Swoop
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- Mar 19, 2019
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The story for one team today at Lambeau Field was that the Green Bay Packers took care of business with a 30-16 win and continued their march toward the NFC North title. But that may not be the more interesting story.
The other team was the Eagles, who benched their franchise quarterback, Carson Wentz, and replaced him with rookie Jalen Hurts. And it didn’t appear to be a short-term decision.
Hurts wasn’t able to lead the Eagles to a comeback victory, but he played far better than Wentz, and it’s hard to believe Hurts didn’t do enough to earn the starting job going forward. And that raises all kinds of questions about the future of this franchise, which has put all its eggs into Wentz’s basket, only to have Wentz play like the worst quarterback in the NFL this season.
The loss drops the Eagles to 3-8-1, and after the Giants surprised the Seahawks to improve to 5-7 this season, the Eagles are probably out of the playoff race even in the terrible NFC East. But the arrival of Hurts may change the outlook in Philadelphia. The last four games of this season may prove to be more about evaluating Hurts than anything else.
As for the Packers, they know they have their quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, who today became the fastest quarterback ever to reach 400 career passing touchdowns. Rodgers completed 24 of 33 passes for 290 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Aaron Jones added 15 carries for 130 yards and a 77-yard touchdown that put the game away in the fourth quarter.
The Packers will win their division and be a tough team to beat in the playoffs. The Eagles have thoroughly botched this season by sticking with Wentz and won’t win the most winnable division ever. But they’ll be an interesting team to watch down the stretch, because there’s a major quarterback controversy in Philadelphia.