Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 12/20/21.

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Eagles Observations: Should Sirianni bench Hurts if he struggles? - NBCSP
As the Eagles hit the stretch run, an intriguing question is whether Nick Sirianni’s first priority should be getting as deep a look as possible at Jalen Hurts or doing all he can to get the Eagles into the playoffs. You can make a pretty good argument both ways. Let’s say Hurts starts Tuesday night and looks the same against Washington as he did against the Giants. Couple interceptions, some bad decisions, missing open guys. Let’s say it’s the middle of the third quarter, and Washington is up 13-7. The game is winnable, Hurts is struggling, the offense is sputtering … what do you do? Do you let Hurts play through it to see how he handles adversity, to see how he responds to a difficult situation, to learn if he can pull it together late in a critical game after a bad start? Or do you get Gardner Minshew in there to try and jump start the offense? The stakes are pretty high here. Beat Washington and the Eagles are one big step closer to the postseason. Lose to Washington and their playoff chances virtually disappear. I understand that the Eagles as a franchise need to know as much as possible going into the offseason about Hurts, and you don’t learn anything when he’s sitting on the bench. But to me, reaching the playoffs has to be every team’s ultimate goal, and every coach owes it to his players, coaches, owner and fans to do everything possible to get there. You can’t put an audition for a struggling quarterback ahead of trying to win. Winning has to be THE goal. Now, I do expect Hurts to play well down the stretch. He has most of the year. But if he doesn’t? I’m making a change.

Eagles place Landon Dickerson on reserve/COVID-19 list - BGN
Welp. The most predictable Philadelphia outcome has happened. After the NFL postponed today’s Eagles game against Washington to Tuesday following a huge COVID breakout for the Football Team, the Eagles are now dealing with COVID issues of their own. The team has placed rookie left guard Landon Dickerson on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Eye on the Enemy #77: Eagles vs. Washington Football Team, COVID-style - BGN Radio
On Episode 77 of Eye on the Enemy, host John Stolnis is joined by Mark Bullock to help break down perhaps the weirdest Eagles game of the season, their Tuesday night tilt against the COVID-depleted Washington Football Team. Yes, the Eagles are getting screwed, but now it’s time to deal with this reality: life ain’t fair. Also, Carson Wentz clears the 75% snap threshold and the NFL’s new COVID testing protocols are announced.

If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Philadelphia - Iggles Blitz
The frustration is two-fold. First, the Eagles have been proactive in trying to deal with Covid and that has minimized the impact of the recent spike. Other teams are putting all kinds of guys on the Covid list. The Eagles only have one active player…Quez Watkins. The Eagles handled a tricky situation well while the WFT has multiple unvaccinated players and it sure looks like they brought Covid inside the facility, where it took off. Washington is rewarded for mishandling the situation and the Eagles are punished for being prepared. Ugh.

Resetting Washington Football Team vs. Eagles: How will the postponement affect the NFC East clash? - The Athletic
The return of Jonathan Allen and the presence of Daron Payne means Washington will have its two Pro Bowl-caliber defensive tackles available against what could be a pair of backup guards. Washington lacks its usual depth inside with reserves Matt Ioannidis and Tim Settle on the reserve/COVID-19 list as of Sunday night. That rotational depth is key against the league’s top run-attack. Washington’s own ground game controlled the clock during the recent four-game winning streak. Repeat that Tuesday, and the Eagles will see a fresher Allen (team-high 7.5 sacks) and Payne over four quarters.

2022 NFL Mock Draft: Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux lands in Detroit at No. 2, Denver Broncos select Pittsburgh QB Kenny Pickett - PFF
10. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: S KYLE HAMILTON, NOTRE DAME. It’s a shame we didn’t get a full season of Kyle Hamilton this season. The versatile and almost alien-like 6-foot-3, 220-pound defensive back is the latest and greatest in the line of safety/nickel defender/box player hybrids. His size and speed make him a unique chess piece for various defenses. The best part is that, unlike some who came before him, he’s more impactful as a deep safety than most who carry that “positionless” DB tag.

