The Eagles coach may be back next season, and sold his soul with Sunday’s tank as compensation, but his decision to pull Jalen Hurts for Nate Sudfeld in a three-point game was disgraceful.
By Peter Gleason
Above was the Inky’s beat reporter Jeff McLane’s opinion of Eagles coach Doug Pederson’s decision to bench starting QB Hurts when the Eagles still had a chance to win and beat the WFT last night.
We agree.
It was disgraceful.
And it was also another example of Pederson’s incompetence as an NFL coach.
Sudfeld was only on the game-day roster in the season opener and yesterday. He had thrown just 25 career passes coming in, and he does not fit into the Eagles’ longterm plans as a possible starting quarterback.
Sudfeld went 5 of 12 for 32 yards. He threw an interception, lost a fumble on a bad snap and was sacked twice.
Yet there he was, trying to lead the Eagles back from a three-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Not since the days of Nick Skorich and Joe Kuharich has there been so woeful and incomprehensible an Eagles coach.
And that was in the 1960s, when coaches were a dime a dozen.
“Yes, I was coaching to win,” Pederson said, adding that no one from management directed him to pull Hurts. “That was my decision solely. Nate has obviously been here for four years, and I felt he deserved an opportunity to get some snaps.”
Here’s the problem:
Pederson got lucky with the 2017 Eagles, which won the Super Bowl and apparently won Pederson a lifetime pass-through on the turnpike that is the NFL.
Owner Jeff Lurie is reportedly ready to bring Pederson back in 2021.
That is a disgrace, and speaks to Lurie’s total lack of judgment.
The Sixers removed Brett Brown when it was clear that he couldn’t do the job.
Yesterday’s performance was just the latest example of Pederson’s incompetence.
Pederson was an NFL scrub as a quarterback and he became an “offensive coordinator” only because Andy Reid was really calling plays in Kansas City.
And Pederson has proven that he is a third-rate NFL coach.
If Lurie brings him back after their meeting tomorrow, it will send a message to Eagles fans everywhere:
Only my opinion counts, keep buying tickets, suckers!
