Notes: Maxwell’s PIs; Johnson Readying For LT

Byron Maxwell wondered aloud if his past behavior influenced the officials on Sunday night.

“They look at tape, too. Maybe he saw something on tape like I was holding, because I mean, sometimes I do,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe he got it in his mind, ‘That’s what this guy does.’ I don’t know what the case was.”

Maxwell has been by far the Eagles’ most penalized defensive player. According to stats kept by the league, he has been flagged 10 times — nine of which have been accepted. (The next closest in penalties on that side of the ball is Nolan Carroll with four.) Of those, four have been pass interference and three have been defensive holding.

Two of his PI’s came while defending Dez Bryant on the Cowboys’ final drive of regulation, which resulted in a field goal to force overtime. Both were questionable calls.

“Dez was grabbing me, actually,” said Maxwell. “I don’t know what he saw. But the game moves fast. That’s a split-second type judgment. I take that into [account]. I know that. He makes mistakes, too. I don’t think it’s pass interference, obviously.

“We won the game though. That’s the thing I come back to. I get those two penalties, I’m feeling a lot worse but we won the game, that’s all that matters.”

Here’s how the second one looked on the coach’s tape.

“Pass interference is frustrating,” said Billy Davis. “His technique was good, it really was. He was sound. The second one, it really looked to me that he was actively playing the ball. To me, usually an official says, ‘OK, there’s two men, the ball’s in the air, it can be either man’s ball. If they both go for the ball, no harm, no foul.’ If we try to restrict them from catching it and not go for the ball, they usually call us on pass interference. My interpretation, it just looked like he was going up for the ball and then any contact from there, but it’s irrelevant what my interpretation is, or Maxwell’s or anybody’s. The official calls it, sees it, so we’ve gotta play.”

Do you ever ask the league for clarification?

“No. I gave up on that a while ago,” said Davis. “Instead of losing my mind anymore, we just gotta go to the next play, and more importantly we’ve gotta teach the guy, you’re doing it right or doing it wrong.”

In this case, it appeared Maxwell was doing it right.

Which side will Johnson play?

In case you’re wondering, Lane Johnson is the Eagles’ most penalized offensive player with 11 (nine have been accepted). He has committed seven false starts, including two Sunday night against Dallas.

Last week’s infractions are somewhat understandable considering he was not only playing left tackle for the first time in the pros, but doing so on the road against a formidable pass rusher.

“I was getting beat off the snap count, that really hurt me a lot,” said Johnson.

“That was probably the hardest thing last week — [Greg] Hardy was beating me off the snap count so I was kind of deep in the pool most times. I was able to make up with it just because I’m fast, but other than that it was a tough position. So it will be nice [to be home] and just get off on the cadence.”

At times, Johnson talked as if he was expecting to play left tackle again this week, though that may be more about mental preparation than a hint regarding Jason Peters‘ health. Peters (back) did not practice again on Tuesday, but apparently is on the mend.

“I’d expect him to play this week. I know he’s gotten a lot better, he’s healing up but we’ll see as the week continues,” said Johnson.

“I have no clue [where I’m playing]. Maybe left, maybe right. I really don’t know.”

Whether it was just for one week or longer, the Eagles got their first look at Johnson on the left side. The plan is to move him there eventually when Peters’ playing days are over. Some hiccups aside, he appeared to acquit himself well given the circumstances.

“We didn’t really move him until Wednesday [of last week]. He started to get some snaps over there depending on if [Peters] was going to go or not,” said Chip Kelly.

“So to make that transition — and it’s a difficult transition to do in just a couple of days, the footwork’s entirely different. It is a lot of different things. Obviously assignment-wise, he knows what he’s doing. He knows when a play’s called what that tackle’s supposed to do, but from a footwork standpoint, it was very different for him. I thought, considering the situation, he did a really nice job.”