Eagles Team Headlines: Zach Ertz The Latest Eagle To Deal With Hamstring Injury
By Kevin McGuire
To say the Philadelphia Eagles are a little hamstrung right now would be an understatement. Five players on the Eagles roster were listed on the mid-week injury report with a hamstring injury, including tight end Zach Ertz. A hamstring injury can be a fickle one, as multiple Eagles this year can attest.
What this means for Sunday remains an open-ended question. Not all hamstring injuries heal at the same pace, depending on severity, but the Eagles will be careful with their young tight end. Considering how well he has played recently, this could be a tough loss for the Birds this weekend on the road.
Here's a look at a couple of other Eagles headlines floating around this week in between games.
Jordan Matthews Held Out of Wednesday Practice, Back at it Thursday
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson was furious when no penalty flag was thrown for a hit on wide receiver Jordan Matthews in Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons. Perhaps Pederson felt a little better when he reportedly received confirmation from the NFL offices that the hit from Keanu Neal should have received a flag (as first reported by Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer via Twitter).
Sure, that's nice, but the Eagles were still hoping Matthews could fully recover from the helmet-to-helmet hit. Matthews was held out of practice on Wednesday, but not for a head injury; he did not practice due to back spasms. Luckily, Matthews was back on the practice field Thursday, which should bode well for his game status come Sunday.
Eagles Prepare For Seattle's 12th Man
It is no secret that playing in Seattle can be difficult. The Seahawks fans claim to be the 12th Man and tend to back that up with some of the loudest crowd noise the NFL has to offer, thanks in part to a well-designed stadium. Knowing how raucous the Seattle atmosphere can be, the Eagles are doing all they can to prepare for a loud environment. This should be the loudest stadium Wentz has ever had to deal with, but he is preparing for the game as you would expect, by working on his communication and hand signals.
"I think the biggest thing is you need to communicate a lot. You need to over-communicate," Wentz said on Wednesday, according to PhiladelphiaEagles.com. "You need to work on hand signals both with the O-linemen and the receivers. You've got to work through a lot of those things. But those are things we've done already."
Malcolm Jenkins Speaks About Social Concerns in D.C.
Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins has been speaking out about social injustices in our communities this season, echoing many of the concerns brought to the spotlight with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his national anthem protests. Jenkins took a different approach during the national anthem and remains a notable voice in the community about such strenuous topics. This is why he was invited to Washington D.C. this week to speak with political leaders along with a small handful of NFL players, including Detroit Lions wide receiver Anquan Boldin.
Jenkins and the other NFL players met with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan among other members of Congress, and Jenkins appeared to come home from his D.C. visit optimistic about the day's interactions. Jenkins also suggested this is just one step forward in the process and more trips to Capitol Hill could be coming in the future.
