PHILADELPHIA − One reason why the Eagles are the only undefeated team left in the NFL is health.
Until last Sunday, the Eagles haven’t had a player on the 53-man roster miss a game due to injury. That changed against the Jacksonville Jaguars when cornerback Avonte Maddox and running back Boston Scott didn’t play with ankle and rib injuries, respectively.
That will continue this Sunday when the Eagles face the Arizona Cardinals as four players were ruled out, three of them key players in left tackle Jordan Mailata (shoulder), kicker Jake Elliott (right ankle) and cornerback Avonte Maddox (ankle). In addition, linebacker Patrick Johnson was ruled out with a concussion.
In addition, running back Boston Scott (ribs) and linebacker Kyron Johnson (concussion) were listed as questionable.
That leaves the Eagles turning to Cameron Dicker, signed to the practice squad early in the week, to handle the kicking duties. Dicker spent the summer with the Rams and then the Ravens. Neither signed him to their 53-man roster, so the former University of Texas standout hasn’t kicked in an NFL game.
“We were comfortable with (him),” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “If he’s got to play, we’re confident in him.”
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The same is true for the other reserves. When Mailata left the 29-21 win over the Jaguars early in the first quarter, he was replaced by Jack Driscoll, the Eagles’ fourth-round pick in 2020.
Mailata hurt his shoulder when he landed awkwardly while diving at Jacksonville’s Andre Cisco after Cisco had intercepted Jalen Hurts’ pass and returned it for a touchdown in the first quarter. Mailata said he’s hoping he can play Sunday.
“I tried an Olympic dive, a dolphin dive for an ankle tackle,” he said. “It didn’t look good. I was looking at (the replay) and was like, ‘Could you at least make it look athletic?’ I’m disappointed in my unathletic ability to dive and ankle tackle, so if anything, that’s what I’m more upset about.”
Driscoll finished out the game and played well enough to enable the Eagles to rush for 210 yards in the 29-21 win.
Driscoll said the last time he played left tackle in a game was his redshirt freshman year at UMass in 2016. And he played only two games there before going back to right tackle. When Driscoll transferred to Auburn, he was strictly a right tackle.
Yet with the Eagles, Driscoll has cross-trained at right and left tackle and both guard positions.
“That’s the nice thing about being on the scout team, you get to play all the positions,” Driscoll said. “We have a good rotation, so getting reps at right tackle, left tackle, guard, it makes going in there easier knowing that you got some reps.”
It was the same way for nickel corner Josiah Scott, who replaced Maddox and will likely do so again against the Cardinals. Scott, a fourth-round pick of the Jaguars in 2020, has played both nickel and safety since the Eagles traded for him in May 2021.
Scott played sparingly last season, and only nine snaps on defense in the first three games until he started in place of Maddox against his former team last Sunday. It was the first start of Scott’s NFL career.
“It was fun being out there,” Scott said. “It had been a while. … For most of us guys who are backups, we prepare during the week like we’re going to play. So that wasn’t a big transition for me. The preparation stays the same.”
At cornerback, Zech McPhearson, the Eagles’ fourth-round pick in 2021, filled in for Darius Slay when Slay left the game Sunday with a forearm injury after just three plays. Slay is expected to return against the Cardinals, but McPhearson said he’ll be ready anyway.
“I’ve had multiple opportunities to get my feet wet,” McPhearson said. “I feel comfortable out there because I’ve done it multiple times. You just know that it can happen at any moment so I take that role very seriously.”
Then there’s Elliott, who set a franchise record by making 90.9% of his field goals last season.
Elliott injured his ankle when he was run into on a field-goal attempt last Sunday. Dicker will get “elevated” to the game-day roster. The Eagles have until Saturday at 4 p.m. to make that official.
“Unfortunately, it’s a long year in the sense of guys get injured,” Sirianni said. “You’re going to have to have depth. So we’re doing our best to coach everybody hard and get them ready to go. … So if they’re not a starter, they know their role and they’re contributing on special teams and they know they’re one play away from going in.”
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
