NFL Notes: Colts, Eagles, Giants

Colts

• Per the Athletic’s Stephen Holder, Colts HC Frank Reich said the next man up at left tackle is probably Chaz Green after losing Le’Raven Clark to a season-ending Achilles injury. 
• The Colts haven’t put LT Anthony Castonzo on injured reserve yet as he works back from a knee injury but they don’t have a firm timetable for his return: “Way too early to commit to that.” (Kevin Bowen)
• Reich acknowledged Colts QB Philip Rivers is playing through a foot injury but he’s still happy with what they’re getting from him: “Do I think he’s 100 percent? No, he’s not 100 percent.” (Bowen)

Eagles

It finally happened Sunday, as the Eagles benched a struggling QB Carson Wentz midway through the third quarter for second-round QB Jalen Hurts. Wentz had completed just six of 16 passing attempts for 79 yards and had been sacked four times. Hurts only completed five passes, but his went for 109 yards and a touchdown as well as an interception as the Eagles mustered a late rally before the Packers took over again. 

Now that the seal has been broken on Wentz’s hold on the job, his future for the rest of the season and potentially beyond is in question. One of the narratives this year is that Wentz’s confidence was damaged by how high the organization drafted Hurts. Wentz disagreed with that after the game, however. 

“I’m trying to do what I can do for this team,” Hurts said via Dave Spadaro of the team’s website. “I think it’s as simple as that. Working hard every day, putting my best foot forward, and taking somebody with me. I’m trying to lead and just get this thing in the right direction. So, anything that can help this team.”

• Eagles HC Doug Pederson did not announce which quarterback would start thsi week: “I’m not prepared right now to make any statements or decisions on that. I’m still processing a lot of things… When I know, you’ll know.” (Zach Berman)
• Pederson said Hurts “played okay” after taking over midway through the third quarter: “It was the spark that I was hoping for when I made the change.” (Mike Kaye)
• Eagles CB Darius Slay left Sunday’s game with a knee injury but apparently avoided a more serious injury. (Ian Rapoport)
• Regarding injuries, Pederson said CB Avonte Maddox is “okay,” Slay will be day-to-day, LB T.J. Edwards will be limited this week and G Jason Peters is still waiting on a test result on his injury. He added third-round LB Davion Taylor will miss some time. (Kaye)

Giants

Since a 1-7 start, the Giants have won four straight to push to 5-7 and take a commanding one-game lead in the NFC East. A lot of the credit for that falls to HC Joe Judge, who has remained deliberately focused on the process and the small things the Giants were doing right each week even if they weren’t adding up to wins at the time. He had faith they would, eventually. 

“I don’t think it’s anything magical,” Judge said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “Yeah, tough things happen, it’s 1–7. But if you can show them on tape every day, ‘Hey, this guy’s doing this better, you’re doing this better,’ they can see that. And they keep working hard. Then, hey, look, you can show why things didn’t go their way: ‘Well, this is why it didn’t work. It’s not that we don’t have the opportunity to win. We’re making mistakes.’ And if we get these mistakes off the tape, all of the sudden we’ll start having better results. So you do that, and it all kind of ties together.”

• SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano writes the Giants are very optimistic QB Daniel Jones can return to play this week against the Cardinals, though it depends on how he looks Wednesday. 
• Judge said Jones (hamstring) will be given “every opportunity” to prove he can “defend himself” this week in practice. (Andrew Siciliano)
• Giants LB Blake Martinez tweaked his back Sunday, and while he felt better Monday and is optimistic, his status this week falls into the wait-and-see category. (Zack Rosenblatt)