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Jim Schwartz Follows up on Doug Pederson’s Effort Comments

Adrian Fedkiw|

A day ago, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson explained that “not everybody” gave maximum effort during the team’s embarrassing 32-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

This was after Pederson said last week that he’s going to find out a lot about his players and coaches over the last five games and see who wants to be a part of the Eagles in 2017.

One game down and the team looked lifeless.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, however, took the high road and didn’t throw anybody under the bus.

“It’s hard to have energy when you’re down 29-0,” he said. “It’s not hard to have effort. And I think you saw us have effort. It’s 29-0. We give up a first down, and [DT] Bennie Logan runs 25 yards down the field and causes a fumble. That was the beginning of the fourth quarter. You don’t do that without effort. We cut it to two scores with whatever that was, six minutes to play, and didn’t get the onside kick. With twenty-four years in the NFL, don’t tell me about a two-score game with six minutes to play. I’ve been on both sides of those, and we didn’t get the onside kick, and it was a little bit deflating. It’s hard to have energy. You didn’t get the onside kick. We go out and force a fumble. [LB] Nigel [Bradham] actually, he was covering an eligible tight end, they sort of ran a trick play, they wipe [Bengals T Jake Fisher] and he had him covered and they booted away, and then he started, fell off of him and said, ‘Man, I’ve got to go get him.’ Guy catches the ball. He didn’t give up on the play. He went out and caused a fumble, and when [LB] Mychal Kendricks picked it up, Mychal didn’t pick it up and fall down on the ground to avoid a hit. He didn’t step out of bounds. He picked it up and he was trying to score, and I’m encouraged by all those things. You don’t always play your best, but I’m encouraged by those kinds of things. I think that I would agree that we need to play with more energy, and that’s a hard thing sometimes, too. You’re down 29-0. I’ve been there. You make a sack, it’s 29-0. If you get excited and high five and have a sack dance, man, you guys probably say it, I probably say it at home watching TV, ‘Man, didn’t that guy know what the score is?’ But if you walk back to the huddle and put your head down and just go through the motions, everybody says the other things, ‘Man, they’re not into it. They’re not spirited.’ I just told the guys, ‘Let the chips falls where they may, play with some emotion, be willing to put yourself out there and don’t worry about anything else.’”

Then Schwartz was asked where the effort was before it was 29-0.

“There’s human nature that goes into this game. We didn’t start that game very well. We went three-and-out on offense. They got the ball at midfield. We gave up a field goal. We had a chance to get an interception. Man, what a change that would have made. Imagine if we make that play, get that interception, get that lead. Man, you’d probably be writing a different story and say, ‘Man, they did have energy to start.’ And I think that goes to what I was talking to the guys about today, regardless of what that scoreboard says, you’ve got to come out and you’ve got to play. There’s the camaraderie — it’s too precious not to. I was a little bit — I wouldn’t say disappointed — disappointed might be a fine word or an okay word. We need to play with more energy, whether it’s at the beginning or at the end, and that’s a challenge every week,” he said.

To go back and look into what Schwartz said in the first quote, there were a couple Eagles who showed up to play.

Despite doing most of his work in garbage time, undrafted rookie Paul Turner caught six passes for 80 yards, with his first NFL reception going for 41.

Brandon Graham might not have made a lot happen pressuring the quarterback, but did play the run really well and recorded a pair of tackle for losses.

Trey Burton was Wentz’s favorite target on third down Sunday. He moved the chains on a 3rd-and-10 and 3rd-and-7, hauling in five receptions for 53 yards in all.

Like Schwartz explained, Logan showed a lot of effort to chase down Rex Burkhead from behind and force a fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter and the Eagles trailing 29-7.

And lastly, Kenjon Barner had a 61-yard kickoff return late in the third quarter. He’s averaging 5.1 yards per carry, but didn’t carry the ball once despite Smallwood and Sproles struggles.

Other than that the Eagles weren’t prepared and appeared disinterested. There was no fight and no effort.

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