Carson Wentz benched: Jalen Hurts named Week 15 starter vs. Cardinals after leading Eagles to win over Saints

It's more sideline duty for Wentz in Week 15

For a second straight week, Carson Wentz will be relegated to sideline duty. The Philadelphia Eagles were hoping for another spark with rookie second-round pick Jalen Hurts in Week 14, after head coach Doug Pederson liked what he saw when swapping quarterbacks against the Green Bay Packers. It worked, because Hurts made things difficult for the New Orleans Saints -- a team that entered the game with a 10-2 record atop the NFC -- landing his first career NFL win and complicating the playoff picture in the process. Initially, Pederson would not name a starter for Week 15, but he made up his mind in short order. 

Hurts will get his second NFL start when the Eagles visit the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Pederson announced the morning after seeing the 22-year-old lead his team both on the ground and in the air. This will continue to fuel rabid speculation regarding the future of Wentz in Philadelphia, although recent reports state the team intends to keep him onboard and potentially entertain reinserting him as starter in 2021 -- assuming they don't have a reason to go back to him to close out the 2020 season.

Finding himself on the coaching hot seat to close out the season, Pederson is going with the hot hand and presumably not looking back. Hurts wasn't a world-beater with his arm against the Saints, throwing for only 167 yards on 17 completions with 30 attempts, but he did not toss an interception and his 15-yard touchdown toss to wideout Alshon Jeffrey was a timely one, giving the Eagles a seven-point lead to open the second quarter and breaking a 0-0 deadlock. The majority of his damage was done on the ground, where he rushed for 105 yards on 18 attempts and became the first quarterback in seven decades to rush for more than 100 yards in his first NFL start.

Given his play on Sunday, and despite a justifiably overlooked lost fumble, it felt a foregone conclusion the Eagles would allow Hurts to keep the job of QB1 as they ready for the Cardinals. In making it official, and quickly, Pederson is making it clear where his current loyalties lie: in winning games and saving his job.