December 11, 2017
The Philadelphia Eagles suffered their doomsday scenario on Sunday when Carson Wentz tore his ACL while trying to run for a touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams. Doug Pederson confirmed the tear in his day-after press conference Monday afternoon.
Wentz was having an MVP-caliber season, as he had completed 265 of 440 passes for 3296 yards, 33 TD, 7 INT, and a passer rating of 101.9, leading the Eagles to an 11-2 record.
In Wentz's absence, the Eagles turned to veteran backup Nick Foles, the last quarterback to suit up in the playoffs for the Eagles, back in a 2014 playoff game against the New Orleans Saints after the 2013 season. Foles was able to close out the victory on Sunday in Los Angeles but looked nowhere near as capable of Wentz of putting the team on his back through the playoffs. Foles will be the starter going forward, with third quarterback Nate Sudfeld moving up to the primary backup spot.
In addition to the ramifications of losing an MVP-caliber starting quarterback during the 2017 season, there will also be questions as to Wentz's readiness to play in 2018. He will almost certainly miss all of the Eagles spring and early summer activities next offseason, with training camp and the start of the 2018 season being in jeopardy as well.
The Eagles clinched the NFC East in the win yesterday, so they will be hosting at least one playoff game at Lincoln Financial Field, and are also in an excellent position to land either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, which would mean a first-round bye. Obviously, however, while they would have been looked at as favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, those odds just took a drastic hit.
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