Kelce: 'At No Point was Anything Confrontational'

The Eagles offseason is less than a week old and its already like an episode of 'As The World Turns'.

After the Eagles season ending loss against Washington, Pederson was asked if he coached to win the game, after he pulled starter Jalen Hurts in favor of third-stringer Nate Sudfeld.

"Pretty simple. I wanted to get -- the plan this week was to get Nate some time," Pederson said on Sunday night. "I felt like it was the time to get him in the game."

On Monday the Eagles had Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson address the media, and after a day of thinking it over Pederson doubled down on that way of thinking.

"My plan was to get Nate in the game," Pederson explained on Monday. "Nate's a guy that's very capable of running our system and executing, and an opportunity to pull that game out last night."

The optics said otherwise.

While Hurts wasn't playing very well, completing just 7-of-20 passes for 72 yards and an interception before getting pulled, Sudfeld really struggled in the game.

“As a competitor, I play to win," Hurts stated. You have to trust it.

"Nate has worked really hard all year and I think he’s a great player," Hurts said Sunday night. "Coach Pederson wanted to give him an opportunity at some point in the game and he was given an opportunity. Obviously, like I said, me being a competitor, I talk about winning all the time and going out there and trying to win all the time. That’s what I’m all about. But like I said, I trust coach with that. That’s all I can do.”

The 27-year old completed just five of 12 passes for 32 yards with an interception and a fumble during his one quarter of play.

It was reported by veteran Eagles reporter Jeff McLane from the Philadelphia Inquire that Eagles players were "shocked" and "outraged" by Pederson's decision to bench Hurts in favor of Sudfeld.

"If i'm being honest, nobody liked the decision," Eagles running back Miles Sanders told a Philadelphia Radio station. "All I know is a lot of people were confused."

While Sanders might be right, maybe some of the players were confused, but Sanders didn't play in the game, along with multiple other starters.

Maybe he missed the message.

On Wednesday, veteran center Jason Kelce took a different angle.

"At no point was anything from me or anyone else confrontational," Kelce said on his Instagram account.

"We all knew leading into the game that Sudfeld was told to be ready to play and that Doug wanted to see what he could do in a game situation."