The Philadelphia Eagles’ playoff hopes rest on Alex Smith’s calf
The Philadelphia Eagles’ future rests on Alex Smith’s bum calf.
For the first time in the 2020-21 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles no longer control their playoff destiny.
Granted, it’s a pretty gosh darn incredible incitement of the NFC East as a whole that a team with four wins was still in the playoff hunt deep into the month of December to begin with. Teams aren’t typically playing for a top-10 draft pick and a playoff spot in Week 15 but hey, 2020 man, weird year.
Had the Eagles been able to eke out a squeaker against the Arizona Cardinals one short week ago, they’d still be sitting pretty heading into a pair of intradivision bouts against Dallas and Washington, respectively. But now, with Washington up a game and a half heading into Week 16, that is no longer the case.
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No, in a cruel twist of fate that is also very 2020, the Eagles’ playoff future now rests on the shoulders – or should I say calf – of Alex Smith.
That’s right, after looking like he’d never walk, let alone play football, ever again after a gruesome leg injury in 2018, Smith is not only playing for Washington but playing well enough to elevate a nameless football team into playoff consideration.
20.20.
But there’s a catch. Smith suffered a calf injury that landed him on the injury report in Week 15 and cost the 36-year-old a start against the Seattle Seahawks. In that game, which featured the return of Dwayne Haskins as a starting quarterback, Washington looked hapless, rudderless, and only scored 15 points due in large part to a 13 catch game by Logan Thomas.
After showing incredible judgment after the game by hitting up a gentleman’s club sans mask – in a move that cost the former first-round pick his captainship – it’s pretty safe to say the Carolina Panthers have a puncher’s chance to take down Haskins and Riviera in their first bout against their former head coach. Could Washington still win? Totally, the Panthers aren’t exactly an elite team in any regard, but their chances certainly go down with Haskins – or practice squad elevatee Steven Montez – under center.
Then again, even if Smith does play, it’s anyone’s guess as to just how ready to go he’ll be for a pivotal playoff-esque game.
Once considered a ‘mobile quarterback’ coming out of Utah, Smith has effectively become a statue in the pocket post-injury – having recorded all of three rushing yards in his seven appearances for Washington this season. While Smith and company will get a slight reprieve with Brian Burns out indefinitely with an MCL injury, the Panthers still have a solid collection of rushers in Derrick Brown, Efe Obada, Yetur Gross-Matos, and even do-it-all defender Jeremy Chinn who can cause problems for an immobile quarterback on a bum calf.
Granted, none of this really matters if the Eagles can’t beat a surprisingly surging Dallas Cowboys squad first, but at the same time, the game could lose all of its teeth if Washington pulls out to a big lead early.
Needless to say, this may go down as the most exciting game of the season, though not just for the product on the field.
Next. 3 key X-factors against the Dallas Cowboys. dark
There are two very, very different ways Week 17 could go for the Philadelphia Eagles. They could be locked into a winner-takes-all battle for the soul of the NFC East – in a regular season game that will surely be the most consequential of the Doug Pederson-era – or a completely toothless contest that the team shouldn’t actively try to win in order to save face and land better draft positioning. Which one is better for the Eagles in the long-term? That’s debatable. What isn’t, however, is that the Eagles’ future no longer rests in their hands, regardless of how well Jalen Hurts and company play versus Dallas.