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Has there ever been a more transparent tank job?


SmittyBacall

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1 minute ago, Thaiphoon said:

Congrats. You watched the game too. 

Still doesn't take away from the fact that sometimes coaches will bench a QB if they think another will provide a spark and generate something. Do they have crystal balls? Nope.

So your saying, you HONESTLY believe the Eagles coaching staff thought that Nate gave them the best chance to win?

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I’m just laughing at everyone that believes the Eagles should be docked a pick for this and making it like this is a big deal. Most of these same posters were convinced that the Dolphins were tanking last season... until it became clear that they weren’t. That they were purging players from the team that didn’t fit the kind of culture that they wanted to build. But in the moment, it was “tanking” because guys didn’t understand their design. Should the Dolphins have been forced to forfeit a pick? Punishing teams for “tanking” adds just another layer of oversight that could be unevenly enforced across teams. Perhaps a coach is playing young RBs to close the season vs an aged veteran... characterizing said squad for tanking.

I don’t see a big deal here. If the Eagles were TRULY trying to tank, then they wouldn’t have waited until just the 4th quarter to pull Hurts. They also wouldn’t have leaked ahead of time that their plan was to get Sudfield in there all along.

Doug Pederson himself was a career QB backup, this just feels like him seeking to do right by a guy that put in the effort all season. The Eagles had more than enough tape on Hurts to evaluate him for next season. They leaked ahead of time that they wanted to get Sudfield in there, likely because they KNEW the media would make a big deal out of it if they hadn’t done so.

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Sudfield didn’t give the Eagles their best chance to win, but I have no doubt in my mind that Pederson was still coaching to win the football game with him in there. Just like in a preseason game where the coaches have backups in there, but still want to win the game. Sudfield hadn’t taken an NFL snap since 2018. He put in all that work and never had an opportunity to see an NFL down. Yet in a meaningless game, this was always going to be his best opportunity.

Tanking is intentionally trying to lose. This wasn’t intentional, this was circumstantial. Playing Sudfield wasn’t the Eagles best chance of winning, that isn’t debatable. However that’s a far cry away from TRYING to lose the game. Coaches try to win preseason games with backups. We saw in 2019 the Ravens bench their starters for the final game, but were still TRYING to win the game- and did.

Pederson rewarding his veteran backup with PT and trying to win the game aren’t mutually exclusive item IMO.

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Lastly, I refuse to feel bad about a team missing the playoffs with a negative record because their division rival had its own clear agenda come game time.

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12 minutes ago, Go_Giants said:

Of course there is downside to the move. The coaching staff just showed how much winning and putting in the effort means to them in prime time.

If your second point is neither the Giants or the Washington team gained from what the Eagles did, that I can agree to. I don't get you guys explaining the logic behind the Eagles tanking. If the same thing happen to the Giants, I would be like, it is not our teams fault the Eagles wanted to prove how much they suck, I am not proud of the win but I'll take it and see what noise I can make in the playoffs. 

If they wanted to tank, they could've done things a lot differently. Including playing someone else at QB for the entire game. I saw it more as a coach watching his QB not be effective at the beginning of the game and then at the end of the 2Q and all through the 3Q and absent 2 drives (one of which was aided very much by officiating) couldn't move the ball (even when giftwrapped a drive starting on the opponent's 15 yard line). Hurts had a 25.4 rating. That is the 2nd lowest in Iggles history. He was not that good tonight when you look at all 3 quarters of hs performance.

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10 minutes ago, Go_Giants said:

So your saying, you HONESTLY believe the Eagles coaching staff thought that Nate gave them the best chance to win?

I can only go by what the coach said. My point is that coaches throw backups in when young QBs struggle. And Hurts was not that good tonight. It was probably a situation where they said "well Jalen's not getting it done, let's see if Nate can do it".

This was heat of the moment stuff (*). If they truly wanted to tank, they had other ways of doing it rather than waiting until the 4Q.

 

(*) BTW - I'm not saying I would've done it. I like leaving young QBs in to try to work themselves out of it. I'm just saying that coaches make mistakes in trying to win games. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

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Just now, Thaiphoon said:

I can only go by what the coach said. My point is that coaches throw backups in when young QBs struggle. And Hurts was not that good tonight. It was probably a situation where they said "well Jalen's not getting it done, let's see if Nate can do it".

This was heat of the moment stuff. If they truly wanted to tank, they had other ways of doing it rather than waiting until the 4Q.

they just didnt care 

which was within their right.

the nfl is to blame. if this game was at noon, nobody would have freaked out as much

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If someone can actually prove to me that anyone in the NFL (the ultimate TEAM sport) has enough power to convince ~50 different lifelong competitive staff members or players to give up their personal and career integrity to the point that they are willing to "tank" then I'm all ears.

But until then, this whole "tanking" thing is nothing more than a made up thing for fans to believe in and for the media to take advantage of said fans. That same competitiveness, passion, and drive is why they are where they are now. Why would would they give it up?  Even the money angle wouldn't make sense because they make more in the playoffs.  (unless you believe in conspiracies I guess). 

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