Carson Wentz has had a difficult start to the 2020 season. But he showed again in Week 6 why his toughness and competitiveness should not be questioned.
It's almost too easy to poke holes in the Eagles.
The Birds, at 1-4-1, have not been a good football team so far this season. You can blame brutal injuries, poor roster construction, poor execution, or a combination of all three, but the facts are the facts.
And yet during Tuesday's episode of ProFootballTalk, Mike Florio and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms surprisingly defend the Eagles, and head coach Doug Pederson in particular, for where they stand after six games.
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PFT played the clip of Doug Pederson taking blame for his two-point conversion play call at the end of Sunday's loss to the Ravens, and then had this to say about Pederson and the Eagles:
"SIMMS: I still look at the Eagles, and I have respect for them, in a lot of ways, because of Doug Pederson and the way he carries himself, and the way they hang in there in these games. They're not horrible. They've played some really good damn teams, and I guess I respect that, even though they're in a bad spot right now.
"FLORIO: I think right now, if I had to pick one of the four teams in the NFC East, it'd be the Eagles.
"SIMMS: Me too. Me too.
NFL
"FLORIO: Because they've been there and done that. They've been, for the past two years, they're overlooked, they're outcasts, they're done, it's over, and then they find a way to get it all together late in the season when everything matters. They get a chance on Thursday night against the Giants to get to 2-4-1, and they still have two games against the Cowboys that they'll have to play. It feels like the Cowboys are moving in the wrong direction right now. The Eagles are kind of rudderless, but at some point they're going to find their way."
It's cool to see Pederson continue to get respect around the league, even if he made costly mistakes on Sunday.
And Florio and Simms probably summed up the mindset of most Eagles fans after six weeks.
We all know the Eagles aren't good. They've reminded us numerous times in every single game this season that they're not good.
But they fight, particularly quarterback Carson Wentz, and that's not easy when you're constantly fighting uphill battles. It's something Philadelphia demands of its players, and no matter how bad the Eagles have looked in terms of execution, you know they're still trying. That is, indeed, extremely respectable.
And, while it feels insane to expect anything other than annihilation if they reach the playoffs, the postseason really is still in play for the Eagles. Would they almost certainly lose a first-round home playoff game against a superior opponent for the second straight season? Yep.
But it's probably worth taking that shot, because if they win... well, we all know what an underdog Eagles team is capable of in the playoffs.