All of a sudden, the Philadelphia Eagles QB room might have a bit more uncertainty behind Jalen Hurts than fans expected after Monday's debacle in Chicago.
Hurts was sent into concussion protocol during the 27-7 loss to the Bears in Week 3. During that time, Andy Dalton took over for a few plays, and that's when it happened. Dalton had the ball inside the Bears' five-yard line on third-and-goal and threw one of the franchise's most painful interceptions in a long time to Chicago's rookie safety Dillon Thieneman.
That, of course, sparked anger from Hurts on the sidelines and led Dalton to apologize to him. It certainly felt like a horrendous moment at the time, but it might have cost Dalton his future big time.
Signs are pointing towards trouble in paradise with And Dalton and Eagles
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni had a moment in his press conference worth watching. Someone asked Sirianni about the backup quarterback job and whether Dalton was still the guy, and the head coach gave an interesting response.
“Obviously, you know, what happened in the game, we don't want turnovers by anybody,” Sirianni said via NBC Sports Philly's Reuben Frank. “And, you know, that play, whether it was that one, whether it was Jalen's interception, whether it was Tank (Bigsby’s) fumble, that has not been our winning formula. And so we cannot, we can't turn the ball over. And we did in a situation and lost points from it."
“But I still have faith in that entire (room), with Tanner, I still have faith in Andy, I still like the way that Cole (rookie Cole Payton) is developing and so yeah I still love that room.
A follow-up question came up, and Sirianni didn't quite answer it. He stuck with his response again.
“Like I said, I answered it how I wanted to. I got a lot of faith in everybody in that room.”
Sure, the Eagles and Sirianni have been kind of vague about the quarterback room and praised them, but this felt different. After it was known that Dalton was the backup after the Week 1 win over the Washington Commanders, Sirianni was a bit more open to Dalton being the backup quarterback.
There seems to be more doubt there and the conversation could be swinging towards Tanner McKee being back in the conversation for the backup job. Honestly, it's what Eagles fans wanted and it's what it should have been from the beginning.
Look at the preseason stats between McKee and Dalton and try to find where Dalton deserved to win the job:
Name | Completion % | Yards | Touchdowns | Interceptions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Tanner McKee | 63 | 263 | 2 | 1 |
Andy Dalton | 51.4 | 168 | 1 | 0 |
Sure, Dalton didn't throw an interception, but what about the endless drives that ended in punts and zero points? McKee clearly looked like the better quarterback, and the Eagles still thought Dalton was the guy.
To make matters worse, they decided that keeping all four quarterbacks, including rookie Cole Payton, was simply criminal. Most fans wanted Hurts, McKee, and Payton, with Dalton either being cut or traded. Instead, the Eagles are stuck with an absolute mess at quarterback behind Hurts.
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It certainly feels like now that Dalton no longer has 100% confidence in the team. He's got work to do to repair his relationship with the franchise and the fan base because Monday was a bad look for a guy who's been a three-time Pro Bowler.
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