Eagles backups fail to generate fireworks in preseason opener, fall 24-7 at Ravens
In a game that mostly included reserves for both sides, Sean Mannion and the new look Birds offense struggled to generate points.
BALTIMORE — The end zone was nearly as elusive for the Eagles as the intrigue that surrounded the game.
The Eagles dropped their preseason opener, 24-7, to the Baltimore Ravens, a contest in which most of the starters on both sides rested. But while the Ravens offense managed to move the ball, picking up 440 net yards, the Eagles mustered just 159.
The Ravens picked up 31 first downs. The Eagles had just six.
The Ravens incurred three penalties. The Eagles were slapped with 10.
Here is our instant analysis of the Eagles’ first game of the preseason:
Plight of the passers
It’s preseason for everyone, including the Eagles’ veteran depth quarterbacks.
With Jalen Hurts and the rest of the Eagles offensive starters scratched, Andy Dalton was the first quarterback up. He had a shaky showing through three possessions, completing three of six pass attempts for 20 yards, good for a 57.6 quarterback rating.
His longest completion was to camp darling Darius Cooper on an 8-yard out-breaker on the second play of the game. But Cooper and Dalton also had a pair of failed hookups. On the second drive, Dalton’s pass on third-and-6 from the Eagles’ 43-yard line sailed incomplete over the middle of the field in an apparent miscommunication with the 24-year-old receiver.
On third-and-5 from the Eagles’ 36 on the third drive, Dalton’s pass for Cooper on a vertical route deflected off of the receiver’s hands.
Dalton and the Eagles offense failed to pick up a first down in those three possessions, going three-and-out on each occasion.
“It’s preseason still,” Dalton said. “There’s a lot of vanilla looks. So I think that played a little bit of a factor into it. Now, we got ourselves in some tough situations with some penalties and some negative plays that affected it. ... Just not getting that first first down. We never got into a rhythm.”
Tanner McKee took over for Dalton halfway through the second quarter. He suffered the same fate as Dalton on his first drive — a three-and-out — but fared better on his second.
The Eagles failed to score on that possession, but McKee completed two of his three passing attempts, a 12-yard in-breaker for Cooper and a 6-yard screen to Britain Covey. The 12-yarder to Cooper earned the Eagles their first first down of the game with eight minutes and 24 seconds remaining in the first half.
Still, McKee wasn’t much better than Dalton. On 19 plays through five drives, McKee went 6-for-10 for 35 yards (66.7 quarterback rating). He was sacked once.
“I think whenever a game goes like that, yeah, it’s disappointing,” McKee said. “It’s good to get reps like that to learn from. A lot of times in camp, you make a mistake and obviously you want to play perfect. You never want to make mistakes. But if you can never make that mistake again, then it’s worth the mistake.
“We had a lot of mistakes that we put on film. Obviously, I’m included as well. And as long as we don’t make those same mistakes, I think it’s going to be a positive.”
Cole Payton, the fifth-rounder out of North Dakota State, took over early in the fourth quarter. He led the lone Eagles’ scoring drive of the game just before the two-minute warning, connecting with wide receiver Erik Ezukanma on a 6-yard scramble-drill touchdown pass.
The most exciting play of the game occurred six plays before the touchdown, when Payton converted a fourth-and-3 with his legs, picking up 17 yards on a scramble.
Payton went 4-for-9 for 37 yards and a touchdown (93.3 quarterback rating) on 14 plays.
Defensive risers
Despite the final score, a slew of Eagles depth defenders showed promise with almost all of the starters sidelined.
Jihaad Campbell was the only projected starter who took snaps, playing alongside Jeremiah Trotter Jr. for the first two Ravens possessions before returning to the sideline for the night. But it was Trotter Jr. who turned heads, especially on the Ravens’ opening drive.
On first-and-10 from the Eagles’ 28, Trotter Jr. blitzed the A gap and overwhelmed left guard Emery Jones Jr., tripping up Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley at the line of scrimmage for a sack.
On the ensuing play, Ty Robinson took advantage of the same guard, using him as a turnstile on his way to sacking Huntley for a loss of seven yards. The back-to-back sacks forced the Ravens to settle for a 49-yard field goal attempt, which kicker Tyler Loop missed wide right.
The secondary had standouts, too. Late in the second quarter, Kelee Ringo was flagged for defensive pass interference while grabbing at Ravens receiver Xavier Guillory in the end zone. But on the ensuing play, Ringo stuck with Guillory on a deep crossing route, and as Ravens quarterback Joe Fagnano rolled to his right, Ringo jumped in front of the receiver in the back of the end zone and made the interception.
Members of the secondary continued to make plays on the ball. Late in the third quarter, cornerback Shaun Wade forced a fumble on Ravens receiver Elijah Sarratt, which was recovered by cornerback Ambry Thomas at the Eagles’ 24-yard line.
Smael Mondon and Joshua Weru also had back-to-back quarterback hits in the third quarter. Their plays led the Ravens to settle for a 42-yard field goal, which put them up, 10-0.
Get in the (outside) zone
Despite the overall ineffectiveness of a very vanilla Eagles offense in the first game of the preseason, there were some encouraging moments, especially in the run game.
On McKee’s second possession, third-year running back Will Shipley had a strong series, picking up 22 yards on four carries (5.5 yards per carry). The outside zone carries were effective. Shipley picked up eight yards on his first rush of the drive, bouncing to his right and running behind tight end E.J. Jenkins before he got tripped up by Ravens safety K’Von Wallace.
The Eagles lost some momentum late in that series when center Jake Majors was called for holding, wiping out a Shipley 8-yard run.
“I think that drive was a good one, in terms of being able to put the ball on the ground and just run the football,” Shipley said. “Those boys up front were doing a great job. I think you saw the momentum. We were carrying it on and, again, we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot with a penalty and weren’t able to get back on track.”
Shipley relieved Tank Bigsby, the likely backup to Saquon Barkley. Bigsby had just two carries for five yards.
Injury report
Jakorian Bennett, who started at outside cornerback opposite Ringo, was injured early in the first quarter and did not return to the game.
