PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- Eagles head coach Doug Pederson’s decision to sit quarterback Jalen Hurts in the fourth quarter of Sunday night's season finale for third stringer Nate Sudfeld — who had been inactive for 14 games this season — is gaining national headlines and widespread reaction.
The Eagles' 20-14 loss to Washington allowed the visitors to clinch the NFC East crown. An Eagles win would have given New York the division title and a trip to the playoffs. Despite a host of regular starters being inactive, the Eagles played valiantly throughout the night. Yet, with nearly the entire fourth quarter left, and Washington leading by three, Pederson elected to pull quarterback Jalen Hurts in favor of Sudfeld -- who then threw an interception and gave up a fumble.
Coach Doug Pederson insists winning was his only goal.
"I was coaching to win," said Pederson. "Nate has obviously been here four years. I felt he deserved an opportunity to get some snaps. If there's anyone out that thinks that I was not trying to win the game, (Zach) Ertz is out there. Brandon Graham is out there. Darius Slay is out there. All of our top guys were still on the field at the end."
Hurts was not at his best on Sunday night, and there are no guarantees in the NFL, but Eagles radio broadcaster Merrill Reese felt the Eagles had a good chance to come back and upset Washington in the fourth if they left Hurts in.
“I was very, very disappointed,” Reese told KYW Newsradio on Monday. “Jalen Hurts statistically did not have a great game, but he did a lot of things well. He kept them alive and, at that point, I honestly felt the Eagles had a chance to win the game."
The rookie said he was told Sudfeld would get playing time, but it was still a surprise to some when Sudfeld took the field. Hurts said he was prepared for the move and trusted the plan in place from his coach.
"Nate has worked really hard all year, and I think he’s a great player," said Hurts. "He wanted to give him an opportunity at some point in the game, and he was given an opportunity. Obviously, like I said, me being a competitor, I talk about winning all the time and going out there and trying to win all the time. That’s what I’m all about, but like I said, I trust him with that. That’s all I can do."
Pederson says it was his decision alone — not one influenced by CEO Jeffrey Lurie and General Manager Howie Roseman. Pederson says it was his plan was to give Sudfeld — who has been a backup on the Eagles since 2017 — some playing time.
The Giants are wondering why the decision may have cost them a division title. As they watched from their homes, several New York players, including former quarterback Eli Manning, took to social media to express their anger with the switch.
But, it’s safe to say — no one who roots for the Eagles is losing sleep over the fact Pederson’s decision ultimately didn’t help the Giants situation.
Some speculated before the game the Eagles would be better off losing what would be a meaningless game for them so they could get a better draft pick.
"At all times in the NFL, the focus should be winning the football game," Eagles center Jason Kelce told reporters last month. One wonders what Kelce is thinking after Sunday's loss.
Regardless of who made the decision, or why, it did not sit well with many.
“I’ve never been more ashamed to be associated with the Philadelphia Eagles than I am tonight and what I just saw,” former Eagles linebacker Seth Joyner said on NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Eagles Postgame Live.
On the same program, WIP host and Hall of Fame football writer Ray Didinger responded to Pederson's exlanation.
“What is this? ‘Rudy?’” he said. “Is this for his varsity letter or something, that he needed to play a regular season game? Come on!”
Monday morning when speaking with KYW Newsradio, Didinger further explained that while he didn’t agree with Pederson's logic, he thinks the coach, himself a former third-string quarterback, was throwing a bone to Sudfeld.
"And when he says 'We were playing to win,' what he meant was 'We were playing to win, and I was giving Nate a chance to win that game.' So he wasn’t tanking it," Didinger said.
When WIP’s Angelo Cataldi directly asked Pederson Monday morning if the decision was out of sensitivity to Sudfeld, the coach didn’t indicate that was the reason.
NBC Sunday Night telecast flexed the game into primetime because of the playoff ramifications. Broadcaster Al Michaels said that Pederson had said before the game that he was going to try to play Sudfeld. However, neither Michaels nor his broadcast partner Cris Collinsworth, a three-time Pro Bowl receiver, agreed with how he did it.
“You got men out there that are fighting their guts out trying to win the game, and I’m not saying, not blaming anybody,” Collinsworth said near the end of the game. “I personally could not have done what they did.”
What the Eagles can now do is go through the wreckage of the 2020 season. The controversy which ended their season finale may be a perfect segue to what should be an eventful off-season. A host of decisions will have to me made about what to do with several veterans as well as Carson Wentz. That process for Pederson begins immediately.
"We'll finish up with the players and get them in and do the exit physicals and things of that nature," Pederson said. "Then sit down and we've got to, as a staff, we have to evaluate everything from our players to just about everything that we've done this season and get a plan for 2021 moving forward."