By Patrick Del Gaone, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz has been eagerly anticipating a return to game action against the Jets in week 4 of the preseason, but according to head coach Doug Pederson, the prized No. 2 overall draft pick is unlikely to play in the exhibition finale on Thursday.
"If he’s 60 percent with that rib, probably not," Pederson said. "He’ll continue to work. He got two good workouts in last week, one at the stadium, [he] did a great job. He’s obviously still sore from that.
"It definitely hurts from a young quarterback standpoint, his position to fully grasp and understand the offense. I just go back to what I see in the classroom, what I see off the field, his work ethic here, and just what he knows and what he understands. It doesn’t concern me as much right now."
Yesterday, Philadelphia trimmed their roster to 73 players ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. Among the players released were receivers Chris Givens and Rueben Randle. On Monday, Pederson was asked whether those veterans specifically were "all in" mentally for the duration of training camp.
"They did buy in," Pederson said. "We’ve got young guys that have created some competition, and that’s what we wanted, and that’s what we got out of this decision.
"If you can build with youth, and you can begin to shape your team in a certain direction, you feel comfortable with your top three or four guys, and then it all comes down to that fifth spot, particularly in that wide receiver room."
Despite the victories, Pederson’s team was wildly undisciplined in the first two games of the preseason, totaling 23 penalties for nearly 200 yards. On Saturday, the Eagles played not only effectively, but with compliance of the rules. They were charged with eight penalties in Saturday's 33-23 win, but many of those came after the starters were long gone from the game.
"I think each week we’ve gotten better fundamentally," Pederson said. "Tackling has gotten better, offensive line play has gotten better, the D-line rush, the turnovers. We eliminated a ton of penalties this past week. I just think you’re seeing guys buying into the whole process. I’m not here to sell anything to anybody. This is their livelihood, they’re professional athletes, and they get paid well. The guys have really responded well."
The Philadelphia Eagles improved their preseason record to 3-0 on Saturday after defeating the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Eagles first-team defense put forth another dominant performance, hitting Colts quarterback Andrew Luck on nearly half of his drop backs while yielding only 129 yards and three points in the first half.
You can watch the full press conference from Pederson below.
