Eagles

Marcus Hayes Has Outdone Himself with His Latest Shit

By Kyle Scott

Published: May 24th, 2017 · 9:18 AM EDT

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Marcus Hayes wrote a column today, which is the back page story in the Daily News and was for a time this morning the main story on Philly.com, alleging that Doug Pederson was infuriated by Carson Wentz receiving outside coaching this offseason. Here is that shit:

Asked Tuesday what Wentz gained from his time in California, head coach Doug Pederson replied, with tepid and artificial enthusiasm:

“Well, the biggest thing I’ve seen, No. 1, is leadership. He’s come in here ready to go. He’s come in here eager, excited about the offseason, working with the new guys and the guys from last year. That’s what I’ve seen. I’ve seen him come in rejuvenated.”

…

Pederson continued:

“Now he’s had a chance to just kind of sit back and look at the regular season last year and make the necessary adjustments and corrections and learn from it.”

Again: Thanks for nothing. Wentz could have reviewed 2016 on that same yacht as long as he had an iPad.

Usually mild-mannered, Pederson didn’t hide his disdain for having strangers tinker with his meal ticket, and that is remarkable. Pederson is as emotive as a turtle.

It got better. Pederson virtually sneered when he was specifically asked if Wentz had made improvements in his mechanics:

“It’s subtle. That’s the thing. We’re going to see it as coaches. You may not see it as a spectator watching the game. It’s just, pointing his toe, getting him on his target line, things that we talk about each and every day that coach DeFilippo does a good job with. And those are the things we continue to work on.”

Translation:

Stay away from my ride.

…

Sometimes you need to read between the lines. Not with this.

You just need to read the lines.

Wow. Again, to be clear, Hayes is implying that Pederson and Eagles brass are upset that Wentz sought outside help. It’s possible Marcus has some inside info here. I certainly don’t think that’s the case, but I won’t discount the possibility that he knows something we don’t. HOWEVER, his assertion that Pederson sneered at the question is simply not true. Video which easily disproves his half-cocked assertion is readily available for all to see. This video:

It would be easy for me to sit here and rail on Hayes, but I’ll let some members of the local media I reached out to do it for me:

“Marcus could have asked Doug at any point during the 12 minute press conference yesterday, “were you on board with Carson going to work with a QB guru?” He didn’t.”

“Somehow from that question and answer, Marcus gleans that the Eagles weren’t on board with Carson seeing a QB guru?”

“It’s wrong. It’s annoying (because it impacts the rest of us – players don’t want to talk when the media gets shit so wrong) and it’s fucking lazy.”

“Yeah I didn’t get that vibe at all. They’ve talked about it a few times and they have never seen upset about it to me.”

“Without reading the column, I know that’s patently false. Players train on their own all the time. I can tell you from people in Carson’s camp that they got the sense the team was fully behind him doing it. As long as it came after he took 1 to 1.5 months off from throwing first, which he did.”

So there you have it. Without exaggeration or hyperbole, I don’t know how Hayes gets away with this. What he wrote, even if steeped in some knowledge, was flat-out false, misleading, and would be borderline libelous if the subject matter were more important than a football coach’s opinion about a completely trivial matter. This is not bad reporting, poor speculation, or a stupid take– it’s an actual falsehood masquerading as a salacious tale. I don’t know how Marcus still has a job.