Eagles need Fletcher Cox to return to form

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The Eagles have many problems at the moment, but the absence of Fletcher Cox is certainly one of them.

Cox is still in the middle of things, but he’s not having much of an impact, and that’s impacting the entire front seven.

Via Dave Zangaro of NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com, the Eagles All-Pro defensive tackle played 46 snaps Sunday but didn’t register a single statistic — no sacks, no pressures, no hits, not a tackle. The last time he was shut out that way was in 2017, in a game in which he played just three snaps.

It’s easy to draw a line to the offseason toe surgery which kept Cox on the sidelines all offseason, but coach Doug Pederson wasn’t panicking.

“I think Fletcher, he’s coming [along] and I’m not concerned with him at all,” Pederson said. “I’m excited actually of where he’s at health-wise and how he’s practicing and things like that. He’s obviously a top defender, top player for us, and I think his best ball’s ahead of him.”

The Eagles have just three sacks as a team in three games, so the lack of pressure up the middle they have come to expect from Cox (10.5 sacks last year) is an issue.

“I can’t be disappointed in myself, because at the end of the day, I’m out there giving everything that I have,” Cox said. “I’m just doing my job and doing what the coaches have asked me to do. Sometimes a player can try to do so much and he can end up making a mistake or you feel the pressure and end up doing way too much. I just try to do my job and be as disruptive as I can be. At the end of the day, I have to get to the quarterback, and I’m not doing a good job there right now.”

With injuries knocking Malik Jackson and Timmy Jernigan out for the season, there’s even more pressure on Cox, but so far he’s not responding the way they’re accustomed.