After an ugly loss last weekend against the Panthers Philadelphia Eagles Hats , the Eagles have one more game to play before they head into the bye week, and are now just six days away from the trade deadline.Head coach Doug Pederson talked to the media on Wednesday about preparing for their very-far away game, and how the offense is looking to spread the ball around. He also gave an update on Derek Barnett who will miss the rest of the season and undergo shoulder surgery.Here’s what the head coach had to say:On Derek Barnett’s injuryHe was asked right off the bat about Derek Barnett’s injury, to which Pederson confirmed it was a shoulder injury and Barnett had already undergone surgery. He also confirm the defender is out for the season, and it was a continuation of the injury he was sidelined with a few weeks ago.Asked what the plan without Barnett, he said the team is still okay and they’ve got some options. He noted that Josh Sweat will fill that role, and Pederson said he’s been doing well and running the practice team. The head coach said Sweat can be explosive and is long, and this will be a good opportunity for him.Pederson was then asked about Barnett now having his second consecutive season cut short due to injury, and the head coach reflected on his time as a player and being put on IR. He noted it’s no fun to sit on the sideline when you want to be out there helping your team, but Pederson notes Barnett is a good player and believes he will come back stronger.On spreading out the offenseIt was noted that the team’s offense has been more successful the more they move the ball around to different targets, and whether the recent games have been too focused on targets to Alshon Jeffery and Zach Ertz — a question also asked to Mike Groh on Tuesday.Pederson noted that those two had been getting the majority of targets, and some of that is by design, and some is by circumstance. But he did point out that Dallas Goedert is in the mix and Nelson Agholor is in the mix — with the head coach saying Agholor has been used more in the run-game, RPO stuff. He went on to say sometimes it’s just dependent on the defense they are playing or the looks that quarterback Carson Wentz is getting.He was later asked about the change in scheme for Agholor this season, and Pederson acknowledged it was the product of two things. One, is the plays being called, and whether it’s a run or RPO, and the other is the head coach calling Agholor-specific plays and getting him targeted.Pederson went on to say that those decisions have nothing to do with Agholor’s ability or skill, and then confirmed that they are still very confident in the wideout. He also noted that Agholor is one of the guys they design plays for each week, and it’s up to Pederson to make those calls.The head coach was also asked about Jake Elliott and his missed field goals over the past few weeks, but Pederson said he doesn’t give it much thought because they still have confidence in him. He went on to defend Elliott, and noted last week was very windy.On defenses better prepared for RPOsPederson was asked about team’s being better at stopping RPO plays than they were last year, and the head coach agreed, citing the Pittsburgh game in the preseason as a bit of a wake up call. He went on to say that teams play a little more zone, especially teams (like last week) that have very aggressive and fast linebackers. Pederson then noted that’s a similar problem they could have against the Jaguars Philadelphia Eagles Womens Hoodie , and when you are going against fast guys like that, whether you run or pass, there’s usually someone there right away to make the tackle. Pederson noted that’s some of the reason for the dip in yards after the catch that they’ve experienced so far this season.He was also asked if perhaps the problem was with how Carson Wentz was reading those plays and whether he wasn’t making the same good decisions as last year. Pederson disagreed and said that Wentz is still doing well in that regard, and noted that those decisions are made in a split-second, so he’s making that decision based on how the defense is lined up.On preparing for the JaguarsHe was asked what he expects to see from Jalen Ramsey on Sunday, and whether he’ll be shadowing Alshon Jeffery for most of the day. Pederson noted that Ramsey will match the top receiver — versus staying on one side of the field — and lauded the Jacksonville defender, calling him “a tremendous player, a tremendous talent”.He continued to talk about how the challenge with Ramsey is that he’s big and physical, so “he can play bump and run” — and emphasized that Ramsey can run — he’s great at the top, he’s smart and very instinctive. Pederson admitted it’s going to be a challenge for Jeffery throughout the matchup.Pederson was also asked about his book “Fearless” and his mentioning that Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone not being aggressive in the playoffs is what motivated him to go for it when he needed to. Pederson said seeing Marrone after that admission wouldn’t be awkward, and that was all last year — he continued to say Marrone has a good team this year and the Eagles’ head coach is only focused on what’s going on this week.The travel to London obviously took some additional preparation and planning than the Eagles normally have to put in, but Pederson said they’ve been planning since the schedule came out, and really tried to get out ahead of things.

