PHILADELPHIA _ The Eagles have had 24 players miss 137 games and counting to injury this season. They've placed 14 of those players on injured reserve, with an additional player on physically unable to perform reserve. Those numbers would be shocking alone, except that there have been an inordinate number of irregularities in recurrence, recovery and diagnosis.
The mounting questions about the new medical staff's handling of injuries didn't reach code-red level, however, until quarterback Carson Wentz became the latest to suffer a setback under dubious circumstances.
Wentz has a fractured vertebra, Tuesday tests revealed. He is out for Sunday's game at the Rams, questionable for the rest of the season, and, considering a recent spate of injuries, more problematic in the long term than he was just a week ago.
Of immediate concern: when did Wentz suffer the "stress injury" _ coach Doug Pederson's semantic softening of the fracture _ without the Eagles knowing? And, how did the medical staff treat and test the back of the franchise's most important player?
Pederson was evasive at a Friday news conference, two days after he announced that Wentz had "back soreness," and a day after the fracture was first reported. When pressed for details, he essentially repeated the same answer: "He has a stress injury, evolved over time, and he requires no surgery."
On Wednesday, the coach said it was an injury Wentz had "dealt with" for some time, presumably in mid-October, when his name first appeared on the practice report. Pederson declined to make any correlation, although it would be reasonable to connect the dots. Wentz also suffered a stress fracture in college, which the Eagles knew about before the 2016 draft, a source told the Inquirer.
Pederson was placed in a difficult position Friday. He has no medical training. The team's collection of doctors and trainers don't report to him; they report to senior executive Howie Roseman. And it's a fluid situation, both in how the injury affects Wentz and in how it affects the game plan.
Wentz wants to play. He is as type-A as they come. In fact, type-A-plus might be a better way to describe the 25-year-old. Most players play through injury, and that is why there may be a disconnect between team and player.
"There's a fine line with guys that can return to play that have an injury," Pederson said, "and there's a fine line of how far you want to push an athlete to test him to see where he's at physically, through his protocol."
The team has become increasingly tight-lipped on injuries, dating to Chip Kelly's arrival as head coach in 2013. Kelly seemed more interested in the sport of withholding information than anything having to do with protecting a player's rights. At times, his downplaying of injuries didn't reflect well on the players.
Pederson has taken a similar approach, perhaps for competitive advantages. But his awkwardness in setting timetables _ he has described players as "day to day" before they've gone on to miss weeks or never play again _ has only added to the overall ambiguity of how the Eagles have treated their injured:
_ Running back Darren Sproles re-aggravated a hamstring strain twice and missed 10 games.
_ Cornerback Sidney Jones had the same soft-tissue injury and re-aggravated it twice, missing four games and being ruled out for Sunday's game.
_ Running back Jay Ajayi tore the ACL in his left knee during the Vikings game, but he was was outfitted with a brace in the second half and kept playing, presumably after the Eagles had examined his knee. A day later, he was added to the injured-reserve list.
_ Cornerback Jalen Mills, who suffered a foot injury against the Jaguars in Week 8, was said to be improving and nearing a return. But, after the Redskins game in Week 13, he suddenly was wearing a boot, and he was placed on IR six days later.
_ Defensive tackle Tim Jernigan missed the first 10 games with a back injury, but after playing in one game, he experienced back spasms and has been sidelined since.
_ Defensive end Derek Barnett missed a game with a "shoulder" injury but returned to play in two games. The injury turned out to be a torn rotator cuff that required season-ending surgery.
_ Receiver Mack Hollins had surgery for a sports hernia in the offseason and was practicing by the start of spring workouts. But he apparently reinjured his groin during training camp, and even though he said days before the season opener that he would play, was sent to IR two days later and has never returned.
_ Safety and special-teamer Chris Maragos tore ligaments in his knee in October 2017, but he is no closer to returning, even though recovery from such an injury takes about a year.
"These athletes ... they want to get back out on the field," Pederson said. "Sproles wants to get back out. Jalen wants to get back out. Tim wants to get back out. ... So, we're going to put them through our own sort of internal test, right?
"And so there's a fine line to how much we can push. And then, sometimes, within that pushing from whether it's doctors, it could be the trainer, the player himself, there could be setbacks, because we're trying to see where the athlete is, and that happens."
The Eagles had their share of injuries last season, many to key players. But most of the injuries were cut-and-dried and of the season-ending kind. And yet, the numbers pale in comparison to this year, even with three games to go.
The Eagles had 23 players miss a total of 111 games last season, not including Jones, who missed 15 games after he ruptured his Achilles tendon during his college Pro Day before the 2017 draft. And they had only six players placed on IR.
Football Outsiders, which tracks the number of adjusted games lost to injury, ranked the Eagles 1, 5, 6, and 4 from 2013 to '16. But, last year, the Eagles dropped to 13th, and they are 24th this season.
