After four games, the Philadelphia Eagles have not been very good, but they play in the NFC East, and after beating the 49ers on the road 25-20 on Sunday night, Philadelphia(1-2-1) is now on top of the division.
While it’s hard to call any game in Week 4 a must-win, Sunday’s contest was pretty close to that for Philadelphia. According to Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, the team felt relieved after defeating San Francisco.
“The guys were excited in the locker room, high-fiving, jumping around, hugging each other, what you would expect after a win,” Pederson said on Monday. “I think these guys have been obviously beaten down the last few weeks, not only by our opponents, but by what they are seeing and reading and being talked about outside of the building. I think you can just see the relief, right, or just kind of getting that win.”
The first quarter of the season is in the books, but even with all the lows, there still is hope in Philadelphia. On Monday, Pederson reflected on the first month of the season.
“I think the one thing that’s really stood out this first month is just how resilient this football team is,” Pederson said. “We have not played our best football; I don’t feel. We’ve kind of shot ourselves in the foot in the first three, four weeks here.
“Finally overcame some of the mistakes yesterday to put ourselves in a position to be in first place in the NFC East. But there’s a long road ahead. We’ve got to learn from the first four weeks, but at the same time, learn from it and carry it forward. We’ve just got to keep working, and this is what I appreciate about our guys is they come to work every day no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the situation. They practice. It’s always been a next-man-up mentality, and they go to work, and that’s what I’ve learned, and that’s what’s going to carry us these next four weeks.”
Injuries have hurt the Eagles in the first month of the season, including injuries to both tackles on the offensive line and injuries to their top two wide receivers in Jalen Reagor and DeSean Jackson. Furthermore, Carson Wentz has struggled in the early part of the season, but the Eagles have found a way to stay afloat at this point.
The Eagles by no means have solved all their issues. Plus, their next two games are against Pittsburgh and Baltimore, which means Philadelphia easily could be out of first place in NFC East by next Sunday. However, for now, they lead their division, and they still have time to fix what’s wrong.
