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Minshew’s promotion to backup QB opens possibility of benching Hurts


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Minshew’s promotion to backup QB opens possibility of benching Hurts

 

Joe Flacco was a nice buffer for Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni.

That buffer is gone.

When the Eagles traded Flacco to the Jets on Monday for a conditional sixth-round pick, Gardner Minshew immediately became the Eagles’ backup. And the chances of a quarterback change before the end of the season grew substantially.

That’s not to say that Hurts will be benched this weekend in Detroit or at any point this season — Sirianni said on Monday that he hasn’t even considered benching Hurts — but the promotion of Minshew to the No. 2 role definitely makes it a more appealing option.

And if Hurts doesn’t start improving — or if he regresses — the calls for Minshew are going to grow louder and louder.

No one was clamoring to see 36-year-old Joe Flacco.

But the thought of seeing 25-year-old Gardner Minshew in Sirianni’s offense is intriguing.

Because there’s no doubt that through seven games Sirianni and Hurts haven’t been on the same page. It has created a natural blame game among fans and reporters, trying to figure out if Sirianni is limiting Hurts or if Hurts is limiting Sirianni.

How do you figure it out? Change one of the variables.

And assuming that Sirianni doesn’t get fired during this season, the way to check this is to play Minshew. That would give us (and the Eagles’ brass) a chance to evaluate Sirianni with a different quarterback, a quarterback that has a more traditional play style, one with which Sirianni is more familiar.

Of course, this move won’t happen if Hurts simply plays better. The Eagles wanted to use this season to truly evaluate the 23-year-old quarterback and perhaps he still gets the entire season. But if the Eagles keep losing and Hurts struggles in those losses, it’s hard to imagine Hurts getting to start all 17 games.

After completing 77% of his passes in the season opener, Hurts has completed just 58.5% of his passes in the six games since. He hasn’t been awful and his ability to run has helped the Eagles’ offense. But he hasn’t done anything yet to prove that he’s the Eagles’ long-term quarterback.

I know, I know. How can the Eagles evaluate Hurts in this wretched offense that Sirianni has designed? Well, that’s fair. But if Minshew goes in there and stinks up the joint, then it only validates those who think Hurts is in an impossible situation.

The Eagles seem to like Minshew.

"I think he's really intelligent,” offensive coordinator Shane Steichen said. "He's a football junkie. He loves ball. Him and Jalen both, they've been great in the QB room together. Just excited about him.”

It’s possible that neither Hurts nor Minshew are long-term solutions for the Eagles. Hurts is more of an unknown still but Minshew has clearly has more success in the NFL.

Here’s a look at their career numbers:

Hurts: 22 games, 11 starts, 3-8 record, 57.7%, 2,777 yards, 16 TD, 8 INT, 85.0 rating

Minshew: 23 games, 20 starts, 7-13 record, 62.9%, 5,530 yards, 37 TD, 11 INT, 93.1 rating

Aside from the passing numbers, we’d be remiss to not point out that Hurts is a significantly bigger threat in the running game. He has averaged rushing 51.6 yards per game this season, whereas Minshew is at 21.6 yards per game in his career.

If you haven’t noticed, Philadelphia has an unusual relationship with the backup quarterback position that began before the Carson Wentz-Nick Foles situation but it was certainly amplified by it.

In this case, though, the Eagles showed enough faith in Hurts to draft him in the second round last year but haven’t done much else to prove they’re committed to him. They waited all summer to name Hurts their starter and there’s a reason why the Eagles have been continually linked to Deshaun Watson and any other top QB that could possibly be on the move. They also will likely have three first-round picks to get a quarterback if they don’t think they have the franchise guy on their current roster.

The Eagles have left the door open.

And having Minshew as the No. 2 quarterback just opens it a little bit more.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/gardner-minshews-promotion-backup-qb-opens-possibility-benching-jalen-hurts

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24 minutes ago, PoconoDon said:

Hurts vs. Minshew feels like an Old Timey midget wrestling match.

This is a lot like Bridgewater vs Lock … only worse.  

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I think the Eagles FO has their eyes on the draft.......they know the playoffs are a dream at this point.  And, I believe, they're going to move on from Hurts but Minshew is not going to get a serious chance at starting here unless Hurts gets injured.  Sirianni will be fired....and they're going to trade for or draft a QB......

The eagles are the "new" old cleveland browns......revolving doors with QBs and head coaches.  

I like Minshew......I like what I've seen and I'm intrigued at what he could do with the eagles skill players.  But he doesn't have that bullsh-- pedigree that fans and GMs cream over.....

