Did anyone catch the impassioned speech Eagles head coach Doug Pederson gave to his team in the fourth quarter of their regular-season finale against Washington on Sunday Night Football?
Yeah, neither did I.
In perhaps the greatest demonstration of tanking that fans have seen in a while in the NFL, coach Pederson handed Washington a playoff spot on a silver platter while giving the NY Giants, and every other non-playoff team who played hard in their last game, the middle finger in the process.
With a win in striking distance in their Sunday Night Football finale, Pederson pulled starting quarterback Jalen Hurts and replaced him with their third-stringer, Nate Sudfeld. The coach’s rationale?
“I was coaching to win,” Pederson said. “That was my decision solely.”
Come on now Doug. Don’t do it to yourself.
Sudfeld, drafted by Washington in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft, remained inactive for his entire first year before being waived in September of 2017. He then signed with the Eagles practice squad a few days later and has remained with the team, mostly on the active roster, since that time. With that resume, he’s obviously not a primetime player, especially not one who was capable of beating out a benched starter or a rookie, so you already knew what he was capable of.
To be fair, Pederson did say he was going to play other guys in this game. As CBSSports.com reported “Even though he [Pederson] had dropped hints throughout the week of his plans, like telling Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels during their production meeting that he wanted to see what Nate Sudfeld had”. So Sudfeld’s appearance should not have been a complete shock. But when you consider when he came on the field (the Eagles were down by three, 14-17, in the fourth quarter), what he did during that time (5-12 for 32 yards passing, 1 INT, 12 rushing yards, sacked twice and lost a fumble) and then remembering that Pederson said he was “coaching to win”, there is no questioning the cries of tanking that flooded the NFL atmosphere.
“Nate has been here four years and I felt he deserved an opportunity to get some snaps.” said coach Peterson after the game, raising more eyebrows, especially from NY Giants players who were already lighting Twitter up with reactions to Pederson’s decision to pull Hurts from the game.
“Nate’s a guy that’s very capable of running our system and executing, and [had] an opportunity to pull that game out last night.” continued Pederson in that post-game presser.
Stop.
There was no way Sudfeld was pulling that game out for the Eagles. His play made him more valuable to the team that initially drafted him than it did for his current team. And when you read below what Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote after the game, the middle finger waving by Pederson becomes more realistic.
“When Doug Pederson pulled Jalen Hurts for Nate Sudfeld early in the fourth quarter in Sunday’s season finale against Washington, many Eagles players and coaches were shocked and outraged, team sources told The Inquirer.
“Some were angry. Two defensive players had to be held back from approaching Pederson. Center Jason Kelce and another offensive starter went to the coach to ask him why he had pulled the starting quarterback with the Eagles trailing by only three.”
If your defense was that ticked off at your move, you know that you were throwing the team under the bus.
Now, did Sudfeld deserve to play at some point in the game? Absolutely. It’s the last game so give him some light. But to stress the importance of the game and the desire to win it both before (check the 10:10 mark in this video) and after the game, and then put Sudfeld in the game only to watch him literally throw it away (either to defenders on the other team, straight to the ground or out of bounds), it’s almost impossible NOT to assume that the Eagles’ coach wasn’t thinking about the team’s draft position or clowning the Giants.
Even Al Michaels questioned this decision during the game, stating at the 8:58 mark in this video “Sudfeld, into the game? In this circumstance? Come on.”
The Washington Post jumped into the debate in their own way as well.
After all was said and done, did Pederson corrupt the overall integrity of the game and stain the NFL? No.
But did he play himself, make himself the target of many a side eye, and clown his team in the process? Absolutely.
On a day where Deshaun Watson balled out to put his team in position to beat the Titans when Houston had nothing to gain, and the already playoff-bound Steelers, who rested their primary players, were a two-point conversion away from tying the Browns and possibly ending their playoff hopes, Pederson violated the unwritten “no-tanking” rules and incurred the wrath of the media, some of his players, the NY Giants and their fans.
Sounds like a big fat middle finger to everyone up I-95.
