July 29, 2016
In case you were wondering if Jason Peters supports the move back to an offense that involves regular huddling, it’s safe to say that he does.
“If you run the 100 [meters] 100 times in a row back to back to back, don’t you think your 50th time you’re going to be a little slower?” Peters said. “But if you get a little bit of rest, you’re going to be a little bit faster.
“It gives and takes. When you go back to that huddle and you get that wind, you’re just a little bit more stronger when you go back to the line. I think it’ll help.”
Peters made the Pro Bowl in 2015, but he battled injuries and many argued that his play declined. With Lane Johnson getting signed to a big money extension this past offseason, this very well may be the 34-year-old left tackle’s final season in Philly.
If it is in fact his last year in midnight green, Peters doesn’t mind that it will be playing for another coach besides Chip Kelly. The speed of the offense wasn’t the only area of Kelly’s coaching philosophy that Peters had a critique for, either. He also didn’t seem to enjoy the high-tempo practices that Kelly favored.
“The same practices that we did in training camp was the same spring practices, exactly the same,” Peters said. “So it’s pretty much we had training camp the whole offseason, even OTAs, the same exact practices. It kind of wore us down.”
So yeah, we’re a long way from this:
Doug Pederson learned under the coach the Peters played for before Kelly (“I’m happy to have the Andy Reid era back, which Is Doug,” he said, summing up most of his thoughts) and the veteran tackle is on board with an ex-player leading the Eagles.
For his part, Peterson believes his playing experience can help in terms of pacing his players, specifically a vet lineman like Peters.
“Even though I was in a different position, I see the wear and tear and the grind that these guys go through every single day,” Pederson said. “This is a physical game and it takes them an entire week to recover sometimes.
“When they get to this stage of their career, it's not about the physical rep anymore, it's about the mental rep.”
Mentally, 2016 probably feels a lot like 2010 for Peters. So far, the style of Eagles camp has resembled what fans were accustomed to watching at Lehigh B.C. (Before Chip).
“Obviously the style of camp is going to be a little bit different than what they've been used to,” Pederson said. “And so I think with all of that and his recovery where [Peters] takes care of himself once he's off the field during the day, will really help him in his longevity this season.”
For Peters, there is an argument to be made that his tough 2015 season was simply a product of age. You always hear that father time is undefeated, and Peters has played in 156 games over his career.
That career included quite a bit of excellent football at one of the game’s most important positions. Peters is a borderline Hall of Fame player, and armed with a change in coaching philosophy, he’s hoping this Eagles season goes much better than the last one.
“It was frustrating,” Peters said. “An older guy like me, I’m just trying to get that ring. To keep losing like that, it was hurtful.”
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
