Jets 6, Eagles 0: Five takeaways from the preseason finale

Five takeaways from the Eagles’ 6-0 loss in their preseason finale against the Jets:

It took just two quarters last week against Baltimore for 40-year-old Josh McCown to sew up the season-opening backup quarterback job. McCown, who completed 17 of 24 passes and threw two touchdown passes against the Ravens, watched from the sideline with Carson Wentz on Thursday night as rookie Clayton Thorson played the entire game.

Backup offensive tackle Jordan Mailata, who played almost every snap in the Eagles’ first three preseason games but turned up on the team’s injury report three days after the Baltimore game with a lower-back injury, not only didn’t play Thursday night, but he didn’t even make the trip to the Meadowlands. All of the Eagles’ other offensive linemen, including injured right tackle Lane Johnson (left knee), were at the game. It could be that the Eagles medical staff just didn’t think it made any sense for a guy with a back injury to take a bus trip to North Jersey. Or it could be the injury is more serious than Doug Pederson let on earlier this week when he said Mailata “should be fine.’’

Last year, the Eagles kept six wide receivers to open the season. But because of injuries at other positions, there’s a good possibility they will go with only five this season, at least initially. Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, DeSean Jackson, and rookie J.J. Arcega-Whiteside own the first four spots. The battle for the fifth spot is between Mack Hollins and Greg Ward. Both Hollins, a 2017 fourth-round pick who missed all of last season with multiple groin injuries, and Ward, who has been cut by the Eagles each of the last two summers, played extensively Thursday night.

Ward, who played quarterback at the University of Houston, has had a very good training camp and preseason. Hollins was sidelined for a while with a hamstring injury and hadn’t played a lot until Thursday. There is a belief that the Eagles will keep Hollins because he’s bigger (he’s 6-3; Ward is 5-11) and is a core special-teams player. But Ward also can play special teams, and gives Pederson a gimmick guy on offense. He had a 15-yard run on an end-around in the first quarter against the Jets. There is no chance either player would make it to the practice squad if he get released.

The popular thinking is that the Eagles will keep just four running backs on their roster: Jordan Howard, Miles Sanders, Darren Sproles, and Corey Clement. Odd men out if that’s the case would be Wendell Smallwood and Josh Adams. Both played in the first half Thursday night. Adams had three touches, including a pair of carries that lost a yard. Smallwood had seven carries for 23 yards and lost a fumble. Adams, who led the Eagles in rushing last year with 511 yards, has practice squad eligibility, but he would almost certainly be claimed by someone if he is released. The Eagles likely will try to trade Adams or Smallwood or both.

The Eagles were high on Clayton Thorson when they selected the former Northwestern quarterback in the fifth round of the draft in April. But he has struggled mightily this summer. Thorson completed just 2 of 9 passes for 7 yards with an interception in the Eagles’ first preseason game against Tennessee, bounced back with a decent performance against Jacksonville (16-for-26, 175 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception), but got to throw only one pass last week in the lightning-shortened game against Baltimore. And he wasn’t very impressive against the Jets. The Eagles are expected to cut him and then probably – probably -- try to re-sign him to the practice squad, if only because of the fifth-round investment they made in him.