Well, that was ugly. The Eagles rested a bunch of their starters, and most of the players who did suit up played some pretty uninspiring football. The Patriots won 35-0, and it was clear early on that Thursday was going to be a long night for Eagles fans.
Now, this is the preseason. Not much of this matters. Many of these players won’t even make the final roster. There isn’t a real gameplan. Both sides don’t want to show much in terms of strategy or playbooks, especially a first-year head coach like Nick Sirianni. But still, there wasn’t a lot to like here. Normally, you’d at least like to see some young players perform well and continue their push for a roster spot. There wasn’t much of that on Thursday.
Patriots at Eagles Instant Observations
Jalen Hurts was a late scratch
One of the storylines to watch coming into Thursday night’s game was Jalen Hurts and the “quarterback battle.” No one expected this to be much of a battle, but Hurts needs the reps. The Eagles got the better of the Patriots throughout their joint practices this week, but they undoubtedly wanted to see more of him in a “live” game on Thursday night. Unfortunately, Hurts was reportedly dealing with stomach pain and, despite warming up with the team, was sent to the hospital for further evaluation. According to reports, he has a stomach bug and was told to stay home for two days but is expected to be fine.
Many other starters didn’t play
In addition to Hurts, many of the team’s other starters also didn’t play. The offensive line was reportedly scheduled to start and play together at least for a series or two, but Nick Sirianni decided to rest most of them once Hurts was ruled out. On the defensive side, starters such as Fletcher Cox, Darius Slay, Brandon Graham, and others also didn’t play. This looked more like a fourth preseason game than a second time, but the times they are a changin’ in the NFL.
No push up front
Yes, the Eagles defense sat most of their starters. But the ones who did play didn’t play particularly well, especially the defensive line. The defensive line got no pressure on the quarterback and no push on running plays. The game began with many of the Patriots starters against mostly Eagles backups, but nothing changed even when it was reserves against reserves. The Eagles didn’t record any sacks on the night while allowing 279 yards passing and 207 yards rushing.
Zech McPhearson had a ROUGH start to this one
With Slay out, Zech McPhearson started at outside cornerback. Cam Newton and the Patriots targeted him immediately and had instant success. These two tweets sum up his early performance:
DeVonta Smith’s debut
Smith’s debut was fine, I guess. He nearly came up with a deep pass downfield from Joe Flacco but wasn’t able to get turned around quickly enough for a back-shoulder throw along the sideline. He dropped another pass over the middle that was behind him. But he did get open on a couple of short routes and showed he can get off the ball well and generate some separation.
Jack Stoll
Jack Stoll was everyone’s favorite sleeper coming into training camp, though he took a back seat to Tyree Jackson due to the latter’s meteoric rise. With Jackson headed for injured reserve, veteran tight end Richard Rodgers is looking more and more like a lock to make the roster. But Stoll isn’t going down without a fight. He caught four of his seven targets for 33 yards on Thursday, and both of those actually led the team on a disappointing evening.
Jason Croom
Fellow tight end Jason Croom went down with a non-contact injury that has serious knee injury written all over it. He was a longshot to make the final roster, but you hate to see players go down like that in these games.
Where was Travis Fulgham?
Is Travis Fulgham on the outs with this new coaching staff? He didn’t play much in the first half and played on special teams throughout the game, including late in the game when many “starters” had been on the bench for a few quarters. He had zero receptions for zero yards on one target.
Kenny Gainwell
Kenny Gainwell (or Kenneth Gainwell, not sure which he prefers) flashed in the second half. He and Stoll were probably two of the only bright spots on Thursday night. Elijah Holyfield flashed late, as well, but he is a real longshot to crack the final roster. Gainwell rushed five times for 21 yards and caught all three of his targets for 23 yards. I think we’re going to see a lot of Gainwell this season.
Final Notes
We could go on, but there really isn’t a lot to talk about here. The Eagles rested most of their starters, and the players who did suit up appeared uninterested. That isn’t great. Many Eagles fans are going to worry about this performance. Don’t. This really means nothing. Sure, there are some individual takeaways that are more concerning than others, but you should never care about preseason results. Nick Sirianni made it clear that he doesn’t care about them. It will be interesting to see how Sirianni and co. approach the final preseason game, but we may see some starters after what we saw on Thursday.
What did you see tonight? Reach out on Twitter and let us know.
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Mike Maher is the editor and publisher of The Birds Blitz and Juiced Ball Era. Follow him on Twitter @mikeMaher and @TheBirdsBlitz and check out his Eagles news archive for all of his latest stories about the Eagles and the NFL.
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