NFC Notes: Eagles, Giants, Washington

Eagles

The Eagles had a chance to tighten their grip on a weak NFC East Sunday against the Giants. Instead, the Eagles fell 27-17 as the teams stubbornly refuse to run away with the division. Eagles HC Doug Pederson took the blame for the loss, as the team had plenty of time to prepare for the rematch with the Giants coming off the bye.  

“I felt like the guys were ready to go, I’m obviously disappointed, that’s on me the way we played today,” Pederson said via Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Quite honestly, I felt the energy was good, it’s difficult obviously without the fans, but that is both teams to deal with it.”

• Fox Sports Jay Glazer says with assistant coaches out due to the virus this week, former Eagles DE Connor Barwin coached the defensive line this week. (Art Stapleton)
• Pederson says the plan is to ramp up WR Alshon Jeffery‘s snaps as the season goes along. (Eliot Shorr-Parks)
• Pederson downplayed Eagles WR JJ Arcega-Whiteside being a healthy scratch Sunday: “It’s nothing against JJ, we still have confidence in him.” (Mike Kaye)

Giants

Giants HC Joe Judge spoke highly of the improvement QB Daniel Jones has shown in recent weeks. 

“We want to play aggressive with Daniel,” Judge said, via Pro Football Talk. “He’s done a heckuva job of making plays when we need it and making better decisions. He’s a young player who’s developing, he’s learning a lot every week. You can see his improvement week to week.”

Washington

• NBC Sports’ JP Finlay believes Washington QB Alex Smith is more likely to be on the roster in 2021 than 2019 first-round QB Dwayne Haskins because he’s shown he can mentor a potential first-round quarterback. 
• Asked if Smith could be a potential long-term option for the team after throwing for 390 yards against the Lions Sunday, Washington HC Ron Rivera said some of that depends on Smith: “Well, possibly. You have to look at how much longer can he play, how much does he want to play.” (Ben Standig)
• Rivera mentioned the team has discussed bringing in competition for K Dustin Hopkins after he missed another kick Sunday. (Finlay)
• Tom Pelissero reports that Washington rookie OL Saahdiq Charles will undergo season-ending knee surgery on Tuesday. Charles suffered dislocated his kneecap and was hoping to rehab the injury. However, he’ll now undergo surgery and should be on track to return for minicamp.
• Ian Rapoport reports that Washington also placed a waiver claim for OL Pat Elflein on Monday, but the Jets had the top waiver priority.