If he struggles again, he’s gone. He knows it. We all know it.
Heck, it’s something of a miracle that Caleb Sturgis is still here at all.
After becoming the first Eagles kicker to miss a PAT and a field goal in the same regular-season game in 17 years.
Sturgis was terrible in the Eagles’ loss to the Redskins, but Chip Kelly opted to give Sturgis another week.
Not because he believes in him. But because there’s nobody else out there who’s any better.
"We’re going to stay with Caleb,” Kelly said Monday. “Looked at what’s available out there. I think the state of kicking in the league right now is not very good."
Not quite a rousing vote of confidence.
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Sturgis knows he's on a very short leash. Heck, if he misses a kick in the first quarter, Mark Simoneau might be out there kicking by the second quarter.
“You can't really worry about that,” Sturgis said Tuesday. “All you can worry about is going out there and doing your job.”
And Sturgis wasn’t able to do his Sunday, in his first game as an Eagle.
Sturgis replaced injured Pro Bowl kicker Cody Parkey last Monday when the Eagles placed Parkey on season-ending injured reserve.
Sturgis then missed a 33-yard field goal and also an extra point from 33 yards in a game the Eagles lost by three points.
“Obviously I was upset I let the team down, that's what I'm most upset about,” Sturgis said. “The other guys worked really hard on Sunday and played a good game … Not doing my job hurt.”
Sturgis spent the last two years with the Dolphins, and his 77 percent field goal accuracy was the lowest among regular kickers during the two-year span from 2013 through 2014.
“Yesterday, I was hurting,” Sturgis said after practice Tuesday. “I can't lie about that. But you wake up today and you’ve got be ready to go. You can't sulk.”
As a pro, Sturgis is now 55 for 72 for 76.4 percent. That’s lowest among 33 active kickers with at least 40 career attempts.
“I need to be better,” he said.
Sturgis was asked about Kelly's sticking with him for a second straight week in light of his failures in Landover, Maryland.
“I appreciate that,” he said. “But I'm just worried about getting better and being better against the Saints this weekend.”