A prime time chance to play the spoiler
Three years ago the Eagles were the blueprint for winning a Lombardi Trophy.
Now they have double-digit losses, a quarterback controversy and nowhere to hide when they take on the upstart Washington Football Team Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
With the NFC East pennant on the line, the game could net a top-five SNF audience this season with fans from four of the largest football TV markets in the country tuned in. The showdown was flexed into the coveted night slot, Fred Gaudelli, executive producer of NBC’s Sunday Night Football explained because “it stands alone as far as playoff qualification.
“Washington needs a win to clinch the NFC East title, and with a loss, the division goes to the winner of the afternoon game between the Cowboys and Giants,” Gaudelli said. “So, regardless of what happens in any earlier game, this game is important. Ideally, the Week 17 NBC Sunday Night Football game, which has been given the #Game256 hashtag, is a win-and-in with the losing team
knocked out of the playoffs. Last year, we had 49ers at Seahawks for the NFC West title and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The 49ers won, and ultimately advanced to the Super Bowl. The year prior, we had Colts at Titans for the AFC South title, with the losing team eliminated.”
Gaudelli a lso noted #Game256 of the 2013 season when the Eagles defeated the Cowboys, 2422, to win the NFC East pennant.
This season has been a disaster on almost every level for the Eagles (410-1).
The offense was so ine f fe c t ive w ith Carson Wentz, who still leads the league in giveaways, that head coach Doug Pederson turned to rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts, who is 0-2 after winning his first start.
The defense was shredded last week in Dallas by Andy Dalton, who threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns. It was the second straight game the Eagles surrendered 500 or more yards.
Special teams is trying to recover from an awful outing in the desert complete with a blocked punt, a poor snap aborting a PAT and a first down on a fake punt.
Pe der son ha s been guilty of overcoaching in games, his staff criticized
for failing to develop the young talent and the front office bashed for acquiring ordinary players.
W hile NBC SNF analyst Cris Collinsworth hasn’t been popular with supersensitive Eagles fans, his voice always is heard and his football opinions are revealing. That alone makes the game must-see TV for diehard Birds fans.
E a g le s pl ayer s a nd coaches who hope to return next season don’t have to be told how important it is to show up Sunday. For some of them, it’s basically a national audition.
“I think it ’s exciting,” linebacker Alex Singleton said. “Everyone gets to watch and for whatever reason we play pretty well in prime time, so that’s a step in the right direction. We’re just trying to make sure no one is celebrating (a division title) on our field in Philadelphia. It will be fun. There’s no pressure on us. A ll the pressure is on Washington. Last year when I was here, just being around the guys I think there was a lot of pressure this time of the year on this team. It’s going to be nice and exciting to see how everybody plays just kind of relaxed and getting after it and playing football.”
This a tough game for Eagles fans lobbying for a loss so the organization winds up with the third overall pick in the draft, assuming several other results roll their way.
Win, lose or draw (BTW,
the WFT would win the East with a tie and a Cowboys loss or tie with the Giants), this game will become part of NFC East folklore.
“It ’s hard to predict viewership, but we always prefer excit i n g games that go down to the wire,” Gaudelli said. “We do have the added benefit of either the New York market or the Cowboys market having extreme interest in the outcome of this game. If the game is close, we expect fans will stay with us.”
••• Quarterback Alex Smith took the snaps with the first team at practice with Washington Thursday.
The real question is how Smith’s ailing calf feels on the first day of the new year as he got the snaps late last week, only to be scratched when the calf tightened up.
The WFT contingency plan is Taylor Heinicke, whose career consists of two TD passes and three interceptions.
•••
Eagles defensive back Jalen Mills was placed on the COVDI-19 list Thursday, effectively ending his season.
The Eagles repor ted slight improvement on the injury front although the list of players who didn’t practice remained extensive.
That cast includes defensive linemen Derek Barnett (calf) and Fletcher Cox (neck), linebacker Shaun Bradley (neck),
tight end Dallas Goedert (calf ), w ide receiver DeSean Jackson (ankle), offensive tackle Jordan Mailata (concussion) and tight end Richard Rodgers (ankle).
Practicing on a limited basis were cornerback Michael Jacquet (calf ), linebacker Duke Riley ( biceps), running back Miles Sanders (knee) and wide receiver Quez Watkins (rib).
•••
Rookie wide receiver Jalen Reagor wouldn’t compare his season to those of the other rookie wide receivers, saying the situations were different.
“I was drafted Day 1,” Reagor said T hursday. “There’s a reason I was drafted Day 1.”
Seven of the eight wide receivers selected among the first 34 picks of the 2020 draft have at least one 100-yard receiv ing game.
Reagor is that one. The group of seven includes Justin Jefferson, who ha s si x 100 -yard games and a spot in the Pro Bowl, Brandon Aiyuk, who has two 100yard games and has battled through injuries and backup quarterbacks with the 49ers, and Tee Higgins, who has two of those games with the Bengals.
All were drafted after Reagor, who has 30 receptions for 381 yards (12.7 average) and one TD, plus a 73-yard score on a punt return, the latter tied for longest in the league this season.