Hurts so good?

Not yet, said Doug Pederson Monday morning on WIP.

Here’s the head ball coach on a possible quarterback change:

“You don’t go there. That’s a knee-jerk reaction. That’s a reaction to things that sometimes are.. the aura (chatter) that is out there. That’s not what we believe internally and we’re going to continue to get better. Carson is our quarterback. We’re going to get it fixed, he’s going to get it fixed, and you know, we’ve got a long season, we’re only a half-game out of first place for goodness sakes. The whole division right now is not playing very good football. So, we’re not that far off.”

It’s the right move for a variety of reasons:

  1. Jalen Hurts getting his first pro start on the road against the 2-1, defending NFC champions is a huge ask.
  2. He’s only got two receivers worth throwing to right now (Greg Ward and Zach Ertz). Maybe that changes when the injury report comes in.
  3. The next game after San Fran is at Pittsburgh (not a win), and then it’s Baltimore at home (also not a win).

 

We all want to see Hurts sooner rather than later, but the better case scenario is to have Wentz play the next three games, they either rally or (much more likely) fall out of playoff contention entirely, and then Hurts gets to make his debut against the stinky Giants in week seven. Then it’s Cowboys/Giants/Browns, which is a much smoother way to ease a dual-threat, rookie quarterback into the pro game. San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore just feels like a gauntlet that isn’t worth running.

My take.

Either way, they did this to themselves. They knew that drafting a quarterback in the second round was going to put a lot of pressure on the starter, who they rewarded with a long-term, big money contract. They painted themselves into a corner and have to find a way out of it.