Head coach Andy Reid wants the Eagles to be a hard-nosed football team. But he knows that it must be disciplined too.
On Sunday, the Eagles had eight penalties for 80 yards. Reid admitted that those numbers were "way too much" and what worse is that some of them came "at crucial times."
On the Redskins' first offensive drive, Quintin Mikell was called for a horse collar tackle which turned a 5-yard run into a 20-yard gain. Michael Vick's 23-yard scramble, which was the play he was injured on, never technically happened because of a holding call against Max Jean-Gilles. An illegal contact penalty on a third-and-9 in the third quarter by Ellis Hobbs kept a drive alive for the Redskins.
"We preach playing hard, but at the same time we have to stay disciplined with it," Reid said. "I take that responsibility on the discipline part of it and making sure that we do things the right way."
The Eagles have been called for 34 penalties this season, which is the fourth-highest total in the league behind Tennessee (37), Detroit (37) and Oakland (35). Jason Peters leads the team with five, but if you were to ask his critics, you would think he has 20.
Peters was called for two penalties on Sunday. Neither penalty stalled a drive. Peters had actually been penalty-free in each of the past two games.
"He's working his tail off. That's the first thing. These aren't penalties that are loafing penalties, or he's not moving his feet, or he's tired, or any of that," Reid said. "That's not what these are. We just have to stay disciplined and focused with hands in the holding category – making sure that we're tight with the hands. We know the officials are in a different position now calling the holding calls."
Reid might be disappointed in his team's proficiency when it comes to penalties, but not with Peters' performance.
"If he wasn't trying hard and didn't have the effort, then there might be a disappointment there," Reid said. "But he'll work through this and this hasn't been his M.O. necessarily for his career. He'll get through it and move on."
The most penalties that Peters has been called for in his career was 10 which was last season, but that was still relatively close to his average. From 2006 through last season, Peters averaged 8.5 penalties per season.
-- Posted by Chris McPherson, 4:00 p.m., October 4
