Pederson: Hurts will continue as starter; McLeod out for year
To nobody’s surprise, Eagles coach Doug Pederson confirmed Monday afternoon that he will stick with Jalen Hurts as his starting quarterback and that safety Rodney McLeod has a torn anterior cruciate that will land him on the injured reserve list.
Hurts, a rookie second-round draft pick, made his first career start on Sunday and directed the Eagles to a 24-21 victory over the New Orleans Saints as Carson Wentz remained on the bench.
Pederson said part of why he wasn’t ready to name Hurts the starter for next week immediately after the win was because he was sensitive to how well so many others played.
“There were there were a lot of positives coming out of the football game,” he said. “I just didn’t want to say, ‘Hey, it was all about one guy,’ because you guys know me and my answers ... have always been about the team, and really that was a team win [Sunday].”
Pederson praised Hurts for his near-flawless decisions that kept the offense from getting behind the chains.
“SometimesonMondayIsitup here and I go, ‘Heywe’ve got to do better on first down, we’ve got to stay ahead of the chains,’” Pederson said. “[Sunday] we were able to do that, whether it was firstand-10 into a second-and-8 or 4:05 p.m. Sunday, FOX
second-and-7 or even a secondand-10. We didn’t have many second-and-long situations.
“Now we got ourselves into trouble on third down with some penalties, but we were able to stay ahead of the chains, and so when you do that it becomes a little bit, you know I hate to say the word ‘easier,’ but the rhythm and the flowof the game, you can keep a defense off balance and have a little more rhythm. And I credit the offensive line for really blocking and doing a great job against the defensive front that is probably one of the best ones we’ve seen all year. And then ... the off-schedule plays that Jalen had in the ballgame really kind of kept the defense off balance, that’s what you try to do each week and then try to pick your spots on your shot plays.”
When Pederson was asked why his 11-2 record (excluding the meaningless final week of the 2017 regular season) with backup quarterbacks is better than with Wentz (35-32-1), he pointed to teams like their most recent opponent, who have had great success with Taysom Hill and Teddy Bridgewater when
DrewBrees has missed time with injuries.
But when reminded that the Saints also have enjoyed far greater success with Brees (14085) than he has with Wentz, Pederson admitted that the game plans he often uses for backups mayhave something to do with it.
“There’s no issue with Carson and I,” he said. “I look at maybe what I do or how I call a game, maybe I can approach it a little bit differently moving forward that way. ... Teams have a lot of film on your starter. They have ways to prepare for your starter. They can take away certain things, and we’ve got to be able to compensate for that.
“But there’s been no issue between us.”
There is an issue with the Eagles’ depleted secondary, however. McLeod is out for the year and cornerbacks Avonte Maddox (knee) and Darius Slay (concussion) also went down against New Orleans. Slay could return as soon as next week. But Maddox “will miss some time here the next couple weeks,” according to Pederson.
They were already depleted coming in, with cornerbacks Cre’Von LeBlanc and Craig James on injured reserve and fellow cornerbacks Michael
Jacquet and Grayland Arnold also out indefinitely with injuries.
Said Pederson: “I’m hopeful that Michael and Grayland, their injuries are a little less than LeBlanc’s and Craig James’, I’m hopeful and optimistic those two guys can make a return.
“We’ll see how the week goes, obviously. We have a couple days herebeforewehitthepracticefield, but I’m optimistic those two guys will be able to at least get out there Wednesdayandbegintheirpractice in preparation for Arizona.”