Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee looked every bit like an NFL starter in preseason opener
Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee looked every bit like an NFL starter in preseason opener originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
We've spent a good chunk of the summer asking where Jalen Hurts ranks among NFL quarterbacks.
Maybe we've been asking the wrong question.
Because after Thursday night, it's fair to wonder where Tanner McKee ranks. How many NFL starters is he better than? Is he a top-20 quarterback? Is he really this good? What sort of assets would it take for Howie Roseman to unload him to a quarterback-desperate team?
All good questions.
McKee looked for all the world like a starting-caliber quarterback Thursday night in the Eagles' preseason opener. And not just a starter but a plus starter.
Firing to a bunch of bottom-of-the-roster receivers, McKee completed 20 of 25 passes for 252 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in the first half and one series in the third quarter.
McKee's six drives looked like this: TD-FG-Punt-TD-TD-FG.
He put up 27 points in about 35 minutes, much of it against a Bengals defense including several starters.
This is the Tanner McKee we've seen whenever he's played or practiced. And maybe even better.
It felt good, felt like we were moving the ball, which is always fun," McKee said after the Eagles opened the preseason with a 34-27 win at the Linc. You never really know (how you played) until you watch film. There are things like, Oh man, I missed that' or whatever. But overall, moved the ball well, had a lot of guys that made great plays. So the feeling is good."
Maybe McKee needs to watch film to know how he played, but he might be the only one. It was obvious to everyone else.
Whether it's practice, a preseason game or his two regular-season appearances late last year - when he threw four TDs and no interceptions against the Cowboys and Giants - McKee always does the same things: Makes big plays down the field, doesn't turn the ball over, finds the open man quickly, involves everybody in the offense, throws with accuracy and anticipation and gets the ball into the end zone.
He's got two years left under his rookie contract and he's only started one game in his life. But when you watch him play, you see an NFL-caliber starter.
If he's thinking ahead to that time, McKee won't let on.
I'm just going to take advantage of any opportunity that's given to me," he said. Right now, it's getting ready for the Browns for next week and obviously earlier today was getting ready for the Bengals. So obviously I'm just going to be looking for the next week and ready for whatever happens, whether they're playing their starters, the backups, whatever happens. We'll be ready to move the ball and execute.
The standard's still the same no matter who's in front of us. I always like it as an offense, it is always on us. It's never on the defense, so it doesn't matter who's across the line, they could know what we're doing, but as long as we execute, we should still be able to move the ball."
Remember, McKee was playing Thursday night behind a makeshift offensive line of backups - other than one series by right guard Tyler Steen - and he was throwing to a collection of late-round picks, undrafted rookies and deep backups.
Yet he made play after play, with completions of 28, 27, 20, 18, 16, 16, 15, 15, 15, 12 and 11 yards. Thirteen of his 20 completions were either touchdowns or double-digit gains.
He did a lot of good things," Nick Sirianni said. Went to the right place with the football, was accurate, had really good operation, him and Kevin (Patullo), a lot of communication, and Scot (Loeffler). Yeah, he did a really nice job."
The offense hummed along very efficiently in Patullo's first game as offensive coordinator.
The Eagles don't gameplan for preseason games and the offense is vanilla and the starters aren't playing. But when you can pile up 432 yards, including 262 in the first half and 393 through three quarters against a team playing its starters for the first half, that's impressive.
Will Shipley (7-for-48) and A.J. Dillon (5-for-27) ran the ball well, Darius Cooper (6-for-82) and Johnny Wilson (3-for-37) caught the ball well and McKee - like he always does - made the whole thing work.
It's great as a quarterback just to be able to run the ball, and it keeps the defense honest, too," he said. They can't play sky coverage and have two deep safeties the whole time. They're going to have to roll down and put guys in the box and that opens up things in the pass (game).
It's really nice when you're firing on all cylinders. You can run the ball, you pass the ball, and obviously they compliment each other."
Remember, this is McKee's first year as the Eagles' No. 2 and Thursday night was his first preseason game as a starter.
The (past) preseason games, it's kind of like, All right, I'm ready just in case.' I don't know if I'm going second quarter, third quarter, whatever it is. So it's nice going in and just knowing when you're going to play."