Adrian Fedkiw
The Philadelphia Eagles fans begged for it and finally got what they wanted; Nelson Agholor got benched.
But was it the right move?
His replacements Bryce Treggs and Paul Turner combined to catch just one pass on Monday night during a 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Sure, Agholor has obviously been a huge disappointment over his first two seasons in the league, but should we really be surprised about the lack of production from a pair of undrafted rookies? And the receiving core took an even bigger blow when their best receiver Jordan Matthews exited with an ankle injury.
Dare I say it, did the offense need Agholor?
“You know, Nelson adds some unique elements,” Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich said during his Thursday press conference. “He is a great route runner and we want to get him involved when he’s up and if he’s up this week, whenever Coach makes that decision, we believe he can be a playmaker. We haven’t hit our stride together; we, I say we, all of us together, because you know, we’re all with Nelson and he’s with us. You know, we’re a team. Together we want to find a way to hit our stride, which includes involving everybody, and everybody needs to be a big part of it.”
It’s asinine to think that Agholor would’ve provided the Eagles a huge boost, however. What I was disappointed in was head coach Doug Pederson’s reluctance to get the tight ends involved as much as he had been the last two weeks. The trio of Zach Ertz, Trey Burton and Brent Celek are better pass catchers as a whole than the wideouts. That’s one of many stumbles Pederson had on Monday night.
Agholor admitted that sitting out Monday’s game was an “eye-opener” during a Wednesday meeting with reporters.
“Just watched the game and understood that my team needs me and I want to be there for my team. Some of the things that really stuck out to me was realizing a game that I love, I didn’t get a chance to play. So I have to make sure I seize that moment and seize this opportunity because regardless of whatever is going on, I want to play. I’m a competitor and I love football. I have fun playing football, so the fact that I didn’t get to play that day was an eye-opener. You got to make sure you always have fun every opportunity you do get to play,” he said.
Agholor just took his step back, will he take his step forward Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.