What Was Your Favorite Nate Sudfeld Play From Last Night's Electrifying Performance?
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.People forget that the Philadelphia Eagles men's professional American football team also moonlights as a Quarterback Factory. Howie Roseman said it himself. And as a quarterback factory, it is their duty to develop as many different QBs as possible. The only way to see some real development is to get these guys some reps.
So last night's benching of Jalen Hurts wasn't about throwing the game to A) have the 6th overall draft pick instead of the 9th, or B) keeping the Giants out of the playoffs. It was about keeping the lights on at the Quarterback Factory. And with the electricity that Nasty Nate Studfeld provided last night, those lights will be up and running for the rest of eternity.
3rd & 6 from their own 16-yard line. A lesser quarterback in this situation would try to force a pass that would most likely end up just a yard or two short of the first down marker. Then you have to punt deep in your own territory, that punt could end up getting blocked and returned to the end zone. But not Quarterback Factory Padawan Nate Sudfeld. He assesses the situation, crunches all the analytics, and realizes that his best bet is to just arm punt this one to Washington's 45. Just like that, the Eagles don't get a botched punt returned to the house against them.
Show me another quarterback in the National Football League who could get as close to almost recovering that fumbled snap as Sudfeld did right here. The awareness, the alertness. He was so close. And you just can't teach that. Want to know what else you can't teach? Speed.
Chase Young is a freak of nature. The man is a specimen. And he had a 4-yard head start on Nate Sudfeld here when he recovered that fumble. Guess what happened in just the blink of an eye later?
Not only did Sudfeld erase that lead that Chase Young had on him, but he ended up getting around a 3-yard lead himself. Reminds me of another quarterback who used to wear #7 for the Philadelphia Eagles.
And how about the elusiveness here?
Look at that footwork in the pocket. The Quarterback Factory purposefully neglects the offensive line position because the Quarterback Factory needs to test your skills. So Sudfeld could have easily taken a sack here which would result in a loss of at least 8 yards. But instead, he steps up in the pocket and turns a 8-yard loss into only like a 4-yard loss.
5-for-12, 32 yards, 1 INT, 1 Fumble, 1 being faster than Chase Young, 1 sack that could have easily been a worse sack. That's just one quarter's worth of stats right there, folks. The jury is still very much out on Nasty Nate, and the Quarterback Factory deserved to put its products on display last night.
Just remember what Doug Pederson said on top of the Art Museum steps 3 years ago. "Get used to this. This is the new norm in Philadelphia".
Go Birds.