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Can Tanner McKee beat out Kenny Pickett for Eagles’ No. 2 quarterback job? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Tanner McKee was asked Thursday night if he feels like he’s earned the Eagles’ No. 2 quarterback spot.
“That’s not my decision,” he said.
Then he paused and smiled and said, “I wish it was.”
So do a lot of Eagles fans.
A combination of McKee’s terrific performance against the Patriots and a dreadful evening by Kenny Pickett in the Eagles’ 14-13 win at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., combined to take what was already an interesting competition into a full-blown doozy of a QB controversy.
Pickett, a 26-year-old 1st-round pick with 24 NFL starts under his belt, was overmatched and ineffective, repeatedly hanging onto the ball too long and scrambling aimlessly around the pocket while pressure closed in.
McKee, a 24-year-old 6th-round pick who’s never played a regular-season snap, was confident and sharp, firing quickly and decisively, avoiding pressure and even leading the Eagles on a game-winning 4th-quarter touchdown drive.
By any measure, McKee outplayed Pickett, and it wasn’t even close. Maybe Pickett deserves to be No. 2, but we haven’t seen it.
“Kenny is No. 2 and Tanner is our No. 3, and I am really happy they’re both on the roster,” Nick Sirianni said postgame.
“They’re both doing a nice job. I think Tanner made some really nice throws down the field today with some good anticipation. I’ll have to look at the tape of what happened, but they both had good practices to this date. I thought they both played solid today.”
Understandable that Sirianni is going to protect Pickett, who the Eagles acquired from the Steelers in March. But McKee looked fantastic in two separate 2nd-half stints with backup receivers. He engineered a game-winning 70-yard drive capped by a Kendall Milton TD run and a go-ahead two-point conversion pass to Ainias Smith with 4 ½ minutes left.
McKee has gotten sporadic 2nd-team reps at…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/tanner-mckee-beat-kenny-pickett-144321558.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-08-16 14:43:21
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