Despite disappointing season, Eagles’ Ryan Kerrigan looking forward to facing his old team - Inquirer
Exactly how is Kerrigan dealing with the worst year of his career? Let the 11-year veteran humanize the situation. “It’s been tough at times,” Kerrigan said. “It’s been challenging at times because the production hasn’t been what I want it to be nor what I’m accustomed to doing. But I’m proud of myself because I haven’t thrown in the towel because it’s not working out. I’ve kept working. I’ve stuck to working hard and doing what I can to put myself in position to make plays. I just have to make them. This is something I’m going to impart on my two daughters later in life. Just because what you haven’t been getting what you want, it doesn’t mean you give up and say ‘to the hell with this.’ You’ve got to keep working because you never know when the right opportunity will be there. ... My wife has reminded me, at times, this will be a good thing to impart on the girls later in life. I try to think of it from a [father] angle.”

A Wild AFC North Race Sums Up the NFL’s Unpredictable Season - MMQB
So Washington will go forward with that knowledge and hope it can push more players to get boosted. In the short term, of course, it did have an effect, but the hope internally is the team will be in a good spot on Tuesday to face the Eagles. In reaction to the rescheduled game, the coaches toned down Friday’s practice to a walkthrough pace. Then, on Saturday, they repeated their Thursday routine, doing sub-package (nickel, dime) work at three-quarters speed. And Sunday they had an up-tempo practice, going through their Friday work again (situational stuff like red zone and third downs). So they might be shorthanded in Philly, but they won’t be unprepared. And as for how shorthanded they’ll be? A few more guys could be activated Monday (Taylor Heinicke is one of those trending in the right direction; he might just make it).

Week 15: Omicron Forces NFL To Change Course As Playoffs Near - FMIA
WFT coach Ron Rivera said Sunday he spent lots more time on roster-fortification than coaching during the week. “We spent hours scanning everyone’s practice squad and on the players we’d worked out since training camp,” Rivera told me. “Because we potentially had our top two quarterbacks out with Covid, it was important to find out who fit us. And Garrett Gilbert was on New England’s practice squad. He’d played for Dallas last year and we liked what we saw, and we thought he could fit our offense well. He might have to play in the ballgame Tuesday night in Philadelphia.”

The Winners and Losers of NFL Week 15 - The Ringer
This is, without a doubt, the lowest overhead item they could give away. It’s just water, sugar, carbonation, and a paper cup. They weren’t even willing to give away a large soda—just a medium. Still, that might add up if you gave away 80,000 paper cups. But they didn’t! The Giants only gave away the free medium sodas to season-ticket holders, so if you bought single-game tickets, or purchased on the secondary market, you were out of luck. And not for every ticket—if you bought four season tickets, that entitled you to only one free medium soda.

Giants vs. Cowboys ‘Kudos and Wet Willies’ review: No more Mike Glennon, please - Big Blue View
Mike Glennon — I can hear the screaming now. Three ‘Wet Willies’ in three weeks for Glennon, and Ed hardly ever treats Daniel Jones like this. Well, sorry. What we witness from Glennon on Sunday was pitiful quarterback play. A 13 of 24 for 99 yards with 3 interceptions and a 24.8 passer rating stat line that only hints at how bad Glennon’s performance was. The second and third interceptions were the kind of throws you expect from a high school quarterback. The second interception was thrown ridiculously far behind Sterling Shepard. The third was a gift to Trevon Diggs that never should have been thrown. Not to mention that Glennon seemed utterly incapable of completing passes to the Giants’ wide receivers — the guys on the roster specifically to catch them. I still can’t figure out why the Giants thought Glennon as their backup quarterback this season was an acceptable plan.

