Philadelphia Eagles to start QB Mark Sanchez in season finale

Once 9-3 and the best in the NFC, the Eagles are now 9-6 and out of the playoffs – and Eagles QB Mark Sanchez will take a lot of blame for that.

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Any ideas that the Philadelphia Eagles would turn back to soon-to-be-recovered QB Nick Foles for their season finale against the hated-rival New York Giants have been dashed as the team has announced that they will start struggling QB Mark Sanchez.

Eagles head coach Chip Kelly, following the team’s devastating 27-24 loss to Washington, announced that Sanchez, and not Foles will remain the starting QB to close out the season in a now-meaningless game against the Eagles’ arch-rival.

“Mark’s our quarterback,” Kelly said on 94WIP. “Again, I thought Mark played a really good game. He goes 37-of-50. He was 37-of-49 before that last pass (an interception). I’m sure he wants that pass back, everybody wants that pass back, but I think Mark played a good game and we’ll continue to go with Mark.”

Sanchez came in as the starter after Nick Foles was injured in Week 9 against the Houston Texans. Sanchez played well enough for the Eagles to pull out the win and was named the interim starter while Foles recovered from a broken clavicle.  Over the next four weeks Sanchez played some of the best football of his career, averaging 300 yards per game, over 62% completion and 7 TDs with 4 INTs and a few turnovers.

But after a dominating performance on the road against the Dallas Cowboys, Sanchez began reverting to his turnover-prone ways that made him a pariah in his former job with the New York Jets. Three straight losses to the Seahawks, Cowboys and finally Washington took the team from a 9-3 record to 9-6. And after the Cowboys beat Washington on Sunday afternoon, the Eagles were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.