Jalen Hurts to start Eagles finale, Doug Pederson says; team will send tape of hit on Jordan Mailata to NFL
The Eagles' left tackle was concussed by an apparent Jaylon Smith head butt.
Doug Pederson said Monday that rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts will start the season finale against Washington, which is meaningless for the Eagles but will make Washington the NFC East champion if the visitors win.
“Definitely want to continue to evaluate, not only him but the rest of the team, and where we are moving forward,” Pederson said.
The Eagles, at 4-10-1, are the only team in the division going into Week 17 without a chance to win the title and a playoff berth.
Pederson said no decision has been made about moving forward in 2021 with Hurts or with Carson Wentz, who was benched during a Dec. 6 loss at Green Bay.
“We’re not there yet, as far as answering all those questions,” Pederson said. “Things can obviously change, and we’ll answer that at a different time.”
Pederson said that left tackle Jordan Mailata is in the NFL concussion protocol, apparently as a result of a head-butt by Dallas linebacker Jaylon Smith.
Pederson said that it “looked like a helmet-blow-type play,” and that the Eagles will “send it in [to the NFL] and see what happens.”
Matt Pryor, who false-started three times and was called for a hold while playing right tackle at Dallas, moved to left tackle for the final 10 snaps. Brett Toth replaced Pryor on the right.
Developing storylines
Three fourth-quarter possessions in a row, the Eagles moved the ball inside the Dallas 30. They ended up scoring no points. A huge sack and a couple of penalties ruined one drive, then an interception, and finally, a fumble killed the others. The Eagles gained 203 net yards after scoring their final points of Sunday’s game on Jake Elliott’s second-quarter field goal.
Just 57 yards on 15 carries for Miles Sanders, who saw his best gain of the day wiped out by a Matt Pryor hold. Against the worst rushing defense in the NFL, Sanders should have had more carries, but even on 15, he should have had more yards.
Jalen Hurts ran five times for 53 yards in the first half, four times for 16 yards in the second half, after Dallas started using a safety as a spy. That is something other teams will note.
Pro Football Focus gave Eagles rookie Michael Jacquet a 26.2 coverage grade, which might be the lowest I’ve seen. Jacquet’s NFL debut came against Dallas, back on Nov. 1. His performance then was one of the things that sold Jim Schwartz on his potential. Jacquet compiled a 71.8 PFF coverage grade in his debut, in 13 coverage snaps. Sunday, 24 of Jacquet’s snaps came in coverage, with Andy Dalton throwing the football instead of Ben DiNucci. It seemed to make a difference.
Hurts had five fumbles in the last two weeks, one lost.
Michael Gallup and Amari Cooper caught 10 passes for 242 yards, 24.2 yards per catch. Oh, and all of Gallup’s six catches for 121 yards came in the first half. Once he was no longer being covered by Jacquet, he was not targeted.
Alex Singleton played all 70 defensive snaps, and 20 of 27 special- teams snaps. He led the Eagles with eight tackles, five solo.
When Fletcher Cox had to leave the game after seven snaps with a stinger, it would have been nice for defensive tackles Malik Jackson (three years, $30 million) and Javon Hargrave (three years, $39 million) pick up some slack. They didn’t.
Who knew?
That you could be targeted once and lead your team in receiving yardage for the game?
DeSean Jackson, one target, one catch, 81 yards. And according to Doug Pederson, a sore ankle that precluded throwing the ball his way on any of his 19 remaining snaps.
Obscure stat
The Eagles have six interceptions on 498 opponent passes, a 1.2% interception rate that ranks 31st in the NFL. Houston, which has just three picks, is last at 0.58%.