Doug Pederson on loss to Giants: 'That’s on me the way we played today’
Pederson said the offense, defense and special teams all had a hand in Sunday's 27-17 loss to the New York Giants.
The Eagles came off their bye week, lethargic, and lacking energy in a mistake-filled 27-17 loss to the host New York Giants.
The offense sleepwalked through the first half, when they trailed 14-3.
Coach Doug Pederson took the blame not just for the offense, but for the defense and special teams as well.
"I felt like the guys were ready to go, I’m obviously disappointed, that’s on me the way we played today,” Pederson said in his postgame press conference. "Quite honestly, I felt the energy was good, it’s difficult obviously without the fans, but that is both teams to deal with it.”
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Pederson said there are no excuses for the performance.
"We’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot, that’s the bottom line,” Pederson said. "All three phases had a hand in this loss today, with penalties and that isn’t good enough.”
The Eagles were also penalized 11 times for 74 yards.
Adding to their frustration, the Eagles were 0-for-9 on third-down conversions and 1-for-3 on fourth down.
"There were too many third-and-longs to overcome,” Pederson said. "We’ve got to do better on first and second down, too many third-and-longs.”
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Early in the game, the Eagles didn’t convert three third downs that were much shorter yard situations.
"We just need to execute in those situations,” Pederson said.
Carson Wentz didn’t commit a turnover but missed several throws. He completed 21-of-37 passes for 208 yards and no touchdowns. He had a passer rating of just 72.8.
When asked about the third-down inefficiency, Wentz said he had to watch the tape.
"I knew we struggled on third down, I didn’t realize we were that poor,” Wentz said. “Anytime you are 0-for-9, you are not doing something very well and hats off to them, they had a good game plan, that’s a good defense over there.”
Now the Eagles (3-5-1) visit the Cleveland Browns (6-3) on Sunday.
"Guys are mad, guys are upset,” Pederson said. "I am mad that we lost this game today but we got a great opportunity next week to get it fixed.”