Heavy on Eagles

Joe Stoszak delivers his Heavy on Eagles Postgame Rant.

Well, well, well there’s nothing like a good old fashioned quarterback controversy heading into the post-season and it looks like one is brewing down in South Philadelphia right now as Eagles’ third string quarterback Tanner McKee has put the NFL on notice and just made life for head coach Nick Sirianni very difficult as the head man now has to decide who should start at quarterback in the opening round of the NFL playoffs.  O.K. I’ll stop but before I get serious here’s a look at how the season finale concluded between the Giants and the Birds down at the Linc this afternoon.

Giants 13, Eagles 20: How it Went Down

• Final Score:   Giants 13, Eagles 20
• Records:  Giants 3-14, Away 2-6; Eagles 14-3, Home 8-1
• Betting Winners: Eagles -1.5; Eagles -125
• Heavy on Eagles Player of the Game: Tanner McKee 27-41, 269 yds, 2 tds, QB Rating 100.6
• Next week for the Eagles: at Home vs Packers next Sunday 4:30 pm FOX

WATCH & READ the Heavy on Eagles Postgame Rant: Birds to Host Banged Up Packers In Season-Opening Rematch

I’ve said this many times before.  The most important position in all of sports is the starting quarterback.  The second most important position in sports is the back-up quarterback.  Eagles’ fans only have to go back seven years to be reminded of that as back-up Nick Foles came off the bench for an injured Carson Wentz and led the Birds to their first Super Bowl Title in the 2017-2018 season.  I’m not sure I’d ever be writing a piece on a third string quarterback but from what we’ve seen out of Tanner McKee, I think 300-400 words is commensurate with his play the last two weeks.

Quarterback Controversy?

Combined with last week’s epic debut performance against the Cowboys, the sixth round pick out of Stanford in the 2023 draft completed six of his first seven NFL passes for 101 yards and, wait for it, three touchdown passes.  He’s big and plays every bit of his 6’6″ frame with an NFL arm and poise that you don’t see very often from a rookie quarterback.  He completely outplayed Giants quarterback Drew Lock to the tune of a 10-0 halftime lead, completing 17 of 26 attempts for 190 yards and a QB rating just a scootch under 100.

He led the Eagles to a 20-13 win over the Giants and finished 27/41 for 269 yards and two sores with a quarterback rating of just a scootch over 100.

But fear not Eagles fans.  Jalen Hurts will be starting in next weekend’s Wildcard round game. Hurts and the Birds will host the Green Bay Packers next week in round one of the postseason because Green Bay lost on a last second field goal to the Bears at Lambeau Field today.  But even if they had won they would still be coming to Philly next weekend because the the Commanders beat the Cowboys 23-19. 

It’s a rematch of the season Opener between the two teams played in Brazil back on September 6, a game the Eagles won 34-29.

Packers Tempt Fate and Lose

The Green Bay Packers did not control their own fate today. If they had won and the Commanders had lost they’d be heading to Tampa to play the Buccaneers next weekend which would seem to be a better draw for them rather than playing the Eagles at the Linc next weekend. The point is that the Packers could have rested some of their key players today against Chicago but chose not to and it may have cost them.  One of their best receivers, Christian Watson, was carted off with a non-contact knee injury today and quarterback Jordan Love left the game with an elbow injury and did not return although head coach Matt Lafleur said afterwards that Love could have returned. That is what could happen when you play your top players when you don’t absolutely need to.

The Birds are 2-1 against Green Bay all-time in the post-season and have opened as a 3.5 point favorite for next weekend’s game.  Day and time of the game is to be determined.

The Eagles won their 14th game today.  It’s only the second time in their history that they’ve done that.  The other time came just two years ago when the Birds went 14-3 earning the one seed and eventually an appearance in Super Bowl 57.  It’s the fifth time the Eagles have won 13 or more games in a season.  All four of the previous years ended up with the Birds in the Super Bowl, winning one and losing three of them.

Another NFL Embarrassment

Pretty impressive considering only eight teams have ever won 15 games in a season. Unless there’s a tie that will change tonight as the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings will slug it out at Ford Field in Detroit. The winner captures the NFC North division and the number one seed overall in the NFC.  But here’s the problem and I hope the NFL takes a serious look at how they seed teams from each conference in the payoffs at some point going forward because the loser of tonight’s game drops back to the number 5 seed and will start the playoffs on the road after finishing the season with a 14-3 record. Only in the NFL could they not have the foresight to see the inherent problem with that possible outcome.  Can’t make it up.