The Eagles Blatant Tanking is Actually Hilarious, You Guys Are Just Crazy

 

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I didn't want to write about what happened Sunday night, but the internet mob has compelled me to throw my hat in the ring. Doug Pederson benching Jalen Hurts for Nate Sudfeld is not only hilarious, but it's honestly not that big of a deal. I mean, it didn't come out of nowhere. Mike Garafolo reported that Sudfeld was likely to see action before the game on Sunday. 

Two more #Eagles notes:

—WR Alshon Jeffery won’t play. He’s healthy but he’s been banged up so they won’t ask him to take further pounding. Younger WRs will play.

—QB Nate Sudfeld could get extended action. If there’s a spot where it makes sense to pull Jalen Hurts, they will.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 3, 2021

If you were shocked by Sudfeld taking over in the second half, that's really on you. It was pretty clear that the Eagles had no intent to win the game. All you had to do was look at the Eagles inactive list. They held around 10 of their usual starters out. Not like those starters were any good either, the team was 4-10-1 heading into week 17. The Eagles managed to keep it close for the entire game, which says a whole lot about Washington, but all anyone is talking about is how the Eagles broke the unwritten rules or something. I watched a bit of First Take this morning, and that show is real bad, but Max Kellerman and Molly Qerim were arguing that Philly compromised the integrity of the game by putting in Nate Sudfeld. That's just laughable. Both Molly and Max are Giants fans, which I'm sure has someone to do with their takes, but to say that the Eagles ruined the integrity of the game is completely wild. It's literally just a game. And are we really going to act like nobody has ever tanked before in football? Jacksonville has started Mike Glennon at quarterback for half of the season, but no one has a problem with that. Everyone mocks the Jets for winning games to ruin their tank, and don't forget, the Jets blew a game against Vegas that was honestly more egregious than what Philly did against The Football Team. I guess people don't remember when Lovie Smith took his starters out at halftime when they were winning so they could get the first pick. Sure, the Eagles only got the 6th pick, but that loss could be the difference between Jamar Chase or someone like Jaylen Waddle. The Eagles playing to lose that game shouldn't have surprised anyone. They clearly had nothing to play for, so who cares that they didn't try?

Nate Sudfeld playing the way he did was glorious. Bomani Jones compared his performance to Nathan Peterman on Highly Questionable yesterday and it's like, kind of right actually. Sudfeld had been pretty good in his previous appearances, but the guy completely fell apart on Sunday. It was a hilarious display of incompetency from Nate. It's actually a shame because the guy was playing for another contract, and his performance might find him out of the league. Maybe Doug was just trying to highlight one of his guys he liked and he imploded? It's definitely possible. 

Let's move on to my favorite part of this whole situation, the New York Giants. Sorry, the 6-10 New York Giants. Anyone crying that the Eagles screwed the Giants out of a playoff spot is delusional. I don't care that they finished a game out of a playoff spot, a 6 win team never deserves to make it. And why should the Eagles care that the Giants needed them to win? The Eagles owe them nothing. They don't care about New York's feelings, and quite frankly, why should they? The Giants playoff push is of no concern to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles' goal is to put their franchise in the best situation for the future. Unfortunately for the Giants, that meant losing the game against Washington was the right thing to do. They had no reason to try to spoil Washington's chances, especially when it actually hurts their draft position. 

Joe Judge had something to say about Pederson's coaching on Sunday. He said, "To disrespect the effort that everyone put forward to make this season a success in the National Football League, to disrespect the game by going out there and not competing for 60 minutes and doing everything they can to help those players win, we will never do that as long as I am head coach of the New York Giants," to reporters on Monday. I think it's easy to understand why Judge is upset with the result, but I don't understand why he feels the need to call Pederson out. His quote makes it sound like he was wronged by Philly and that's stupid. As I said earlier, the Eagles have obligation to Joe Judge or the New York Giants organization to help them out by winning a game. Or to try at all honestly. And instead of blaming Philly for their playoff elimination, why doesn't he blame himself for leading his team to a cool 1-3 record down the stretch? The Giants failure to make the playoffs is much more on Joe Judge than anyone else. 

The NFL flexing this game to Sunday Night Football was hilarious. I know it was the only game with direct playoff implications, but what did they expect? The Eagles had no reason to care about the game and everyone knew they wanted to lose going in. If Washington blows them out, like they should've, nobody cares. The Football Team's inability to play football is what makes this a story. The Eagles managed to show everyone how bad Washington really is while also pissing off the Giants and apparently the entire football world. That's the most Philadelphia thing of all-time. 

 I just find this whole situation to be odd. Everyone is mad at the Eagles for losing a game that was meaningless to them. Sure, the way they lost was honestly pretty embarrassing, but it isn't this big of a story. Bad team loses game badly, who could've seen that coming?