But his time here will be wasted as the QB factory keeps breaking down......

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6 minutes ago, birdman#12 said:

I think the Eagles FO has their eyes on the draft.......they know the playoffs are a dream at this point.  And, I believe, they're going to move on from Hurts but Minshew is not going to get a serious chance at starting here unless Hurts gets injured.  Sirianni will be fired....and they're going to trade for or draft a QB......

The eagles are the "new" old cleveland browns......revolving doors with QBs and head coaches.  

I like Minshew......I like what I've seen and I'm intrigued at what he could do with the eagles skill players.  But he doesn't have that bullsh-- pedigree that fans and GMs cream over.....

But his time here will be wasted as the QB factory keeps breaking down......

Eagles need to give Minshew a shot to know if Hurts or Sirianni is the problem.  Clear to about half the fans that Hurts is the issue, but need to see another QB make the offense look functional to close the door on the discussion.

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6 minutes ago, birdman#12 said:

I think the Eagles FO has their eyes on the draft.......they know the playoffs are a dream at this point.  And, I believe, they're going to move on from Hurts but Minshew is not going to get a serious chance at starting here unless Hurts gets injured.  Sirianni will be fired....and they're going to trade for or draft a QB......

The eagles are the "new" old cleveland browns......revolving doors with QBs and head coaches.  

I like Minshew......I like what I've seen and I'm intrigued at what he could do with the eagles skill players.  But he doesn't have that bullsh-- pedigree that fans and GMs cream over.....

But his time here will be wasted as the QB factory keeps breaking down......

I agree they have their eye on the draft...but what sucks is this year is not looking good for QB prospects coming out.  I mean...who would they take inside the top 10 at QB that would make you feel like they have their franchise guy?  Last time the Eagles had a top 5 pick it was a crap year for QBs too (2013).  

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1 minute ago, downundermike said:

Eagles need to give Minshew a shot to know if Hurts or Sirianni is the problem.  Clear to about half the fans that Hurts is the issue, but need to see another QB make the offense look functional to close the door on the discussion.

As I said, I think the eagles already determined that hurts is going to be replaced and they don't want to risk Minshew winning a few games and changing the draft status.  And the eagles didn't trade for Minshew to give him a shot at being their long term QB.  

Sirianni has been so bad, that sometimes I think he's being told how to call games to put as much on Hurts as possible to see how he performs and handles it.  I just can't figure out WTF Sirianni is doing.

Personally, with a young QB struggling, I think the head coach bears most of that responsibility.  Sirianni's playcalling has been baffling and is putting huge amounts of responsibility on Hurts......with no reason.  Especially, with a talented RB group.

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9 minutes ago, birdman#12 said:

As I said, I think the eagles already determined that hurts is going to be replaced and they don't want to risk Minshew winning a few games and changing the draft status.  And the eagles didn't trade for Minshew to give him a shot at being their long term QB.  

Sirianni has been so bad, that sometimes I think he's being told how to call games to put as much on Hurts as possible to see how he performs and handles it.  I just can't figure out WTF Sirianni is doing.

Personally, with a young QB struggling, I think the head coach bears most of that responsibility.  Sirianni's playcalling has been baffling and is putting huge amounts of responsibility on Hurts......with no reason.  Especially, with a talented RB group.

I think you already hit on "the reason" ... I believe your guess is spot on in that those above Sirianni want to test Hurts by putting as much as possible on him to see how he performs.  You would think their main objective would be to put him in the best position possible to achieve success.  That line of thinking (if true) is so assbackwards it's ridiculous.  

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4 hours ago, EaglesAddict said:

I agree they have their eye on the draft...but what sucks is this year is not looking good for QB prospects coming out.  I mean...who would they take inside the top 10 at QB that would make you feel like they have their franchise guy?  Last time the Eagles had a top 5 pick it was a crap year for QBs too (2013).  

Well, you know as the draft approaches with all the hype, they'll take somebody because other teams need QBs and they simply won't last.

But even if there was a couple of guys who were considered top prospects, I doubt the eagles would be able to develop them into the long term QB they need.

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I'm not buying this. If they have plans at some point to try Minshew then they always had those plans. Trading Flacco and promoting Minshew to back up hasn't changed that. Flacco was the veteran guy to potentially help Hurts. And if Hurts were to get hurt then Flacco was the veteran guy who could potentially hold things down. But if they liked Minshew enough to bring him in then they always had this in mind. And let's be honest they were never fully behind Hurts. 

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