He also noted that they were sure to communicate with the players and give them as many details up front so they could make their own preparations and just focus on the game during the week. The Philadelphia Eagles (3-3) and Carolina Panthers (3-2) are set to play on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. In order to preview this Week 7 matchup, I reached out to our enemies over at Cat Scratch Reader. The wonderful Walker Clement (no relation to Corey) took the time to answer my questions about the upcoming game. Let’s take a look at the answers.1 - In a recent CSR column about Ron Rivera, you wrote the Panthers “are winning more games than they are losing, but they are not playing winning football.” Can you sum up your frustrations with Carolina’s head coach?The man has the best short yardage weapon in the history football -Cam Newton- and he refuses to use him except in the most painfully obvious short yardage situations. In other words, forget everything you ever heard about the nickname “Riverboat Ron.” The Panthers won’t even consider attempting to convert a fourth and one on their side of the field and they might not consider it on their opponents side either if they like how the wind is blowing. Rivera would rather punt or kick than risk his team scoring a touchdown in a competitive game.It all fits in with his overly conservative mind set, like keeping the ball on the ground on second and long and running headlong into stacked boxes, or having his defensive backs play 10 yards off the line of scrimmage when the Panthers have a lead, essentially inviting opposing offenses to march down the field and score -just so long as they don’t do it on one play.Rivera coaches games to minimize the risk that the Panthers do something wrong and lose the game. He doesn’t maximize opportunities for the Panthers to take risks nor does he do anything to stop opposing teams from making safe plays that keep them in the game. His ideal game is probably an 8-6 victory featuring a safety and two field goals by his side off of two 10:00 minute drives. It is maddeningly antiquated and, if you can’t tell, I can go on about it at length with little prompting. (Here is the column you mentioned if you would like to read more about this.)2 - On a scale of 1-10, what’s your confidence level in Cam Newton right now? (10 being the most confident.) 10. Cam is on fire this year. He had a period against Washington where the coaching staff finally took his leash off and he completed 10 straight passes, the first seven of which resulted in a touchdown and two-point conversion. He is saddled with a very slow offense that has little understanding of its skill players, including Newton. That said Womens Customized Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys , there are few other quarterbacks that I would take in a two minute drill.It’s easy to look at his stats and think I am being overly optimistic about my home team. Cam does, after all, have four interceptions on the season. It’s hard to pin a single one as his fault. The first was a pass that hit running back C.J. Anderson right in the hands, but got knocked in the air for an easy pick. The next two were both timing throws where rookie tight end Ian Thomas quit early on a route and left the ball sailing into areas that were only occupied by defenders. The last was lame duck that fell into Josh Norman’s hands in Washington after Cam was hit as he threw. He’s gotten lucky on a few bad decisions, but don’t expect him to turn the ball over barring exceptional circumstances.3 - What is the Panthers’ biggest strength? Where do they have the biggest edge in this game?Their biggest strength is absolutely their speed on offense. Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, and Curtis Samuel are an unfair trio of speedsters, and that doesn’t even consider the muted-so-far contributions of Torrey Smith. That said, their edge is in run defense. The coaching staff refuses to take advantage of the actual skills of their skill position players, so the edge goes to the team’s next most talented position group. With Thomas Davis back from a suspension, he and Luke Kuechly head up the best group of linebackers in the NFL. If the defensive line can keep them clean, the Panthers linebackers have the ability to take over a game. It’s why they have shut down your friends, the Cowboys, the last two times they’ve met.4 - What is the Panthers’ biggest weakness? What concerns you the most about the Eagles?The answer here should be the offensive line. Matt Kalil, Trai Turner, Taylor Moton, Jeremiah Sirles, Amini Silatolu, Ryan Kalil, and Daryl Williams, have all either lost significant time or been ruled out for the season since the start of training camp. But the surviving members and the patchwork replacements have held up remarkably well so far this season. The real weakness so far has been the defensive line. It turns out that relying on a 38 year old athlete to rush the passer may not be a viable long term strategy, even if that athlete is Julius Peppers. Add that to free agent aquisition Dontari Poe being all but invisible in run defense and I start to get worried about the Panthers ability to keep the Eagles offense off the field.5 - Who wins this game and why? Score prediction? And what are your expectations for the rest of this Panthers season?The Eagles win this game because their offense will find efficiency easy against the Panthers if their defensive line can’t hold up well enough for the linebackers to make plays. They’ll also win because Doug Pederson will coach circles around Rivera. That said, the Panthers are the weirdest team I have ever watched. They never look like the same team from week to week and rarely do they lose games that aren’t close. If I had to put money on it, I would bet on the Eagles to win 30-24 but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Panthers come out looking like a completely different team and torch the Eagles 34-10.