New York Giants’ Sterling Shepard suffers season-ending torn Achilles - ESPN
New York Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard suffered a torn left Achilles that will end his season late in Sunday’s 21-6 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Shepard was writhing in pain as he toppled to the ground without contact while running a route with under two minutes left in the latest setback in the Giants’ nightmare season. Fellow players immediately called for the medical staff, and Shepard was carted off. [BLG Note: Eagles won’t have to face Shepard in Week 16.]

2021 NFL season, Week 15: What we learned from Sunday’s games - NFL.com
Saquon Barkley continues to struggle. Obviously, Glennon isn’t the answer. Fromm actually looked better than Glennon and nearly had more yards than the veteran (99 to 82 passing yards). However, more concerning for Big Blue continues to be how much Barkley struggles to churn out yards. Barkley took 15 carries for 50 yards (3.3 yards per carry) with a long of six yards. More eye-popping was that Devontae Booker looks better than Barkley in the same offense. Booker earned 74 yards on eight carries (9.3 Y/A) with a long of 31 yards. Booker hit the hole harder and was sprier, whereas Barkley seemed to dance and couldn’t break tackles. Barkley’s struggles stand out in an offense that struggles to make splash plays.

Dallas Cowboys playoff picture: Losses by Cardinals and Buccaneers vault Cowboys to number two seed - Blogging The Boys
It is often said that the NFL is a week-to-week league. We seem to be reminded of that after every round of games this year. Sunday was a Dallas Cowboys win which we are all grateful for, but it also brought some interesting results across the rest of the league as everyone is now officially back from bye. While the week will last into Tuesday there were some notable results on Sunday that had nothing to do with the Cowboys that ultimately had everything to do with the Cowboys. As Dallas picked up its 10th win of the season the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers both lost, keeping them at 10 wins on the season which has vaulted America’s Team to the second overall seed at present moment.

Washington activates Cam Sims and Daniel Wise from the Reserve/COVID-19 list - Hogs Haven
Washington removed two more players from the Reserve/COVID-19 list this morning. WR Cam Sims was placed on the list on December 15th. DE Daniel Wise was placed on the list on December 17th. Both players will now be available for the rescheduled game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Tuesday night at 7pm. Washington placed a total of 25 players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list over the last 11 days. 9 players have since been removed, but there are still 16 players who haven’t been cleared.

The best sports memes of 2021 - SB Nation
ESPN experimented with a new broadcast format for the 2021 NFL season, featuring the Brothers Manning on select Monday Night Football games on ESPN2, where they broke down gameplay, interviewed a diverse cast of guests, and generally goofed around. It was an instant hit, and one of the best moments came in Week 3 when Eli Manning tried to demonstrate his experience with Philadelphia Eagles fans, flipping off America with both middle fingers. His immediate apology following the ensuing commercial break made it all the more hilarious. Never apologize, Eli.

Sunday Late Night Wrap Up #15: Saints shut out Brady, Lions eat Cardinals & more! - The SB Nation NFL Show
In today’s show, the Saints took down the champs yet again, the Lions stunned the Arizona Cardinals, and John Harbaugh made another decision that’s going to drive people crazy. Find out everything. you need to know about Week 15 in about 10 minutes!

Why omicron could bring the deadliest phase in the pandemic yet - Vox
Covid-19 cases are surging upward again in the United States, and public health experts are warning the fast-spreading omicron variant may push the number of infections to their highest level yet. Whether this surge will be followed by an unprecedented level of hospitalization and death is uncertain, but researchers say it’s possible the most devastating phase of the pandemic is yet to come. Already, countries like South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Denmark have seen sharp spikes in new Covid-19 cases, with some areas reaching record highs. South Africa has reported far fewer hospitalizations from omicron compared to previous waves, but the UK is is in the midst of a sharp rise in hospitalizations, about 30 percent higher week over week. The big reason is that omicron appears to spread far more readily than the delta variant that has been dominant worldwide since the summer — omicron is 25 to 50 percent more transmissible, according to some UK estimates.

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