With the Eagles sitting at 2-3 with three losses in a four-game span, something had to change.
Doug Pederson believes the Eagles' 34-13 win over the Giants shows that something very important did.
"I think the guys these last two weeks having let a couple games slip through our hands - and this is what I love about the team: The players don't panic," Pederson said.
"The players are resilient. The players know. Players are smart. You guys are around them. You know, they're smart. They understand what's going on. They see it. They hear it. They read about it. They see it on television. And then as coaches, we point stuff out.
"So at some point, when I talk about ownership, the guys have to take it upon themselves to make the necessary changes, to fix it."
All last season the Eagles lost three games.
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In the span of 22 days over the past month, they lost three.
Here's Pederson's take on the way his team responded:
Our behavior has to change, right? Our standards have to change just a little bit. They have to elevate just a little bit. And I can stand up here and talk to the team until I'm blue in the face, but until they realize it, until they take ownership of it, until they sort of embrace it, it probably won't change. And what I saw last week was -- and really the last couple of weeks - is they're saying and doing the right things. They're showing up to practice every day. They're not complaining about a short week and we're outside running around and getting ready for a Thursday night game. They're not making excuses for injury. And that's what our culture has established. That's what a veteran sort of led team can establish, and they've embraced that, and they've risen to the challenge, and I think they'd had enough, and quite honestly, they rose to the occasion last night and played well in all three phases.
Fascinating stuff from Pederson.
He was genuinely curious how his team would respond to three losses in four weeks, and he gives the veteran leaders on the team - Malcolm Jenkins, Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox - so much leeway to handle the locker room, and they repay his trust with ownership and accountability.
What next? Who knows? The road is a tough one.
The Panthers, 3-1 going into a game Sunday against the Redskins, come to the Linc on Oct. 21 and then it's off to London to face a Jaguars team that's 3-2 with the No. 1 defense in the NFL going into a game Sunday against the Cowboys.
But as bad as the Giants are, Thursday night's win by an Eagles team decimated by injuries showed what sort of character is in this locker room.
They just weren't willing to lose again and fall to 2-4 and 0-3 on the road. They took command early and would up with a 34-13 blowout win over the Giants at MetLife Stadium.
And for one day, it really did feel like 2017 again. Whether they can sustain it is the next lesson Pederson will learn about his team.
