November 21, 2016
For the last few weeks, the injury updates provided by Eagles head coach Doug Pederson during his weekly day-after press conferences were hardly worth their own post.
But after falling to the Seahawks, 26-15, on Sunday, the list of injured players Pederson rattled off on Monday afternoon was not only long but included several key contributors to his 5-5 football team.
First, the good news.
If you watched the game yesterday, you're probably going to be surprised by how many of the players who left the game with an injury are likely to suit up on Monday night when the Eagles host the Packers. Here's what Pederson had to say:
• RB Ryan Mathews: “Ryan Mathews has a right knee [injury] and his is day-to-day.”
• DE Connor Barwin: “Connor Barwin just has a bone bruise. We’re going to hold him out of — he’ll be fine for the game, but we’re going to hold him out of our work on Wednesday and Thursday this week.”
• S Malcolm Jenkins: “Malcolm Jenkins just has a little knee bursitis. He’ll be fine. He came in this morning a little sore behind the knee. But he’ll be OK.”
• S Terrence Brooks and TE Zach Ertz “will be fine.”
Then there are some whose Week 12 status is a little more up in the air:
• RB Darren Sproles: “His is a seventh — much like Brent Celek, his is a seventh rib fracture. But it’s not as — it’s more in a safe area. It sounds bad, but it’s more in a safer area than where Brent Celek’s is, so he should be good for the game. We’ll hold him on Wednesday and Thursday, but he should be good for the game.”
“It’s not displaced at all. It’s funny where it’s at, but it’s actually in a safe area. He’ll be okay for the game.”
• CB Leodis McKelvin: “Leo is in the concussion protocol.”
And finally, the not so good news.
• RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai: “Big V has an MCL sprain. His is more week-to-week so we’ll evaluate him later in the week obviously.”
So what does Vaitai's injury mean for the rest of the already shorthanded offensive line?
“Moving forward, it looks like we’ll go back to our preseason thought," Pederson said. "We'll move Allen [Barbre] over there and give him the week of reps over at right tackle and then you’ve got Wiz [Stefen Wisniewski] and Isaac [Seumalo] at the guard spot. And then keep Tobin available.”
The coach add that the first-team reps will go to Wisniewski, "but Isaac will get some reps too.”
