When Doug Pederson brought tackling back to training camp for the Eagles, he marked a clear change from the previous era of Eagles football, where the focus was on trying to cheat the system on sustaining long-term health by avoiding contact outside of a game atmosphere.
Pederson not only brought it back, but surrounded himself with coaches that agreed that a physical presence at camp would help out in the long run.
There were two places where Pederson went wrong. The first was his naivety that the intensity of six practices with live tackling and physical play wouldn't show up on the injury report. The second was instilling the philosophy only to backtrack two weeks into camp as the games are set to begin.
"It's tackle football and it’s a physical game. The other thing about it, too, is it’s that competition," Pederson said just last week on Aug. 3. "It's just knowing that we're actually going to put the pads on and go to the ground today. Because most of our periods are a fast-tempo thud where everybody's kind of staying up."
But as the injuries started to pile up, to key players no less, Pederson realized the physicality was only going to hurt the health of the team. Ryan Mathews, Brandon Brooks, Jason Peters, Malcolm Jenkins and Jordan Matthews have all missed practices due to injuries. For some of them, the damage was just day-to-day. But with Jenkins and Peters still out and Pederson announcing that Matthews will miss the next two weeks with a knee injury, it was time to pull the plug.
"The live tackling drills will probably be over. But we will continue to practice in pads throughout training camp and into the regular season," Pederson said. "I just have to look at the overall health of the football team. It's not about getting somebody hurt, but it's about protecting the guys out here. They have been doing an excellent job. These last six days have been tough. I wanted it to be tough on them."
There was nothing wrong with being tough on a team that needed a coach that could both mold rookies and be respected by veterans. That much seems to be going right in the early going. But in a season where even the preseason games matter for the Eagles, to simply see what they have after a major offseason overhaul from the sidelines to the hashmarks, getting every player ample time to prepare for the season and showcase themselves is crucial. That even goes for players like Peters, Jenkins and Matthews, who have solidified starting spots already.
So when the preseason begins on Thursday for the Eagles, there will likely be several players held off the field, for precautionary reasons and otherwise, because of Pederson's hard-nosed, grind-it-out style. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and in the long run, it may pay off. But in the short-term, it not only blew up in Pederson's face, it forced him to retract it before the damage could get any worse.
For a first-year coach, it was more than an ill-advised mistake. It was a quickly-admitted mistake. And that doesn't bode well for Pederson, who has shown now that he requires as much growth at decision-making as some of his young players do in fine-tuning their game.
Kevin Durso is an editor for Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
