Doug Pederson has to make QB decision but may not tell

PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles coach Doug Pederson said he likely needs to make a decision on a starting quarterback for the opener against the Atlanta Falcons by the end of the week, though he hinted that the public reveal may come later.

"Deadline? 90 minutes before kickoff," said Pederson on when he needs to make an announcement. "Privately? Probably Friday."

The Eagles play the Falcons on Thursday, Sept. 6, so things will quickly accelerate into regular-season mode after this Thursday's preseason finale against the New York Jets. For now, Carson Wentz and Nick Foles are splitting reps evenly at practice, per Pederson.

Wentz, recovering from a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee, has not yet been cleared for contact. There are only a precious few days remaining for the medical staff to give him the green light if he's to reach his long-established goal of playing Week 1.

"When you get into the regular season and start game-planning, yeah, you want whoever that gentleman is going to be to take the full complement of reps," Pederson said.

The first full practice in preparation for the Falcons will be Sunday.

Wentz returned to full team drills on Aug. 19 after being limited to 7-on-7 work the two weeks prior.

"When he came back into the 11-on-11, one of the noticeable changes or differences was just his lower body strength and how well he's progressed through his rehab and conditioning," said Pederson. "I would say right now physically he's probably stronger than say Nick or Joe [Callahan] or even Christian [Hackenberg] because those guys have been practicing and getting all the time, so I think it's realistic to say he's probably a little bit more conditioned at this point of camp than the other guys."