On Monday afternoon, Philadelphia Eagles' coach Doug Pederson took an extremely compassionate stance toward Nelson Agholor's worrisome post-game comments after another subpar performance.
In Wednesday's press conference, the neophyte head coach started off a bit more demanding in regard to the USC product's mental breakdowns.
"We talked privately," Pederson said. "Listen, he's gotta get himself ready to play. We've got a game Monday night, and he's still a big part of the team. It's business as usual, and we need to get ourselves ready to go."
"I have not made a decision yet on [if Agholor will play], I mean we brought Paul Turner up. I just gotta see how our numbers fall out. If I can carry five [receivers], I'll carry five. If it's four, it's four. We'll see when we get to the game."
Perhaps thinking that his opening comments were too obtuse, Pederson then reverted back to his sympathetic mentality when asked if he'd consider giving Agholor less snaps in the coming weeks.
"I think that's a real possibility. My concern with Nelson too is with him as a person, and where he is mentally as a person. I don't want to expose him to anything that will hurt him as an individual, as a human being. I just know that this is also about life, and it's not so much about football anymore. If it means lessening the load, then I'll take a little bit off of his plate."
With rookie right tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai out due to an MCL sprain, the Eagles have shifted resourceful left guard Allen Barbre over to the right tackle position, while former Penn State Nittany Lion Stefen Wisniewski emerges into the starting left guard spot for the foreseeable future.
"[Barbre] has played tackle before, so he understands that position," Pederson said. "We experimented with this in training camp for a couple of weeks. It's great to have guys like that, even when you're putting your roster together, you want to find those versatile offensive lineman. Allen is definitely one of those valuable players for us that can do both."
Halfbacks Darren Sproles (rib) and Ryan Mathews (knee) are both banged up after last Sunday's physical game at CenturyLink Field. If one of the two is sidelined against Green Bay, rookie Wendell Smallwood is expected to have a significant role in the game plan for the first time in his career.
Though Pederson wouldn't confirm the playing status of either running back, it certainly sounds as if his Swiss Army knife will be close to 100 percent by game time.
"Darren has a better chance of being healthier than Ryan, as of right now," Pederson said. "Darren's fine. We're just holding him from practice just to keep the rib from getting sore on him. He's one of those guys, he doesn't need to practice. He'll be fine with a couple of days rest."
You can watch the full press conference from Pederson below.
