Eagles' secondary takes a hit with defensive back out for season, 2 others hurt

It seems like no victory comes without consequences for the Eagles.

Starting safety Rodney McLeod will miss the rest of this season and most likely part of next season with a torn ACL, head coach Doug Pederson confirmed on Monday.

McLeod suffered his injury midway through the third quarter of the Eagles' 24-21 win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

It happened on the same play that starting cornerback Darius Slay suffered a concussion. The other starting cornerback, Avonte Maddox, left in the first half with a knee injury and did not return. 

Pederson said Maddox "will also miss some time." He said there's no way of gauging whether Slay can return in time for the Eagles' game Sunday against the Cardinals.

The Eagles finished the game with Kevon Seymour, promoted from the practice squad on Saturday, at one cornerback position with Jalen Mills moving from safety to the other cornerback spot. 

Marcus Epps and rookie K'Von Wallace were the safeties with Nickell Robey-Coleman as the nickel corner. 

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Cornerback Michael Jacquet and safety Grayland Arnold also missed the game with hamstring injuries. Pederson is hoping they can return against the Cardinals.

The Eagles had released veteran Will Parks a few weeks ago. He has since signed with Denver, and had six tackles and a sack in his first game with the Broncos on Sunday.

McLeod was considered a vocal leader. Pederson named several players who can fill that void, such as Slay, Mills, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry.

On offense, he mentioned center Jason Kelce, wide receiver Alshon Jeffery and even running back Miles Sanders, who's only in his second season.

"These guys are great leaders in their own right," Pederson said. "I would expect the majority of these guys to step up in the next three weeks and pull everybody together."

Pederson did not mention quarterback Carson Wentz and tight end Zach Ertz. Maybe that was an oversight.

Why are Eagles' backup QBs so successful?

Since Pederson became the Eagles' coach in 2016, the team is 35-33-1 with Wentz as the quarterback, but 11-3 with the backup as the starter. Those records include playoff games.

Nick Foles has all but one of those decisions. That includes the Eagles' run to the Super Bowl in 2017, when Foles led three straight playoff wins and was the MVP in the championship game.

When asked about that disparity, Pederson mentioned that the Saints were 8-0 the last two seasons without Drew Brees before the Eagles won on Sunday.

But Brees is 39-12 as a starter since the beginning of the 2017 season, which is a big difference from Wentz's record.

Pederson was then asked if the chemistry isn't the same between him and Wentz as it is between him and a backup.

"Carson and I, our relationship's great," Pederson said. "We've had great communication. I just look at this year and the amount of adversity that we've faced and played with all season and trying to make things work. But there's no issue with Carson and I."

Pederson did say there might be something to the theory that the rest of the team raises its level of play to support the backup QB.

"I see guys sort of step their game up when a backup comes in," Pederson said. "If they do their job, then it makes the backup quarterback just have to do his job, and just distribute the ball and get us in and out of the right plays."

How much should Hurts run?

Hurts ran for 106 yards on 18 carries, becoming the first Eagles quarterback to run for more than 100 yards in a game since Michael Vick did it 10 years ago.

He and Baltimore's Lamar Jackson are the only quarterbacks to ever rush for more than 100 yards in their first NFL starts.

In addition, Miles Sanders ran 14 times for 115 yards. That included an 82-yard touchdown run, Sanders' third run this season of 74 yards or more.

"Do I want to run Jalen Hurts 18 times?" Pederson said. "You don't want to run your quarterback running 18 times, not in this league, because you see the amount of hits that he took.

"Do I want Miles Sanders to do what he did? Yeah, I would rather give those rushing attempts to him and Boston (Scott) and Corey (Clement), and use Jalen and the quarterbacks when we have to."

Of course, many of Hurts' runs were not designed runs. He just made them work.

A harrowing onside kick

It was a play that shouldn't have been as harrowing as it was. But after the Saints scored a touchdown with 1:24 left to cut the Eagles' lead to 24-21, they tried an onside kick.

The ball hit off Clement's leg, setting off a mad scramble for the ball that Mills eventually recovered, with linebacker Duke Riley on top of him.

"I just saw it and I dove on it," Riley said. "When I dove, I just reached out with my arms and I pulled it closer to me. And Jalen landed on top of my arms, so it was kind of like we both had it. I was telling him the whole time, 'We ain’t letting go. I don’t care if we have to stay here till 12 o’clock at night. We’re not letting this ball go.'"

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.