Doug Pederson Disappointed in Eagles' Entire Offense, Not Just Nick Foles
August 24, 2018
The Philadelphia Eagles offense had a rough night in a 5-0 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday in their third preseason game. While quarterback Nick Foles will receive his share of criticism, head coach Doug Pederson acknowledged the struggles go well beyond him.
Per Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, Pederson said this after the game:
"Not Nick. Offensively. We had six possessions. We had two interceptions, two fumbles. We had a sack safety, and we had a turnover on downs. That's an offensive performance, so I was displeased with what our first offense executed.
"...I'm disappointed in the offense. I don't want to single out one player, so don't put this all on Nick. I'm disappointed in the offense. It's obviously not what you want in the third preseason week."
That came in response to being asked about an in-game report.
"I'm done. I've seen enough," Fox's Erin Andrews said Pederson told her at halftime. "It's very disappointing. He was calm before the game. I thought he'd settled in."
Foles had a rough night, going 13-of-17 for 127 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions, including one especially brutal pick:
He was also sacked three times in the first half.
Still, Pederson made it clear he hasn't lost faith in the reigning Super Bowl MVP:
"He finished the season pretty well last year. We know who he is and what we need to do to get him ready to go, and again, we're still pretty vanilla offensively. We haven't done any of our [run-pass option] game. Those are all things that are part of his strengths too, so we've got to make sure that when we put game plans together moving forward that we're utilizing his strengths too."
Quarterback Nate Sudfeld also struggled, completing just 11 of his 21 passes for 72 yards in the second half.
Philadelphia managed just 263 total yards of offense, turning the ball over four times and allowing seven sacks. The team also went 0-of-2 in the red zone.
The third preseason game is often viewed as a dress rehearsal for the regular season, and that's troubling with Carson Wentz's status for Week 1 unclear after he tore his ACL on Dec. 10.
Philadelphia (0-3) closes out the preseason next Thursday against the New York Jets.
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