By Patrick Del Gaone, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
After four consecutive home wins to begin the year, the Philadelphia Eagles were thoroughly beaten by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers on Monday night, 27-13, in a disheartening defeat at Lincoln Financial Field.
Despite the bitterly disappointing loss, Eagles' head coach Doug Pederson still wholeheartedly trusts his team's process for the future.
At Tuesday's press conference, Pederson explained why he feels they're moving in the right direction.
"If we just make a few more play, the outcomes are different and we're not talking about this," Pederson said. "I'll admit, we're playing with some young guys on offense, and they're getting valuable reps. Yes, I agree that it may not show on the scoreboard, and it may not show with the wins and losses. I totally get that. I look at the process, and I look at the plan, and I use those words because those are words that we use around here, because there is a plan, and there is a process. You build your team through the draft, you pick up a couple good free agents, you watch these young kids develop and turn into good ball players and you see the potential. When I say that, that's what I see with these guys. That's the direction that we're heading in."
Green Bay converted over 71 percent of its third downs against Jim Schwartz's defense, as Rodgers once again carved up Philly's secondary, efficiently completing 30 of 39 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns.
In the Eagles' first six games, the defense compiled 20 sacks. In their last five games, Schwartz's defense has just six sacks. Rodgers was lightning-quick with his release last night, but even on deep dropbacks, Philadelphia generated very little pressure on Green Bay’s gunslinger.
Today, Pederson was asked about the sudden drop off in production.
"Teams know we have a good pass rush," Pederson said. "They're keeping tight ends and backs in. Some teams are using two tight ends in protection. They're chipping our defensive ends, which secures your A and B-gaps, and then your pass rushing lanes becomes a little tighter. This is why good defensive lines get this type of attention. We gotta keep working, it's tough, we just keep working on a daily basis."
"If you've never played that position, or played this level of football, I think it's easy to speculate and see what's going on. But at the same time, these guys are working extremely hard to get to the quarterback, its not that they don't want to. The effort, determination is there. When you're a good player, you're gonna get a lot of double-teams, you're gonna get a lot of chips. The thing is, how fast did Aaron Rodgers get the ball out of his hand? How are you gonna get to the quarterback when he gets it out of his hand so fast. It's tough, it's extremely hard."
Pederson's most inexplicable in-game decision came late in the third quarter. The neophyte head coach used his final challenge on an inconsequential two-yard completion to the Eagles’ 37-yard-line with the game still very much in the balance at 17-13. The catch was overruled in Philadelphia's favor, but the lost challenge could've been devastating had the Eagles needed to review a much more momentous call in the fourth quarter.
"The thought process there was where they were on the field," Pederson said after the game. "Yeah it might have been only a two-yard gain, but you take into consideration 2nd-and-8 compared to 2nd-and-10 backs them up two yards. You still want to play the field position game. "
"In a 2nd-and-long situation, knowing you'll be out of challenges, you just needed something to keep them, really, at a little bit longer yardage at that time. That was to try and help out defense."
You can watch the full press conference from Pederson below.
