Death, taxes and the Philadelphia Eagles dealing with an assortment of injuries on weekly basis. The only three things guaranteed in life.
On top of the handful of starters who missed the opener, two defensive players are set to miss multiple weeks after sustaining injuries against Washington. Vinny Curry is set to miss at least four weeks with a hamstring injury, according to NFL insider Tom Pelissero.
Backup corner Craig James is also set to miss a significant amount of time with an undisclosed injury. Both him and Curry have been placed on the Reserve/Injured list.
But that’s not all! Brandon Graham is still in the concussion protocol after leaving Sunday’s game, it’s unclear if he’ll suit up in week 2. But based on the Eagles injury track record, chances are he’ll be on the sideline.
Now, back to the injuries we already knew about for a few weeks now: Javon Hargrave, Derek Barnett, Lane Johnson and Miles Sanders, it’s hard to say if any of these guys will be back on Sunday against the Rams. Johnson vouched he’d be out there on Derrick Gunn’s “Gunn On One” podcast. When Gunn asked Lane about his availability this weekend, Johnson responded with, “Iām going to be out there, DGunn. Iām going to be out there, so, count on it.” Let’s hope he’s right, the team will desperately need him to help contain the pass rush of Los Angeles, who totaled three sacks and seven QB hits in their Sunday night victory over Dallas.
You could argue that Johnson is the most valuable player along the Eagles offensive line. When the team has been without Johnson during the Doug Pederson era, they’ve gone 6-12. When Johnson’s out there, 36-17.
Without Johnson on Sunday, I can’t imagine this team pulling off the upset over LA.
Aside from Lane, it seems there’s a good chance both Miles Sanders and Derek Barnett could be out there Sunday. But truthfully, you’re guess is as good as mine here. The team has never been transparent about their injuries, and I’ve given up on trying to predict who’s going to play and who isn’t. Just for an example, Johnson has been listed as day-to-day since August 23. That’s almost a whole month of the organization telling us Johnson will be back in no time. So yeah, it’s impossible to know how injuries will play out with this team.
We’ll just have to wait and see how the week of practice progresses. Johnson, Sanders and Barnett are all reportedly practicing in some capacity, so that’s a good sign.
As for Javon Hargrave, it’s doubtful he’ll be suiting up Sunday. Pederson said he’s progressing and getting better in his press conference Wednesday, but he gave his infamous “I’m not going to put a timetable on his return” response, which usually means he’ll be out longer than we expect.
Sadly, I feel like this Eagles injury update will become a weekly piece for us. This organization just doesn’t know how to combat injuries or get players healthy in a timely fashion. It’s been the overarching issue with the Eagles for three years now, not to mention the absurd amount of injuries the team dealt with on their Super Bowl run.
I don’t have a solution, all I can do is just hope for the best.