PERSONNEL NEWS

Strategy And Personnel

The Sports Xchange

September 20, 2018 at 12:52 am.

PLAYER NOTES

The Eagles made a couple of roster moves during the week, signing receiver Jordan Matthews and promoting running back Josh Adams from the practice squad. In order to make room for both of them, the team waived receiver DeAndre Carter and put receiver Mike Wallace on Injured Reserve. Wallace is the third player the Eagles have had to IR this season. Receiver Mack Hollins and tight end Richard Rodgers are the others.

Adams could be in line for his NFL debut depending on whether or not the team has to sit Jay Ajayi or Darren Sproles due to injury. Pederson said Ajayi is day-to-day with foot and back issues but said Sproles could be a little longer to recover from a hamstring strain that landed him on the game-day inactive report last Sunday.

Expect to see a lot of Matthews, too, because Alshon Jeffery remains out and Matthews has played in Pederson’s offense and has familiarity with Wentz.

“It’s just a matter of catching him up,” said Pederson. “I think it’s huge (the familiarity Matthews has with Wentz). I think it has a comfort level for the quarterback knowing you have another outside receiver, knowing we brought him in from the outside who has worked with him in the past. I think he can be a benefit to Carson.”

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: QB Carson Wentz. You were expecting Nick Foles? Nope, Foles is heading back to the bench and Wentz resumes a career that seems ticketed for stardom. Colts head coach Frank Reich was Wentz’s coordinator for the past two years and now Reich is Andrew Luck’s head coach in Indianapolis. Reich was asked during a conference call with Eagles media about parallels between Wentz and Luck. “They are both incredibly dynamic players, physically dominant at their position, elite in their leadership ability, elite intelligence, it’s just rare for a guy to have all those attributes and I think they both do,” said Reich. “When Carson came out, that was the one guy – Andrew was the one guy – that there was some parallels there. It’s just interesting now in their journeys that they have both had to overcome serious injury and that I think makes great players better. It stinks going through it but in the long run it makes them better.”

GAME PLAN: With quarterback Carson Wentz playing his first game since early December, the last thing the Eagles want to do is have him drop back to pass more than 40 times in this game, so they will try to run the ball whether they don’t have Jay Ajayi or Darren Sproles or either one.

“We don’t want to put more pressure on him, so it’s up to us to do our job in the trenches to win this game,” said right tackle Lane Johnson. “All he has to be is Carson Wentz and we (as an offensive line) have to be us, nothing more, nothing less. I think if we can get the run game going, it will take all the pressure off of him.”

You may also see more two-tight end sets, with the Eagles utilizing Zach Ertz and rookie Dallas Goedert on the field at the same time. Third tight end Josh Perkins also played a big role against Tampa Bay on Sunday, with four catches for 59 yards. Goedert was on the field for just 17 snaps, but Eagles offensive coordinator Mike Groh talked this week about utilizing him more often.

As for Goedert, he said: “I know my time will come. I have to be patient. It (was) my second game. I’m not too worried about it.”

Defensively, the Eagles will need to put more pressure on quarterback Andrew Luck than they did against Ryan Fitzpatrick in losing to Tampa Bay last week. Luck is completing 72 percent of his throws and seems to keep getting better after missing all of the 2017 season with a shoulder injury. He has thrown four touchdowns to three interceptions.

QUOTES TO NOTE: “Obviously, I was excited,” said Wentz about being cleared to play. “It’s been a long time coming. It’s been quite the grind of an offseason. Just through all this, a lot of the unknown of when (he’d be returning) and all of those things. I know you (media) guys were dying to know. I was dying to know at the same time. A lot of excitement, a lot of almost built-up anxiety over when it was going to be that time, so almost relief to be cleared and get back out there. Obviously, I’m going to have a lot of excitement and everything. But once we get playing, it’ll just be football again.”

–“We have a lot of respect for Frank, and we know his fingerprints are all over what we have here and the system that we run, so there’s some provisions that we need to make and accommodations for that, and so we’re in the process of doing that, communicating with our guys so that we don’t try to give them any kind of unfair advantage over what we’re doing.” – Offensive coordinator Mike Groh.

–“I really don’t think it’s as much as an advantage that some people might think,” said Colts offensive coordinator Frank Reich about playing against the Eagles for the first time since spending the previous two seasons as the offensive coordinator. “I didn’t spend hours with our defense trying to explain every little nuance of the offense and what Coach Pederson and coach Groh and (offensive line) coach (Jeff) Stoutland and what those guys are and the staff are trying to do. I talked about some of the players. I talked a little bit about a few philosophical things, but it’s just my experience over and over again being in these situations is it’s usually overplayed. You give a couple nuggets then you go play ball.”
MATCHUPS TO WATCH

–Colts WR T.Y. Hilton vs. Eagles secondary. Hilton must be licking his chops after seeing what Atlanta’s Julio Jones and Tampa Bay’s DeSean Jackson did against Eagles corners Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills in the first two games. Hilton has 12 catches and two scores in the first two games. “Every week it’s another (talented receiver),” said Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. “It never stops. There’s great skill guys in this league. I think the biggest thing that I notice with a guy like T.Y. Hilton, is he can maintain his speed deep down the field. There’s a lot of guys that have that quick burst and then they sort of fall off. … He can make a play deep down the field, and that was something that proved a liability for us last week. So I’m sure they’re going to tempt us, or (rather) they’re going to test us, and we have to be up for the challenge.”

–Eagles OL vs. Colts DE Margus Hunt and LB Darius Leonard. Leonard, a rookie from South Carolina State, leads the NFL in tackles after recording 18 of them in last week’s win over the Washington Redskins. Hunt, who is 6-foot-8, has two sacks and five tackles for loss in two games. Both players will need to be accounted for from an Eagles offensive line that includes center Jason Kelce, guards Brandon Brooks and Stefen Wisniewski, and tackles Lane Johnson and Jason Peters. A quad injury limited Peters to just eight snaps against the Buccaneers, but he is expected to play. How many snaps he will play Sunday remains to be seen.

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