Nelson Agholor needs to make some much-needed changes to the way he plays before Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson follows through with his threat and reduces his role on the team. When you analyze the US top rated football lines, you quickly realize that Nelson is an issue.
Doug explained his decision to scale back on Nelson’s role as a manifestation of his concern about the mental state of the Wide receiver. Every coach knows that, sometimes, the only way to move forward is to take a few steps. And it could be within Nelson’s best interests to step back a little, even if it isn’t his decision.
Nelson made a few curious comments following the Eagles’ loss to the Seahawks on Sunday. In explaining away his costly miscues, Nelson said that he got lost in his own head on Sunday. In other words, he started thinking too much and that created the miscues that brought the Eagles down.
Complications arose during tight end Zach Ert’s 57-yard catch-and-run in the middle of the second quarter. For reasons that only make sense to him, Nelson negated the score when he whistled for an illegal formation penalty for lining up off the line of scrimmage.
Nelson then stalled a drive when he dropped a perfect pass from Carson Wentz deep over the middle on the ensuing series, this giving the Seahawks the impetus they needed to build their lead.
They saw that the Eagles’ offense was getting banged-up and they took advantage of the confusion. Nelson kept going on and on about how confused and worried he kept getting.
Luckily for everyone, Nelson seems to agree that he needs to take a step back for his sake and that of the team. Admitting that he has sabotaged himself, especially whenever he tried too hard to be perfect, Nelson added that he further exacerbated his mistakes by letting the miscues eat him up. He should have been able to rebound faster than that.
Nelson said that he would try to end the mental battle in his mind; though, such mental battles are a common issue for players and maybe Nelson just had a bad break in this one game.
Coach Pederson seemed to accept Nelson’s reasons for his mistakes. He also expressed concern for Nelson’s wellbeing. The two of them will be expected to sit down and have a chat so that Pederson can better understand what is ailing Nelson.
Pederson said that athletes were prone to struggling with the pressure they fielded whenever they engaged in competitive sports. Some athletes have a way of thriving on such pressure while others crumble. And he didn’t think that the media or even the fans helped the situation with the way they further heaped pressure on athletes they knew were struggling.
Nelson might actually resurge if he is allowed to step back to gather his breath and focus his energies; though, there might be an underlying problem that Pederson might have to seek out and resolve before Nelson can resume active competition.
For now, Nelson should be happy that he has such an understanding coach. Most athletes are rarely so lucky.
