Super Bowl win provides no cover for Doug Pederson after benching best chance to win

It’s been four days and I’m sure all of Philadelphia is still trying to make sense of Doug Pederson’s decision to bench Jalen Hurts for Nate Sudfeld early in the fourth quarter of a three-point game.

The hard part for me, and I’m sure for a lot of the Eagles, is coaches ask players all the time to give everything they have, to prepare and go out and try to win, and no matter what Pederson said after the game that is not what he was trying to do.

And, now, all they’re going to get in Philly for the next few months are questions about that game when they had an opportunity to turn what they were building with Hurts into something pretty good for their team.

Now, they’re going to get questions from guys about whether Pederson is the right guy. He won a Super Bowl three years ago, and we’re hearing reports that players had to be kept away from the coach during the game because they were so upset that they were basically tanking the game.

Wins matter, and it’s hard to comprehend from a player’s standpoint that they would do something like that.

I think what Pederson did there by putting Sudfeld in the game did a lot of damage to the Eagles organization, and to the way free agents will view either staying in Philadelphia or joining that football team.

They could have a hard time keeping their veteran guys, I think. They’re going to look elsewhere. There was a photo of Jason Kelce, Zach Ertz and Carson Wentz on the sideline talking a couple of hours after the game and you don’t have those kinds of hangout meetings on the field unless you’re all planning to go your separate ways.

It’s unfortunate because Pederson has done a lot of good things in the league. But the other night, that was not it.

Pederson’s move could hurt organization

All you have to do is look to the New England Patriots to see that is not right. They were out of it. They had a chance to rest some guys and not play Cam Newton, not win that last game and get a better draft position. They didn’t do it. You have to build the culture of winning.

Watching the Eagles’ game unfold, it’s 17-14 and maybe there’s a chance this six-win Giants’ team sneaks into the playoffs because they got some help from a divisional opponent. That whole story line is playing out – if Washington beats the Eagles it’s in the playoffs, if the Eagles beat Washington the Giants are in.

Philadelphia can get something out of it, too. They benched Wentz a few weeks back to give Hurts a chance to play, and If I’m the Eagles I really want to see if he can find a way to win it. He hadn’t had a great game, but he rushed for two touchdowns and that dynamic alone against a very good defense is reason for hope.

But then Sudfeld jogs out there in his first game since 2018 and everyone goes, “What’s happening?”

He throws an interception, then he fumbles away a low snap, and then the third drive is worse. You start thinking, “This isn’t right.” It flies in the face of everything that you’ve been taught.

Players around the league were tweeting about it because every coach they’ve ever had always drives home the message that, like Herm Edwards says, “You play to win the game.”

To make a move like Pederson did, all that credibility he gained by winning that Super Bowl has gone out the window from a player’s standpoint.

Eagles passed on a chance to keep moving forward

It’s a trust thing. Trust takes years to gain and five minutes to lose. The Eagles moved up in the draft by losing – they’ll pick sixth now, instead of ninth. But to Pederson that trust, that’s an important thing.

I understand that a lot of guys sat out, and if they wanted to play Nate and it’s a two- or three-score game in the fourth quarter go for it.

But when it’s a three-point game and there’s a lot riding on it, not just for Washington and the Giants, but for your own team and your own momentum, it’s a bad look. I guarantee, there are several if not a majority of Eagles’ players that were asked to go out there and expected to win and just did not agree with that decision.

They have a chance to get some momentum going. They have a young quarterback that has stepped in to play, and if Hurts can find a way to win that game and keep Washington from winning the division, they move forward. Teams that aren’t in the playoffs, the only thing they have going is to at least try to find some type of positive vibe going into the offseason.

Pederson had the opportunity to do that, and he gave it away.

This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 1:16 PM.