The Washington Football Team (7-9) won the NFC East on Sunday, beating the Philadelphia Eagles, 20-14, to fend off the New York Giants (6-10) for division supremacy.
Although Eagles coach Doug Pederson benched Jalen Hurts in the fourth quarter – a move that has been ridiculed ad nauseam – Washington coach Ron Rivera isn’t apologizing for the win.
London Fletcher doesn’t think he should, either.
“I agree with Coach Rivera,” Fletcher said on The DA Show. “What does Washington have to apologize about? We won the football game. Jalen Hurts, it’s not like he was lighting the world up in that ball game.”
Hurts finished 7-of-20 for 72 yards and one interception. He ran for two touchdowns in the first half but completed just 35 percent of his passes for the game.
“It’s not like Jalen Hurts was lighting the world up in that ball game,” Fletcher reiterated. “So all that talk about Philadelphia and Pederson taking out Hurts and all that, I’m with Coach Rivera. What do we have to apologize about? We won that football game. Our defense dominated the game, and that’s why we won.”
The Eagles improved their draft stock with the loss – they have the sixth pick in the 2021 NFL Draft – but did Pederson lose the respect of his players in the process?
“You’re going to have some guys who have their thoughts and feel like he should have left Hurts in there,” Fletcher said. “Hey, Doug Pederson went for it on fourth down to try to [get the lead]. He called a play to try to get a touchdown. So that was him being aggressive. Hurts didn’t complete the pass, and [Pederson] said, ‘All right, I said I was going to play Nate Sudfeld, so now’s my time to get Nate some opportunities.’
“But I don’t think he loses credibility,” Fletcher continued. “The emotions of the game, right after the game, guys are going to feel a certain way. But as time passes, they’ll be fine.”