Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Fletcher Cox is trying to remain positive in the midst of his team’s immense struggles.
Following the Eagles’ embarrassing 27-10 loss to the New York Giants in their season finale on Sunday, Cox is choosing to look forward rather than dwell on the past.
“We get to go out and play again next week,” Cox said, via Martin Frank of The Delaware News Journal. “You’re speaking on our last six weeks, and I’m speaking on the weekend we got coming up, ahead of us. I want to think positive and not negative. It’s a whole brand new season for everybody − no matter went on in the past, no matter what went on. Obviously, we wanted to come out and play good, to kind of build. But obviously, we didn’t.”
Philadelphia ended its regular season by losing five of its last six games, and to make matters worse, quarterback Jalen Hurts and wide receiver A.J. Brown both suffered injuries against the Giants. Plus, wide out DeVonta Smith was sidelined with an ankle issue.
The Eagles were 10-1 at one point this year and appeared to be well on their way to cruising to an NFC East division title, but they proceeded to fall apart over the final month-and-a-half, resulting in the demotion of defensive coordinator Sean Desai (he was placed by senior assistant Matt Patricia).
However, nothing has seemed to halt Philadelphia’s rather rapid descent.
Philly finished the season with a record of 11-6, losing the NFC East crown to the Dallas Cowboys. It went from looking like the best team in the conference (and possibly even the entire NFL) to having to play a road playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Monday.
It’s nice that Fletcher Cox is maintaining optimism, but if the Eagles don’t get any of these problems fixed before the Wild Card Round, they will be finding themselves sitting home a whole lot earlier than they initially anticipated this season.
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