Makai Lemon didn’t need much time to find the source of his frustration after the Eagles’ 19-11 loss to the Giants on Sunday afternoon.
The rookie wideout had a rough one, and he knew it. Lemon finished with 61 yards on six catches, but he also put two balls on the ground - one in the second quarter and another on the Eagles’ final drive. For a player trying to carve out a bigger role, those misses hit hard.
“It is frustrating when the ball comes my way and I don’t catch it,” Lemon said. “Especially to help put my team in a better situation, field position, especially in that time too. That’s frustrating.”
Lemon said the issue on those plays came down to focus.
“Losing focus,” Lemon said. “I gotta catch them.
Them the ones. That’s bad.”
The numbers show the rookie has been busy. Entering Week 9, he had been targeted 45 times this season and had 3 drops, according to Stathead. Against the Giants, he was targeted nine times and came away with two drops, even while leading the Eagles in receiving.
That production has been part of a strong stretch for Lemon with DeVonta Smith (hamstring) and Dontayvion Wicks (ankle) sidelined for the last three games. Over that span, the first-round pick from USC has posted the three best games of his young career:
Week 7 vs. DAL: 7 catches on 8 targets, 67 yards, 1 TD
Week 8 at WAS: 6 catches on 9 targets, 57 yards
Week 9 vs. NYG: 6 catches on 9 targets, 61 yards
Still, Lemon was locked in on the mistakes, not the growth. The 22-year-old didn’t try to shrug them off.
“I don’t know,” Lemon said when asked what he would do during the bye week. “Catch the rock more. More catches.”
Dallas Goedert wasn’t worried about him. The tight end pointed to the rookie’s response and the way he keeps showing up.
“I got no worries with Makai,” Goedert said. “He had that one (drop) late in the game but he also had an amazing catch maybe the drive before when he went up and got it, came down hard and held on to it. You like guys that are hard on themselves because it shows they care, that they’re passionate about it.
“I’ve got no worries with Makai, the way he comes to work every day. The way he’s improving every day in his rookie year is tremendous.
When you have a guy that cares, he’s obviously going to be hard on himself. You like seeing that, but I have no doubt that he’ll make a play the next time.”
For most players in a locker room coming off a seventh straight loss, the bye week probably offers a chance to breathe. Lemon, though, said the extra week waiting on him “definitely” stings.
“But it happened,” Lemon said. “I can’t change the outcome.
I can just do what I can do to prepare and not make that mistake again. I ain’t trying to harp on it too much but it ain’t no good feeling.”
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