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The Eagles have a lot of work to do to repair the external damage caused by Sunday night’s apparent decision to deliberately lose to Washington. Apparently, they also have a lot of work to do to repair internal damage.
Jeff McLane’s Philadelphia Inquirer reports that “many Eagles players and coaches were shocked and outraged” by the decision to remove quarterback Jalen Hurts to Nate Sudfeld in the second half of the Week 17 game.
According to the report, two defensive players “had to be stopped” from facing coach Doug Pederson. McLane also reports that center-back Jason Kelce (pictured) and another offensive holder approached Pederson for an explanation of the change.
Pederson explained after the defeat that he was trying to win the game. On Monday, Pederson gave a rambling response when asked again about the perception that the Eagles were not trying to secure a victory that would have taken Washington out of the playoffs and delivered the NFC East title to the Giants.
The incident puts a black cloud over the team at the end of a lost season. Cleaning it up will require many frank and frank conversations. Ultimately, Pederson may have to admit to his players (at the very least, to his team leaders) that the goal was to improve the team’s draft position or possibly take the breath away from the potential momentum to make Hurts the starter. in 2021, allowing the team to make a more informed and deliberate decision as to the position of defender in the next season, given his belief that Carson Wentz’s bad season may have been an aberration.
The Eagles have benefited significantly from the pandemic protocols that keep reporters out of the locker room in real, cruel moments after a game. Still, that problem didn’t go away quickly – and the Eagles offered nothing in the aftermath of the game to reduce discontent over the seemingly deliberate decision not to try to beat Washington in the final game of the regular 2020 season.