ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio calls for NFL to investigate Eagles, Doug Pederson for tanking

Is it too early to call it Tank-gate?

It’s been more than 12 hours since the Washington Football Team clinched the NFC East division title with a 20-14 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. Problem is, the Eagles had 10 starters inactive for the game. Making matters worse, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson pulled starting quarterback Jalen Hurts in the second half, benching him for backup Nate Sudfeld, who hadn’t thrown a pass in the regular season since 2018.

On the surface, it appeared as if the Eagles were tanking the game. And therein lies the problem, because if the Eagles had won the game, the New York Giants would’ve clinched the division title.

In media interviews Monday, Pederson stuck by his story that Sudfeld gave the Eagles their best chance to win. ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio, who’s covered the Eagles for years, wasn’t buying Pederson’s excuse and wants the NFL to do something about this mess, based on what he said Monday on The Dan Patrick Show.

Paolantonio: “If I’m the NFL, if I’m Roger Goodell, I’m putting on my Kenesaw Mountain Landis pants on right now and I’m doing a forensic investigation of what went down.

Patrick: “You’re being serious?”

Paolantonio: “Totally. Two-thousand percent.”

For those of you unfamiliar with Kenesaw Mountain Landis, he was the commissioner of Major League Baseball for the Chicago Black Sox scandal and banned eight players for life after they threw the 1919 World Series.

Despite Paolantonio’s plea (”I think it’s worth the time of the league to find out what happened”), there’s a very good chance the NFL will do nothing. Per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero:

The NFL’s longstanding position has been that it’s solely the club’s decision regarding who to play, for now long, etc. So while the circumstances (Sunday) are unique, the #Eagles aren’t the first team to play backups in Week 17, and the league historically hasn’t gotten involved.

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Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.