August 28, 2018
Who is going to start at quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons? That is a question Doug Pederson says he'll know the answer to soon, however, he won't necessarily reveal publicly who the starter will be at that time.
"Privately, probably Friday," Pederson said. "(Publicly), probably 90 minutes."
By "90 minutes," Pederson was referring to the NFL's deadline prior to kickoff to release the inactive list and name the starters.
In my view, that's all nonsense. The belief here is that the Eagles already know who will start Week 1, and have known for some time.
So why not just say who it is?
Well, by delaying the decision, it forces the Falcons to prepare for both quarterbacks, as opposed to just one or the other. It's debatable how much of an advantage that actually is, but in a league in which teams go way out of their way for every little possible competitive boost, surely the Eagles are not going to do the Falcons any favors by allowing them to zero in on one player's tape over the other.
Realistically, the decision will be known well before "90 minutes" before kickoff. Word will get out by Monday, at the latest. Monday will likely be the media's first access to the players after they have begun practicing the game plan against the Falcons. It will be crystal clear to the players at that time who the starter will be, as that quarterback will get the first-team reps. The media will certainly find a way to break at least one of the 63 players on the roster at that time, if the Eagles are steadfast in trying to keep it a secret.
And so, Howie Roseman will probably text Adam Schefter who the starting quarterback will be sometime on Monday morning.
The expectation here is that it will be Carson Wentz.
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