It wasn’t that long ago.
The Eagles remember what happened in New Orleans on Nov. 18. They remember getting the snot kicked out of them by the Saints in a 48-7 blowout. They remember the Saints going for it on fourth down. They remember the Saints not taking their foot off the gas pedal.
Can’t forget that.
“If they use it as motivation, great,” Pederson said. “Everybody gets motivated differently for different games.”
What the Eagles can’t afford to do is head down the Superdome hungry for revenge. They have to stay focused on the game.
Pederson knows the Eagles have to guard against his players feeling the need for that vengeance.
Yeah, you have to guard against that because if you start doing that, it takes you out of who you are. It takes you out of character a little bit and you don't want that. You just have to stay within who you are, trust the scheme, trust the process. Trust the guys around you. That's what you have to do in games like this.
You can't get all sideways thinking revenge or thinking we have to do this, we have to do that. We just have to take it one play at a time and get ready for a 60-minute game.
NFL
There seems to be a fine line here. Using a butt-kicking for motivation is fine, but the Eagles can’t get too hyped up, they can’t try to do too much. Really, this is about the preparation before the game and possibly using too much energy. Because once the game starts, it would be awfully hard for players to be thinking about revenge.
But maybe if the game gets out of hand one way or the other, they’ll start to think about it. I doubt it would happen, but say the Eagles are up big in the fourth quarter. Then maybe they’ll enjoy it a little more.
Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device.