Pederson Puts Down His Winning Card

(973espn.com) - The weather in Philadelphia mirrored Eagles fans' mood on Sunday. Gray, rainy and miserable to start. Sunny skies to end it after an easy 31-13 run-fueled win in windy Buffalo.

With another raw, accuracy-challenged young quarterback on deck in Mitchell Trubisky, the optimism is officially back with the Eagles just one-half game behind idle Dallas is a moribund NFC East and the soft part of the schedule looming for Christmas season.

The 40 MPH gusts in Western New York were no match for the wind coming out of Orlando Scandrick's mouth last week but Doug Pederson went to his familiar us vs. them card, portraying reporters entering the gates of the NovaCare Complex as figuratively placing the bat in Corbyn Nyemah's hands on the way to Fletcher Cox's home, handing Skip Bayless' digits to the jilted ex, and forcing Lane Johnson to admit a team download of Waze might be the way to go.

It's a tired and played out card but it also worked ... again.

Pederson has played the same games in the 2017 Super Bowl season and again last year, albeit more conventionally, selling the silly underdog theme or the belief that no one outside the walls in South Philadelphia believes in the 63 men inside the facility.

When a placebo does work, why ask why?

The Eagles team that showed up in Buffalo was a different bunch than the one routed over consecutive weeks in Minneapolis and North Texas.

It was the angry Birds Pederson explained leading up to the game with Josh Allen and the vaunted No. 3-ranked defense serving as a road apple for the sins of others.

Play-callers always use what works until it's stopped.

In Pederson's case you have to wonder what took him so long to get back to us vs. them.

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