August 12, 2016
If you just so happened to tune into Thursday night’s preseason opener five minutes late, chances are you missed Lane Johnson.
Johnson was in the game for a grand total of three plays, the last of which was a Ryan Mathews five-yard touchdown scamper. On the play, Johnson had one of the key blocks, knocking star defensive tackle Gerald McCoy on his back:
Touchdowns are BACK and it feels so good.
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) August 11, 2016
LET'S GO. #BackToFootballhttps://t.co/4WrFBrA2Fm
His night was over. Johnson didn’t stick around to speak to the media after the game, so it was left to Doug Pederson to answer questions about the 10-game suspension that is staring Johnson square in the face. Just like everyone else, it didn’t seem like Peterson had any answers.
“You always got to be mindful of that obviously in the back of your mind,” Pederson said. “It’s something that I’ll visit with [Offensive Line] Coach [Jeff] Stoutland this week and we’ll evaluate where we need to go from here. If that’s the case, if it’s upheld, then we got to be prepared to make some moves.”
“Until it happens, we go full steam. But at the same time, we also know we got to be smart about it, to have people ready to go if it is upheld.”
Sam Bradford, the guy that Johnson is paid big money to protect, didn’t have much to offer, either.
“I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not,” Bradford said. “Obviously, you hope that it doesn’t, but if it does, we’ve got to move on and it’s the next man up.”
Pederson said he heard the news of a possible suspension the same way everyone else did. The Eagles head coach hasn’t been notified of an official suspension yet, but he made it clear on Thursday that the possibility is on his mind.
“I have to anticipate that there’s a chance,” Pederson said. “It would be smart on my part to have a Plan B if that’s the case.”
Preparedness is always a great idea, but it might not matter much in this case if 2016’s Plan B is another year’s Plan Z. After watching Chase Daniel and Carson Wentz get chased and crunched for four quarters lining up behind some of the players that will have to fill in, the idea of replacing Johnson has to be a very scary thought for Pederson.
Going from a player capable of pancaking Pro Bowlers to the Eagles backup linemen appears to be a precipitous drop-off. Plan B doesn’t seem all that apparent to Pederson, who might have some sleepless nights after staring at the depth chart in his offense.
“We’ll make that decision to see who is the next best available,” Pederson said. “Maybe somebody that hasn’t played there this spring or summer [is the choice]. It can be someone that’s already been there. We just got to make all those combinations work in the next few weeks.”
Making matters trickier, Brandon Brooks left the game with a right biceps injury. The starting right guard tweeted after the game that his removal from the game was just a precaution, but it just goes to show that the combinations Pederson is referring to (combinations that the coach said will likely come from the players already on the team) need Brooks, Jason Kelce, and Jason Peters if the offense even has a chance of surviving without Johnson.
Finally, there’s the personal side of a second steroid suspension. Pederson said that he hadn’t talked to Johnson yet about the situation, but he would be disappointed if the allegations are true.
“They’re grown men and I got to treat them like grown men,” Pederson said. “If something like this happens, it is unfortunate and sometimes you learn the hard way. We’ll cross that bridge when that time comes.”
If they have to cross that bridge, Pederson, Sam Bradford, and the rest of the Eagles will likely learn the hard way, too.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
