Jason Peters, speaking to reporters yesterday:

Philly Mag:

“I just think it was more scheme,” Peters said. “Man, it’s the National Football League. If the running back is to the left, and you’re running a zone read, where do you think the ball is going? To the right, so it’s just — they caught up to us.

“We just needed to change it up a little bit, especially with Sam [Bradford] back there. They know he’s not going to run it, so it kind of put our hands behind our back.”

“If you run 100 times in a row back-to-back-to-back, don’t you think the 50th time, you’re going to be a little bit slower? But if you get a little bit of rest, you’re going be a little bit faster,” Peters said. “When you go back to the huddle and you get that wind, you’re just a little bit stronger when you go back to the line.”

“I think so, because the last couple of years, there wasn’t a lot of vets. And any vet that stood up and had something to say, we got rid of him,” Peters said. “But Doug was a player here, and he understands veteran players. And he understands the game, so I think it’s better.”

CSN Philly:

“We practiced on Tuesdays when Chip was here, and you felt it on Sundays,” Peters said. “I did anyway.”

“They caught up to us. We had some good years there back to back, then last year we had that down year. We just needed to change a little bit up, especially with [quarterback Sam Bradford] back there. They know he’s not gonna run it, so it kind of put our hands behind our back.”

I didn’t expect Peters to hop on the Betsy Bitter Bus. But to me this all boils down to players preferring Doug Pederson’s obvious player-first coaching philosophy. Is that a good thing? FUCK KNOWS, but the players like it and so they’re going to scream it from the rooftops.

It’s also worth mentioning that while Chip Kelly worked the team hard in practice, he had scientists* and shit looking over their vitals, searching for signs of slow down. Pederson’s apparent philosophy, inherited from the sticky nape of Andy Reid, is literally called THREE DAYS OF HELL. Players will start wearing pads on Saturday and Pederson will run a modified version of Reid’s three days of vicious practices because that’s the way things used to be so it must be right, right?!?! Never mind that what NFL players need for career longevity is certainly not more hitting, let’s see how they feel about things next Tuesday, when I assume the press scrums will take place in the trainer’s room. They might long for the days of pop music and fudgie wudgie smoothies.

*Loose term.