Dallas Goedert was in the Eagles locker room without a sling for his injured shoulder and expressed plenty of hope that he’ll be ready to return in Week 15 against the Bears.
That’s the earliest possible return date for Goedert, who was placed on Injured Reserve after the injury against the Commanders in Week 10.
“I want to put some positive vibes out there but I feel really good,” Goedert said. “Hopefully everything turns out the way it’s supposed to.”
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After being placed on IR, players must miss at least four games before being eligible to return. Goedert has two more — vs. Titans, at Giants — to go before he’s eligible.
The Eagles are 2-0 with wins over the Colts and Packers without Goedert, but there’s no question they’ve been missing of their best players on that side of the ball. Goedert this season has 43 catches for 544 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Goedert, 27, said the actual injury to his left shoulder was a little fracture to the glenoid bone. According to OrthoInfo.org, the glenoid is the shallow socket in the shoulder blade where the humerus rests.
Basically, Goedert will be cleared whenever that bone has healed, which is possibly Week 15 in Chicago.
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Sitting out on Sunday night against Green Bay was especially difficult for Goedert, a South Dakota native.
“It’s really tough,” he said. “Walking to the game Sunday night, the weather, the field was perfect, I grew up loving the Packers. So to see them out there, I could have started crying. But glad we go the win and it was fun cheering on the guys.”
Goedert was injured against Washington on Monday Night Football on Nov. 14 on a play where referees missed an obvious facemask call. Commanders linebacker Jamin Davis grabbed Goedert’s facemask and violently dragged him to the ground with it.
While the call was missed on the field, Davis was later fined $10,609 by the NFL.
“Yeah, whether they called a penalty or not, it doesn’t fix the injury,” Goedert said. “It’s a bummer to get injured but it’s part of the game.”
The bigger bummer for Goedert about the missed call is that it left a blemish on his stat line. Goedert fumbled on the play and it’s his only fumble of the season.
“Obviously, would have liked to have it so I wouldn’t have that fumble on my statistics,” he said. “But it’s one of those things the game moves so fast that it’s hard to be a ref. Ultimately, it would have been nice to not have a fumble this year.”
Without Goedert the last two weeks, the Eagles have adjusted. Jack Stoll has become their top tight end and backups Grant Calcaterra and Tyree Jackson are also getting playing time. But they’re obviously not getting the targets that once went to Goedert.
In his nine games this season, Goedert averaged 5.9 targets per game. In the two games without him, the other three tight ends combined have been targeted twice.
“They’ve been killing it. Jack (Stoll) has been doing an excellent job in the run game,” Goedert said. “They haven’t gotten opportunities in the pass game much but anytime they do, it seems like they do, they make a play. And anything you can rush for darn near 400 yards, somebody’s doing a good job.”