Adrian Fedkiw
When the Philadelphia Eagles fell victim to the injury bug along the offensive line during Chip Kelly’s tenure, Brent Celek’s snap count increased.
He’s obviously the best blocking tight end the Eagles have and almost like another lineman out there.
But he saw just 13 snaps yesterday.
That’s not enough with a rookie fifth-round tackle going up against a Pro Bowler in Ryan Kerrigan. Celek should’ve been helping Big V with chips and double teams throughout Sunday afternoon. Instead, Big V struggled and the Eagles lost 27-20 to the Washington Redskins.
Head coach Doug Pederson defended his play-calling during the WIP Morning Show on Monday and stated that he helped him as often as he could.
“I went through my call sheet this morning and I wanted to make sure that I was doing everything as a play caller to help Big V and I think Big V is going to be a great player. The first play of the game we had three tight ends over on his side. We ran the ball on second down, third down we ran the football. Fourth play we ran the football. We had a jet protection that we were sliding his direction. We had a chip protection on the next play. We ran a movement where Carson (Wentz) was out of the pocket. Another run, another chip to his side, another run, another run,” he said.
“I helped him as often as I could. There were going to be times where he was going to have to be a professional right tackle and play the game. And I thought after we got through a couple of series, it was rough to start. I’ll admit, it was rough to start. But once we got through a couple of series, he settled, he battled, and he fought through it. And to his credit, in the National Football League to play right tackle, I thought he did a good job. Does he have a lot to learn and a lot to fix? Sure, we all do. But, again, just looking at my call sheet here, I felt like that I gave him enough help to start this football game.”
I don’t necessarily agree, although I think Pederson did a better job in the second half. He also explained why he never thought of taking Big V out of the game.
“I don’t want to destroy the kid’s mental capacity,” he said. “I think there’s a fine line there … We made the right decision, I made the right decision. He’ll be better this week.”
He better be.
You can check out the entire interview below.