Doug Pederson Refuses to Name Eagles QB, Rips Media for Nick Foles Report

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson isn't naming his starting quarterback for Thursday's matchup against the Atlanta Falcons—even as nearly everyone knows it'll be Nick Foles.

The fact everyone seems to know, though, has Pederson rather perturbed. The Eagles coach opened his press conference Sunday admonishing the media for reporting Foles will start the season opener.

"First of all, I appreciate y'all putting words in my mouth this week," Pederson told reporters. "And therefore, I'm not going to discuss it."

Foles is a lock to start, mostly because Carson Wentz has not been cleared in his recovery from ACL surgery.

Pederson said it was a competitive advantage for him to keep the quarterback decision under wraps for as long as possible.

"We're trying to win a football game," Pederson said. "I don't want to put my game plan out there for everybody to see it and read it and teams can scheme. It just doesn't make a lot of sense."

The Eagles probably would have preferred Atlanta spend its week scouting both Wentz and Foles to give them a competitive advantage. The two quarterbacks have differing skill sets, and the Eagles' Super Bowl run coincided with Pederson altering his game plans to better fit Foles. 

Wentz was possibly on his way to winning the MVP last season before getting hurt. He threw for 3,296 yards and 33 touchdowns against seven interceptions in 13 games.

Foles threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns on his way to winning the MVP in Philly's Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots. 

Wentz will start ahead of Foles when he's healthy.