Jalen Hurts apparently was ticked off Sunday night, and, if so, it’s difficult to blame him.
The Eagles quarterback was replaced by Nate Sudfeld with Philadelphia trailing the Washington Football Team by three points early in the fourth quarter at FedEx Field. Doug Pederson’s decision to bench the 2020 second-round pick since has been widely decried — particularly by New York Giants players — as evidence of the Eagles tanking for a higher draft pick. Philadelphia wound up losing by six points, with Sudfeld’s awful performance a major factor.
And then there’s Hurts. A video of the rookie quarterback seemingly reacting to the benching popped up shortly after the game’s conclusion.
Take a look:
Obviously, Hurts could’ve been saying “it’s not right” about anything. Furthermore, there’s no guarantee that actually is what he was saying when the cameras captured him.
However, the timing and the video evidence indicate he indeed was reacting to one of the more baffling coaching decisions in recent NFL history.
With the loss, the Eagles secured the sixth overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. Washington, meanwhile, earned a first-round playoff matchup with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
On paper, that postseason game is an obvious mismatch, as the talent-rich Buccaneers should make relatively easy work of Washington. But don’t expect rookie sensation Chase Young to enter the game fearful of the 43-year-old Brady.
