With a loaded injury report for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, the Philadelphia Eagles anticipated missing multiple key players on the offensive side of the ball.
However, they planned all week to have Lane Johnson in the mix at right tackle. Unfortunately, just hours before the game kicked off, Johnson was ruled out.
The star tackle isn’t dealing with an injury, but personal reasons kept him off the field for Week 4 against the Rams.
After the game, Eagles star Jordan Mailata spoke on the absence of his fellow tackle.
Eagles Star Addresses Lane Johnson’s Surprising Absence vs Rams
“Real tough,” Mailata told reporters, regarding the loss of Johnson.
“This is why we train the way we do and practice those rotations during the week, so that next man up isn’t a new thing for us and that we’re able to get things going.”
Mailata noted that the players didn’t know about Johnson’s absence until the morning of the matchup. The veteran made it clear that he can’t speak on any reason behind Johnson’s absence. He could only address the play of the offensive unit that took the field.
“I think I can only attest to the guys who were on the field. I don’t like to play in the should have, what ifs. Could have done this, should have done this. We just simply couldn’t finish the drives,” Mailata said.
“We hurt ourselves early with these penalties, setting us back behind the sticks. Now we’re got to pin our ears back and pass it because we’re in third and longs, so we weren’t winning the first and second down. We just weren’t finishing, and we’ve got to do a better job at finishing those drives.”
Eagles Come Up Short vs Rams
The Eagles continued to struggle on offense on Sunday.
While they did better producing points, putting up 20 after having just seven points last week against the Chicago Bears, the offense was clearly the weaker unit against the Rams.
The Rams ended up coming out on top with a 24-20 victory.
The Eagles now move to 2-2 before heading to London for Week 5. Lane Johnson’s status for that game is currently unknown.