Pederson Admits Lack of Effort

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - It was obvious to most that the effort wasn’t always there during the Eagles’ 32-14 loss in Cincinnati on Sunday but it was still surprising to hear the head coach validate that thought at his Monday morning press conference.

“Not everybody. Not everybody,” Pederson said when asked if all of his players played as hard as possible. “And that’s the accountability that I talk about. I hold coaches accountable for that. I hold myself accountable for that because it all starts with me and I pride myself each week to make sure the guys are ready to go.”

Those kind of remarks are rare for any head coach and too often Pederson is a little too honest for his own good.

That said, you can’t say he lacks credibility because his team has dropped five of six overall as a promising 3-0 start has morphed into a 5-7 reality in which the Eagles will have to win out and still need help to make the postseason.

And that’s a very unlikely scenario considering the team has been trending downward recently as rookie quarterback Carson Wentz is regressing due at least partially to a lack of playmakers around him.

This being Philadelphia, Pederson was, of course, asked about the ridiculous assessment that he might be a one-and-done coach.

“I meet with (owner) Jeffrey (Lurie) and (executive VP of football operations) Howie (Roseman) every week and we discuss a lot of things and go over a lot of things,” Pederson said. “And every week it’s very positive. ...You can’t base a guy’s career on one season. I think you’ve got to give it time to develop. We’ve got a rookie quarterback. We’ve got to have time to develop this quarterback. It just doesn’t happen overnight.”

And it certainly isn’t happening without the team’s best offensive lineman (the suspended Lane Johnson), a receiving corps led by Paul Turner and a running game paced by Wendell Smallwood, which was what went on in Cincinnati.

“I know where we are as a football team as far as we are playing with some young guys on offense, there are some younger guys on defense,” the coach said. “We’ve got a left guard playing right tackle. There is some pieces that are just not cohesive right now. I mean when we had everybody in the early part of the season. Lane (Johnson) was there at the right side, Allen (Barbre) was at the left guard position. Things were rolling pretty good.”

And since then?

“We’ve had our share of adversity this season.” Pederson admitted.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen