Doug Pederson went on 94 WIP this morning for his weekly postgame conversation with Angelo Cataldi.

It was a good discussion. I’ve said a million times before that Angelo is a great interviewer when he turns off the radio shtick.

Three quotes I want to highlight, two that explain Doug’s weird Sunday ramblings about “pressure.”

Here’s the verbatim:

Cataldi: Doug, you said after the game that the pressure was off your team now. Could you explain that to us?

Pederson: Yeah, kind of what I meant by that is, going into the season, obviously Super Bowl champs, there’s going to pressure every week. Games are big. Every week is big. And pressure to win is always there. I think now, more than anything, you look at where we are, and the pressure of being the #1 seed, the #2 seed is probably gone in the NFC. But the fact is that we still control our own destiny. I don’t want the guys to feel any more added pressure to try to make plays. Just make the ones that come to them, don’t go looking for them. From that standpoint, that’s sort of what I meant by that comment, is that let’s focus on our division. Let’s focus on winning our division. You do that and you’re in the postseason and that’s what we need to do.

Angelo asked a follow-up:

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I’ll be honest with you; I really didn’t feel like writing about this game. Then I barfed out 2,600 words anyway.

The original lede was great. It was something about how Carson Wentz was phenomenal, the defense was suffocating, and Doug Pederson looked like the aggressive play caller we saw last season.

That was the story for three quarters on Sunday afternoon, then the Eagles suffered a 12-minute brain fart as they surrendered a 17-point fourth quarter lead and lost at home like choking dogs. In turn, postgame Twitter was a spectacular meltdown of outrageous takes and nonstop arguing over whether or not Jimmy Kempski drew a racist stick figure.

It was that kind of day.

I’m really struggling to remember a worse loss over the last ten years. Tennessee was bad, for sure, and that held the title of “worst loss of the Pederson era” for a whopping three weeks. This one takes the cake, easily. It felt like a 2016 game, did it not? They struggled to finish that year, and this loss was reminiscent of the overtime Dallas defeat when the Birds blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead. It even brought back vile memories of Andy Reid-coached NFC Championship Game losses.

Right, so let’s just get into it and try to make this as painless as possible.

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Big roster move on a Friday morning.

The Eagles promoted defensive tackle Bruce Hector from the practice squad to the 53-man roster and released wide receiver Kamar Aiken.

That means you’re looking at a group of Fletcher Cox, Haloti Ngata, Treyvon Hester, and Hector at DT this Sunday, with Michael Bennett likely to play a good chunk of snaps on the inside. Ngata is still iffy with a calf injury and that’s something head ball coach Doug Pederson mentioned in his press conference today:

• Jalen Mills is fine after tweaking a hamstring in practice Thursday. “He’ll be good.”
• Hector adds some depth at the tackle spot, Ngata is questionable, day-to-day with his calf injury. Addition of Hector doesn’t mean anything in regard to Ngata’s health.
• Treyvon Hester has practiced well and can take #2 defensive tackle snaps if it comes down to that. “He’s going to be asked to do more this week.”
• Mike Wallace and Mack Hollins “are doing well,” progressing nicely through rehab.
• Optimistic Darren Sproles will be able to practice next week.
• Rasul Douglas is back with the team (death in the family)
• Pederson does talk to his team about the week’s refereeing crew (more on that later)
• deferring on winning coin tosses is about gaining another possession in the first half
• Jason Peters and Lane Johnson are both expected to play Sunday
• Jordan Hicks is back to the player he was before the injury, has done a really good job, making plays and getting the defense lined up and organized.

Not a ton to write home about. Full injury report should come later today. Corey Graham (hammy) and Sidney Jones (hammy) did not practice Thursday.

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