The Philadelphia Eagles need one more win to wrap up the NFC East and the No. 1 seed in the conference, and their first opportunity to do just that will come on Saturday afternoon against the Dallas Cowboys. The team will head into that game with their backup signal caller under center, though, as head coach Nick Sirianni announced on Thursday morning that Gardner Minshew will start the game.
“Gardner will be our guy and Gardner will be ready,” Sirianni said, per ESPN. “Gardner worked his butt off for this opportunity against a really good football team. He had a great practice [Wednesday].”
Minshew will get the start because of an injury to starting QB Jalen Hurts, who hurt his shoulder in the third quarter of the team’s win over the Chicago Bears this past Sunday. Hurts, the favorite to be named NFL MVP prior to his injury, “did everything he possibly could to get his body ready to go,” according to Sirianni.
Minshew has thrown 64 passes in his two seasons as a member of the Eagles, and has completed 67.2 percent of his attempts with four touchdowns and one interception. Philly and Dallas played earlier this season in Philadelphia, with the Eagles picking up a 26-17 win.