Eagles' Agholor apologizes for postgame comments

Nelson Agholor apologized Wednesday for comments he made after an overtime loss to the Cowboys in which he minimized the impact that Eagles wide-receiver drops had on the outcome.

Agholor's comments caused a stir among some because the Eagles had six drops on Sunday night and have also had the most drops per pass in the NFL. Eagles coach Doug Pederson also said earlier this week that he was "disappointed" with Agholor.

"I apologize for that," Agholor said. "I don't want that to be the case, especially to the teammates I have in this locker room because I don't want them to ever think my missed plays or missed opportunities aided a loss. They all do. That's why you want to limit those."

Agholor dropped a pass early in the game that could have converted a third down. But he hasn't been the most mistake-prone receiver on the Eagles in terms of drops this season. Dorial Green-Beckham has dropped 12.9 percent of his targets, the most among receivers with at least 10 catches. He had two drops Sunday.

Jordan Matthews has dropped 9.1 percent of his targets, the fifth most in the league. He also had two drops against Dallas. Josh Huff had a drop, as well.

"No one's perfect. I don't look at no drops, that type of [stuff]," Agholor said immediately after the game. "I'm tired of hearing it. It's stupid. We play football. I dropped the first one. I ain't dropped one after that. What does it matter?"

Agholor went on to say that drops were just one reason for the loss. The second-year receiver has 21 catches for 216 yards and a touchdown this season. His 30.9 receiving yards per game rank 122d in the NFL. The Eagles don't have a receiver ranked higher than 44th (Matthews).

Matthews (90 percent) and Agholor (82 percent) are Nos. 1 and 2 on the Eagles in snaps for skill-position players on offense.

"As a professional, it's something that aid a loss," Agholor said Wednesday of the drops. "Those plays, obviously, they didn't help us. At the end of the day, we lost and that contributed to that. It was a very emotional game. My mind and my heart was solely on winning that football. And when you do lose, I understand that every little thing is under a microscope. I have to respect that."

Agholor said that he deleted his Twitter account months ago. But he said that ignoring outside criticism from fans and the media has been difficult.

"I've struggled at times," he said. "I've usually been better at that in the past. What I must do is return to focusing on my teammates and this organization. I love our fans, and I know they have a lot of passion. I love everybody in the city and they want to see wins, and that's why demand is high excellence. I respect that."

Pederson and other Eagles coaches have said that Agholor, who was selected in the first round of the 2015 draft, has the ability to be a productive receiver in the NFL. Quarterback Carson Wentz has continued to support his receivers and has often taken blame for some of the drops and errant passes.

"At the end of the day, I need to stay within what my teammates and what everybody in this building feels about me," Agholor said. "And I think they respect my effort. I think they respect my attention to detail. They respect my approach. And they respect my performance.

"When the time is right, it's all going to come to fruition and I'm going to make big plays."