The record will show that the Washington Football Team won the 2020 NFC East championship. Need proof? Check the upcoming itinerary of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who will travel north for a Saturday night playoff game at FedEx Field.
But before we welcome Tom Brady and wonder about the factors that will determine Washington’s first postseason game in five years, we must ask: What in the name of Jim Zorn was Doug Pederson doing Sunday night?
Blink your eyes a couple of times, and it becomes painfully clear. The Philadelphia Eagles’ coach was engaging in blatant competitive malpractice in cementing his team’s dreary 20-14 loss to Washington. The Eagles were out of the playoffs, so Pederson did not afford them the best chance to win.
Never mind that the fate of two other franchises would be directly affected by Pederson’s decision-making. Washington is in because of it. The New York Giants are out because of it. Does that matter? Nah, down a field goal in the fourth quarter, let’s get a look at this Sudfeld fella.
Advertisement
“I was coaching to win,” Pederson told reporters via Zoom late Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Yeah, and I’m Ernest Hemingway.
Pause a second and congratulate Washington, which has overcome so much — its head coach’s cancer, its starting quarterback’s nearly amputated leg, its 1-5 start, its eternal drip-drip-drip of off-field rancor, not to mention the Week 17 cutting of a quarterback only 20 months after he was drafted in the first round. Yeah, this team won the division with a losing record and without a name. But the sense is Ron Rivera — who shrugged off his cancer and coached every game — has established a steady, methodical approach. The results have followed: Rivera’s team finished on a 5-2 kick.
“It’s the culture, honestly,” second-year defensive end Montez Sweat said. “It’s a winning culture. It’s a hungry culture. And everybody holds everybody accountable. That’s got us heading in the right direction.”
Advertisement
With an assist from Pederson.
Look, it’s possible Washington would have won Sunday night even if the Eagles’ coach hadn’t decided to use the final quarter of the regular season as a scouting session. Jalen Hurts is Philadelphia’s rookie quarterback, and he hadn’t instantly transformed into Johnny Unitas. His numbers: 7 for 20 for 72 yards with an interception. As a stat line, that could get you benched.
But Hurts is a dynamic dual threat who has started just four NFL games after Pederson benched incumbent Carson Wentz for him. Philadelphia’s two touchdowns Sunday night came on Hurts runs. Nate Sudfeld is … something other than that. He entered the league on Washington’s practice squad. He has been in Philadelphia for four years and thrown a total of 25 passes. He was on the roster when Hurts was drafted in the second round. For five years, NFL coaching staffs have assessed his abilities and elected not to insert him in a meaningful situation. On Sunday night, when a Washington win would propel it to the playoffs and a Philadelphia win would send the Giants instead, Pederson decided he needed a look-see.
Advertisement
“Pretty simple,” Pederson said. “The plan this week was to get Nate some time. I felt like it was time to get him in the game.”
Hey, Doug: Try a different plan. The second quarter instead of the fourth? Better yet: August, in the first preseason game.
The problem isn’t whether the Eagles benefited from evaluating Sudfeld instead of Hurts over the final quarter of their disappointing season. The problem is there’s an integrity issue.
“Can someone make it make sense to me what’s going on....?” tweeted Saquon Barkley, the injured Giants running back.
“Not integrity,” Giants wide receiver Golden Tate replied.
That’s just a sample.
This might seem like tanking in baseball or basketball but in miniature. The difference is that when teams in those sports assemble young rosters to position themselves in the draft and gain financial flexibility — all through losing — the entire league has a shot at beating them over the course of the season. Pederson has long been at the forefront of employing analytics, and maybe this is the next step. Maybe taking stock of his entire roster this season is best for Philadelphia next season. (If that’s the case, Sudfeld should be cut before training camp.)
Advertisement
But even if that’s a smart approach for the Eagles — which is debatable, because wouldn’t you want to see what Hurts can do with a game in the balance? — it was lousy for the NFL. By Sunday night, there was supposed to be some measure of celebration about the league completing all 256 of its games on time, even if not on perfect schedule, what with the coronavirus pandemic raging into the new year. Instead, the 256th game was an eyesore aesthetically and left the impression that the result was compromised.
The reaction to Sudfeld’s arrival in the fourth quarter of a game Washington led just 17-14?
“No comment,” Sweat said.
“Time to eat on 7,” said Chase Young, Sweat’s counterpart, referencing Sudfeld’s jersey number.
Pressed further, Sweat got to the competitive difference in facing Sudfeld instead of Hurts.
Advertisement
“It’s definitely a difference when a less mobile quarterback comes in the game,” Sweat said. “Obviously, a quarterback with legs is more dynamic and harder to rush. You go in one gap, and he goes in the other one.”
Sudfeld’s first possession: an incompletion when he was flushed out of the pocket, a handoff and a heave downfield that was picked off. His second possession: a short completion to the tight end, then a low snap he couldn’t handle that Sweat batted away and Young recovered. Five snaps, two turnovers.
“Nate has obviously been here for four years, and I felt that he deserved an opportunity to get some snaps,” Pederson said. “Listen, if there’s anything out there that thinks that I was not trying to win the game, I mean, [tight end Zach] Ertz is out there. [Defensive end] Brandon Graham is out there. [Cornerback] Darius Slay’s out there. All our top guys are still on the field at the end.”
Advertisement
Except Hurts.
Pederson might want to step out of his laboratory and check out the work turned in by similarly “nothing-to-play-for” franchises around the league. The San Francisco 49ers pushed the Seattle Seahawks to the brink. The 4-12 Houston Texans nearly beat the AFC South champion Tennessee Titans. Maybe there’s something to the soliloquy put forth by Houston icon J.J. Watt, who was asked after a Week 16 loss about what he and his team had left to play for. Watt, aghast, gave an answer that’s worth Googling. In part: “If you can’t care enough to go out there and give everything you got and try your hardest, that’s [cow dung].”
The Eagles’ players tried their hardest. Their coaches didn’t insert the best players to give that best effort. Week 17 isn’t a time for selfish experimentation. Rather, it’s a time for good, honest effort.
Even with a questionable record, the Washington Football Team is a division champion when few thought that even remotely feasible. But worse than a 7-9 division champion is a 7-9 division champion that didn’t get there through clean, fair, honest competition. That’s not Washington’s fault. It’s Pederson’s.
Circle that first Eagles-Giants game next year.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZMCxu9GtqmhqYGd%2BcHyQaGdtZ5WWtK2x0mabqK2XYr2msMSrqqimXamur7fIp55o