Dallas Goedert missed the last three games with a broken forearm, but is scheduled to return Sunday night against the Cowboys.
And his teammates are excited too.
I’m really looking forward to it.
“And it doesn’t affect our guys, the next man up mentality,” left tackle Jordan Mailata explained. “But when you have a player as consistent as Dallas Goedert, you miss him. Was he missed? Oh, yeah. Is that obvious? Hell, yeah.”
There’s no question the Eagles have missed Goedert’s contributions on both the pass and run the past three weeks.
The good news is that Goedert said Wednesday that it’s “very likely” he will return this week after not playing against the 49ers. He was nervous heading into last weekend, but started this week as a full participant.
“Dallas has an echo of Dallas,” Goedert said. “I’m really happy to go and put everything else to bed and go out and play soccer again.”
In Goedert’s absence, the Eagles used other tight ends such as Jack Stoll, Albert Okwuegbunam, Grant Calcaterra, and Noah Togiai, but also mixed up their personnel packages, recruiting 10 more than they had last year (four wide receivers). Appointed.
No knock on the Eagles’ depth tight ends, but they’re no Goedert. The 28-year-old has earned a reputation as one of the best two-way tight ends in the NFL, and his versatility makes him a threat.
“We missed him in the pass game, we missed him in the run game,” Mailata said. “He’s so good in the run game that people don’t know what we do when he’s in the game. He’s a threat. He’s basically another O-line. He’s a man. An O-lineman who’s qualified to catch the ball if he runs a play-action or if he runs a screen. That’s just a surprise factor that teams have to consider.”
As for the passing offense, the Eagles have made no secret of their strategy of attacking with AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Goedert. Without Goedert, no one would have been able to fill that role as a third option.
Ques Watkins, Olamide Zachias, Julio Jones and Stoll had sporadic play, but there was no consistent threat. The other tight ends on the roster had five total targets and had just two catches for 17 yards in the three games Goedert missed.
Coach Brown said Wednesday that watching film from the past three games makes it very clear how different the defense is playing without Goedert. When Brown was asked about the possibility of Goedert returning this weekend, he beamed.
“It’s going to help us tremendously,” Brown said. “I’m glad he’s back. He cut his tail off to come back. Of course it’s going to be a lot of pressure on me. I’m glad he’s back.”
Goedert said Wednesday that he is ready to play as long as the Eagles require on Sunday, despite not having played since being injured on Nov. 5. This is a long break, but since Goedert’s injury was a broken forearm, he feels his conditioning is solid as he can still run and train on the stationary bike.
Goedert’s injury occurred in his first game against the Cowboys when linebacker Marquez Bell tackled him in the arm at the end of a big run. Goedert said there was nothing dirty about Bell’s play and that he believes it was just a fluke injury.
In a microphoned corner during the Cowboys’ first game, Goedert said he might not get stiff arms anymore. But he gave it back Wednesday and said he will continue to run the same way but will try to get his arm out sooner to avoid future injuries.
That’s probably a good idea. Goedert is a very important member of the offensive line.
“When you lose a player like Dallas, like he was out here for a little while, it’s always going to have an impact,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “He’s a very good player, especially in Dallas. Why is he one of the best tight ends in the NFL? Because he’s really good in the run game and he’s really good in the pass game. is.
“Now we’ve got Jack, Albert, Grant and Noah to replace him. They’ve done a good job of replacing him, but Dallas is who he is because he’s a really good player. We’ll see what happens this week if we can get him back.”
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