Nick Sirianni still undecided about playing starters in Week 18

Nick Sirianni still undecided about playing starters in Week 18 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Eagles are locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC entering their Week 18 regular season finale against the Giants, which means it’s decision time for Nick Sirianni.

Is he going to rest his starters?

“Still not there,” the head coach said on Monday afternoon. “And then, I gave the players off today. They’ll be back in, in a couple days. By the next time I talk to you (reporters), they’ll be back in. I’ll always inform them before I inform anybody else.

“I know you guys are going to want that answer as soon as you guys can get it. I’ll try to help you guys do your job as much as I possibly can but I’ll always inform our players of things first. Still sorting through things right now at this particular moment.”

The Eagles have now played a game in 12 straight weeks since an early Week 5 bye week and will be hosing either the Packers or Commanders in the first round of the playoffs in a couple weeks. So this is the only possible chance for some rest before the Eagles go on what they hope will be a long playoff run.

Of course, there has to be at least some temptation to play the starters on offense and give Saquon Barkley a shot at breaking Eric Dickerson’s all-time single-season rushing record. Barkley surpassed the 2,000-yard mark on Sunday and is 101 yards away from breaking Dickerson’s record of 2,105 rushing yards back in 1984.

Several Eagles offensive starters on Sunday evening said they want to play in Week 18 to go for the record. But this team also has bigger goals than an individual record in the regular season. They want to win a Super Bowl.

Another wrinkle in this discussion is the status of starting QB Jalen Hurts, who missed the division-clinching win over the Cowboys with a concussion. If Hurts is able to clear the NFL’s concussion protocol this week, would there be value in seeing him in Week 18?

“You take everything into account,” Sirianni said. “Try to do the best thing for the team and try to do the best thing for each individual player as well. That’s where we’ll be. No decisions yet on anything.”

Based on the way the Eagles typically handle these situations, it seems likely the Eagles rest their starters or at least get them out of Sunday’s game against the Giants early.

If that happens, it means valuable reps for their backups. Those snaps help the individual players but they also help the team from an evaluation standpoint.

“Anytime anybody is able to play game reps and meaningful snaps in the NFL, that’s huge,” Sirianni said. “It gives you an evaluation process, it gives those guys an opportunity who haven’t gotten an opportunity to play, an opportunity to play in meaningful reps. That’s always huge when you can do that. Like I said, we’ll see where we are with that. But a good opportunity if that is the way we go.”

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