Philadelphia Eagles players were said to be unhappy over the way the team handled Sunday’s game against Washington, and star running back Miles Sanders has now gone on record expressing his displeasure over the situation.
During an appearance on SportsRadio 94WIP on Tuesday, Sanders confirmed that Eagles players were unhappy with head coach Doug Pederson playing Nate Sudfeld instead of Jalen Hurts late in the 20-14 loss to Washington. Sanders said he is unsure whose decision it was, but it left the team “confused.”
“Man if I’m being honest, nobody liked the decision, nobody,” Sanders said, per Eagles insider John McMullen. “That’s all I can say really. I don’t know who was the main person behind that decision. All I know is that a lot of people on the team was confused.”
The Eagles were trailing Washington 17-14 in the fourth quarter and had a chance to win the game. Pederson then benched Hurts, who was 7/20 passing to that point but had two rushing touchdowns. Sudfeld, who is ordinarily the team’s third-string quarterback, turned the ball over twice and did not give Philly a chance to win.
The belief, of course, is that the Eagles tanked. By losing, they improved their draft position three spots from No. 9 to No. 6. Not surprisingly, players didn’t care about that. Some of them reportedly had to be restrained from going after Pederson.
NBC’s announcers also called the Eagles out for the questionable decision to play Sudfeld. Joe Judge, whose New York Giants needed a Washington loss in order to qualify for the playoffs, ripped the Eagles.
Players never want to feel like they’ve been put in position to lose, and that’s exactly what happened with the Eagles on Sunday. You can understand why Sanders and others were unhappy.
