LOS ANGELES >> Doug Pederson played dumb, to use the expression, when asked if quarterback Carson Wentz had torn an ACL as feared late in the third quarter of their win over the Rams.
“I just don’t know,” Pederson said. “I don’t know anything until we evaluate him fully tomorrow.”
What Pederson did not dispute is that the next man up is Nick Foles, who tied the NFL single-game record with seven touchdowns passes for the 2013 Eagles. And Foles is ready, judging by the way he guided the Eagles to a couple of fourth-quarter field goals and a clock-killing drive that left the Rams with one second to lateral the ball around at the end.
The Eagles prevailed, 43-35, to win their first NFC East pennant since … Foles was the starting quarterback. What a coincidence.
“That’s why they brought me here,” Foles said, who found the clinching bittersweet. “Everybody’s real excited because we put in a lot of work this season. We’ve won a lot of games and it’s been a big team effort. Carson’s been a big piece of that puzzle. Everybody is really excited about the win. But yeah, you have your starting quarterback go down, it’s emotional. It’s emotional for me. We work together every day. I’m excited we won but at the same time I’m dealing emotionally with him going down. You never want that.”
Privately, Eagles players fear the worst, that Wentz won’t play until next season. It’s tough to replace any quarterback, much less the guy who was putting his stamp on league MVP honors.
Wentz fired four TD passes Sunday to give him a league-leading 33, breaking the single-season club record of 32 set by Sonny Jurgensen in a 14-game season in 1961. Wentz had started 29 straight games before taking a shot on his knee while scrambling into the end zone.
“It’s unfortunate when you have a guy like that who does so much for us,” offensive tackle Lane Johnson said. “I’m confident, though, that he’ll get healthy. And hell of a job by Nick coming in and executing when we needed it most. Nick’s a pretty good quarterback. People forgot the year he had a few years ago. I was confident whenever he was going to come in he’d do just fine. He was the same Nick he always was.”
Eagles captain Malcolm Jenkins got testy when asked if the Eagles still could go where they wanted to go if Wentz wasn’t healthy. Jenkins then gave an unqualified thumbs-up for Foles.
“At the end of the day it doesn’t change any of our goals,” Jenkins said. “It sucks, more so for Carson as a person, as a friend and a teammate and what he puts into the game in his preparation. To not have him or to see him go down in that fashion, right where we are on a night like this, it sucks for him. But as a team we’ve still got all our goals right in front of us.”
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Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham saved the ball he scooped up to score on the last play of the game after the Rams tried the old lateral play.
Then he leaped into the seats.
“That was my first time scoring in the league,” Graham said. “I didn’t know what to do. I saw some Eagles fans and just jumped in there and celebrated with my teammates.”
Ultimately the game featuring 78 points was settled by defense. It was Chris Long, the former first-round pick of the Rams, behind Jared Goff and tomahawking the ball out of his throwing hand to Rodney McLeod, another former Ram.
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Zach Ertz was scratched, the Eagles’ leading receiver failing to bounce back from a concussion in time to play at the Coliseum.
Ertz warmed up in sweats but that was the extent of his workload. He’d been limited at practice this week.
The Eagles didn’t seem to miss Ertz.
Early in the first quarter, 32-year-old tight end Brent Celek scored on a five-yard reception, his first touchdown since Thanksgiving of 2015, to tie the game at 7. Celek set it up by drawing a pass interference penalty in the end zone, proving he can still get vertical.
Later in the first quarter, tight end Trey Burton hauled in a 20-yard scoring pass, his third of the season, to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead. And it was Burton again, with an 11-yard TD grab, staking the Eagles to a 21-7 lead 11:10 left in the first half.
But back to Ertz. It was the fifth game he’s missed since the start of the 2015 season and the second this year. The Eagles are 4-1 in games missed by Ertz, who hasn’t played a complete season since 2014, his second in the league.
The Eagles also scratched running back Wendell Smallwood, offensive tackle Will Beatty, defensive tackle Elijah Qualls, wide receiver Marcus Johnson, quarterback Nate Sudfeld and linebacker Joe Walker.
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Rams cornerback Kayvon Webster’s interception of Wentz in the first quarter was the league-leading sixth takeaway on an opening drive this year by the Rams.
But Webster was carted off before the end of the first quarter clutching his right leg. The preliminary report was an ankle injury.
Later in the first half the Rams lost left offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth to an ankle injury. He was in and out of the game the rest of the day. Fletcher Cox rolled into Whitworth’s right ankle.
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NOTES >> The Rams scratched linebacker Connor Barwin (forearm), who played for the Eagles from 2013-16. ... Plenty of Eagles fans showed up Sunday, although the green density at the Coliseum was nothing like the show that the fan base put on in blanketing the StubHub Center in Carson City, Calif., in a win over the Chargers in September. The Eagles were cheered initially, but then soundly booed as they hit the field. ... Pederson collected a huge win by challenging a spot, believe or not. Referee Craig Wrolstad took away an apparent first down from the Rams with 2:00 left in the first half … The Eagles replaced left guard Stefen Wisniewski with Chance Warmack in the first half. Wisniewski injured an ankle.
