There are 2 ways the Eagles can finish the season. By losing to Washington and strengthening their draft picks, or by beating Washington and worsening their draft picks. I personally am hoping for the former, and I would guess that the majority of you are as well. However I do have some other goals for this season finale as well. I would like to go into this offseason with some clarity, and some hope. What performances could lead to that though?
Jalen Hurts
I would like to see a strong finish from Hurts. After last weeks performance I need it. I want to be confident in Hurts taking the reigns heading into the offseason, but if he struggles this last game then there’s just no way. It would be 2 good games, and 2 bad games. A wash. We would have endless QB debates, including whether or not the Eagles should draft a QB top 5. These are questions that I’d rather not have to dive into. Jalen can silence the noise to a degree by having a strong rebound from last week. He doesn’t need to be perfect, but enough to give us hope that he can be the future. Another 250 passing yard, 50 rushing yard, 2-3TD performance would certainly leave me feeling more comfortable going into the offseason with him as QB1.
Rookie Wide Receivers
Similarly to the QB position, WR is a pretty big question mark as well. The Eagles drafted 3 WR’s in last years draft and have no answers. Quez certainly looks like a piece, but his sample size is very small. Jalen Reagor has had his moments showing us that electric athleticism he possesses, but you cannot count on him to be a #1 WR heading into next year given what we’ve seen from him. He still needs some development. John Hightower showed some nice things as a technician and deep threat but struggled catching the football and has seemingly been put into the dog house. The trio has combined for 648 yards through 15 games. It would be nice if Quez could cap off his 2 game stretch with a 3rd productive outing. It would also be nice if Reagor can make some big plays. John Hightower will most likely be inactive, so I’m not sure what to expect with him. Even if he is surprisingly active, I doubt he’d get much playing time. Regardless, I’d like to see both Quez and Reagor produce 50+ receiving yards on sunday.
Rookie Defenders
Davion Taylor, K’von Wallace are two rookies that I’d like to see get big roles on sunday. I doubt Shaun Bradley plays, as he was listed as DNP on Thursday’s injury report. Davion Taylor was just activated so I’m not sure if he’ll be back for Sunday’s game or not, but I’m crossing my fingers hoping we’ll get to see him. K’von Wallace is a big one. For whatever reason he has not been able to get a major role on defense. His snaps have increased the last 4 weeks, but he has yet to play 50% of the snaps in any game this season. With McLeod and Jalen Mills being out I see no reason for K’von to not get atleast 75% of the defensive snaps. Again let’s see what we got in these guys before heading into this pivotal offseason.
Doug Pederson
And last but not least I’d like to see another good game from Doug! I personally feel like Doug has done a tremendous job scheming around Hurts. He’s done a good job designing QB runs, and having other plays work off of them. He’s also done a nice job of scheming WR’s open for Hurts and giving Hurts ideal 1 on 1 reads. However Doug has put me through a bind this year. I don’t know what the right course of action is with him. I think this season w/ Wentz as his QB, he’s been very mediocre. However with Hurts we’ve seen a lot more creativity, and frankly I wouldn’t mind keeping Doug as the playcaller if the Eagles continue into next season with Hurts as the QB. So give us another good game Doug!
Simply put, I want the Eagles youth to shine while simultaneously losing. Is that possible? I’m not sure. Probably not, but it’s what I am rooting for. As far as draft picks go, here is the breakdown of potential value the Eagles will have. If the eagles lose they will be as high as pick #6, and can move up 1 spot for each win from the following teams: HOU, ATL, CIN. If the Eagles win they will be as high as pick #6, and will move down 1 spot for each loss from b the following teams: DET, NYG, CAR, DEN. That means the Eagles can get as high of a pick as #3, or as low of a pick as #10. There will be more rooting interest this Sunday for Eagles fans than most of the season.
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