Washington's Garrett Gilbert Expected to Face Eagles Tuesday

The longtime backup will make just the second start of his career in a game with major wildcard implications

PHILADELPHIA - Joe Webb was supposed to be a pushover for the Eagles 11 years ago.

Along comes Garrett Gilbert, now, the expected starting quarterback for the Washington Football Team in their Tuesday night matchup against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

Taylor Heinicke and his backup, Kyle Allen, were unable to emerge from COVID-19 protocols after tests administered late Tuesday afternoon, so it will be Gilbert making just the second start of an NFL career that began in 2014. Washington signed him early last week off the practice squad of the New England Patriots.

Heinicke and Allen stayed behind as the team left the facility and headed north up I-95 for the game. The team had hoped one or both could test out of the COVID protocols and hop on a private plane and fly in as the 7 p.m. kickoff got closer.

In a game with major playoff wildcard implications, the NFL postponed the Eagles game with Washington from Sunday until Tuesday so the Football Team could get some players back from the COVID list. 

Six of the 21 on that list were able to pass positive and be activated for the game, including defensive end Montez Sweat.

With Gilbert lining up behind center, the betting line for the game moved from the Eagles getting six points up to 10.

Gilbert has been involved in 29 different transactions during his long and uneventful career. His other start came against the Cowboys in 2020. In a 24-19 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, he completed 21 of 38 passes for 243 yards with one TD, one INT, and a passer rating of 72.6.

The CVS receipt that is Garrett Gilbert’s transaction history. #WFTvsPHI pic.twitter.com/zm0qhWKANO

— John McMullen (@JFMcMullen) December 21, 2021

His backup will be either Kyle Shurmur, the son of longtime NFL assistant coach pat Shurmur who played at La Salle High School in suburban Philadelphia before going to Vanderbilt, or Jordan Ta'amu.

It sounds like the Eagles could win big, but, of course, they were favored in late December 2010, when a snowstorm forced a postponement of their game against the Minnesota Vikings from Sunday to Tuesday.

That was the first time the NFL played on Tuesday since 1946, and it did not go well. Webb wasn’t so much the problem, throwing for just 195 yards, but it was the Eagles’ inability to stop Adrian Peterson, who had 118 yards rushing, and the inability of quarterback Michael Vick to protect the football.

Vick turned the ball over three times in the 24-14 loss. Two of those were fumbles and one was returned 45 yards by Antoine Winfield for a touchdown.

The shocking loss left the Eagles at 10-5 and they ended up losing their two remaining games, including the wildcard playoff game to the Green Bay Packers.

Like Minnesota, the WFT has a dangerous running back in Antonio Gibson, who is seventh in the league in ground yards with 836, averaging 3.98 yards per carry.

Meanwhile, the Eagles are expected to have Jalen Hurts back at quarterback.

Hurts sprained his ankle against the New York Giants on Nov. 28 and hasn’t played since, though the Eagles had only one game in that span. Gardner Minshew started that one against the New York Jets on Dec. 5 and led the Eagles to a 33-18 win.

The Eagles, with their bye week, have been off for 16 days.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.