in London when they face the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday.
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