Of all the challenges lurking amid the competitive carnage of the NFL match, kneeling by your own coach is generally not one of them.
Well, unless you are Philadelphia EagleWho on Sunday was asked to fight and fight the Washington soccer team only to have Coach Doug Pederson effective in-match training. Pull start Galen Horts in the fourth quarter of what was then 17-14 games.
Hurts has been replaced by Nate Sudfeld, the long-running third midfield / backup / coaching team in a team that can only be described as a nationally televised farce.
Sudfield promptly threw an interception and then lost in confusion. He completed only five passes for 32 yards as the Eagles never again threatened to score. Washington received a gift-wrapped win 20-14 That won the NFC East Championship and The date for the first leg is Saturday night With Tom Brady and Tampa Bay.
We cannot say with certainty that the Eagles entered Sudfield in an attempt to throw the match in order to improve their draft condition (A loss means that they will choose sixth rather than ninth by winning). However, if they were trying to throw the game in to improve their draft mode … well, the introduction of Sudfeld would be a very effective way to achieve this.
Pederson then claimed “I was training to win,” indicating that he had not received orders from the front office. “That was just my decision. Obviously, Nate has been here for four years and I felt he deserved a chance to get some shots.”
Only Pederson knows if he is telling the truth, but even if he is, the answer is meaningless. deserve? The team’s competitive interests – the chance to win a match that could be won – were not as important as what it felt like the individual player “deserves?”
What is this Bob Warner?
“The plan this week was to convince Nate some time and I thought it was time to get him involved in the game,” Pederson said.
In the fourth quarter of a three-point match with the effects of the supplement, albeit for the opposing team?
Sudfeld was drafted in 2016. This was his fourth regular season appearance. It is not good enough. It would certainly be understandable to reward Sudfield with playtime if the score was out of control, one way or the other. This was not the case.
And even if the Eagles do distribute playtime based on feelings, why not put Hearts back into the game, at least in the last two sets with the possibility of winning? Sudfield got his shots. Why do you stay with him? How was this fair humiliation to him?
Pederson continued, “Listen, if there’s anything he thinks I wasn’t trying to win the match, [Zach] Ertz is there, Brandon Graham is there, Darius Sly is there, all the big players are still on the field at the end.
“We were going to win the match.”
These guys clearly “do not deserve” the best quarterback player available on the field in an effort to honor their efforts with a win. Unless you thought that playing coaching teams is an evolving strategy now.
Meanwhile, Hortus stood on the sidelines in a look that could be described somewhat as disbelief. He wasn’t alone (and that doesn’t even count watching the bitter New York Giants from home that needed a Philly win to get into the playoffs).
“As a competitor, I play to win,” Hortes said. “You know, you have to trust the coach about this.”
You thought that a beginner could use all the experience he could get in close games. You might also think that the franchise would crave the opportunity to see what they could do in a situation like this. The Eagles will be dominated by the quarterback decision – ex-player Carson Wentz, who was out of place on Sunday, Potentially a taste of the trade.
“I learned that Nate worked hard all year,” said Hortes. “I think he’s a great player and the coach wanted to give him a chance at some point in the game. … Being a competitor, I talk about winning all the time, that’s all I get attached to. I trust the coach with that. That’s all I can do.”
How many eagles trust Pederson now is a fair question. Philly has seated many top players, which is unusual in Week 17 in the NFL. However, those who wear the costume and endure the beatings and bruises expect a sincere effort.
Pederson knows that. He played 10 seasons in the league.
He then said he didn’t think it would affect the team’s “culture”, but playing Sudfield said basically all of the players’ efforts in the past week, let alone the game, don’t matter much.
In the end, rival Washington celebrated in Philly Square and then stepped into the locker room. All Eagle players could have done is slack away, perhaps for the last time for players like Ertz, Wentz, Jason Kelce and others whose time with this franchise they were proud of was over.
They might have been better “deserving”, but, hey, the sixth pick in the draft was secured.
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