Tanner McKee walked out of the Eagles’ locker room at MetLife Stadium with the injured finger on his right hand hidden in his pocket.
What couldn’t be hidden is how unprepared his backup is to play NFL football.
No word on how serious McKee’s injury is or how long he’ll be out. We know Jalen Hurts’ back-up doesn’t need surgery, but with opening day 12 days away we don’t know much else.
Except that Kyle McCord isn’t ready if God forbid something happens to Hurts.
McCord struggled again Friday night in the Eagles’ preseason finale, and while he’s ahead of Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who didn’t play at all against the Jets, the prospect of McCord having to play meaningful snaps is a scary one.
“It was all right, some good, some bad,” McCord said in the visitor’s locker room at MetLife Stadium after the Eagles beat the Jets 19-17 in the preseason finale.
“Obviously, I wish I had a few reads back, a few throws back, but then at the same time I feel like there were some good plays, some good things that I did.
“I felt like we left some points on the field, but at the end of the day made enough plays to win. So definitely some positives but a lot to clear up, which is exciting.”
McCord threw 35 passes in the Eagles’ 19-17 win over the Jets, completing just 15 of them for 136 yards. That’s 3.9 yards per attempt. The only NFL quarterback with a yards-per-attempt that low last year was Thompson-Robinson. The last Eagles quarterback with an average that low was George Mira in 1969.
McCord didn’t complete a pass longer than 19 yards, threw his second interception of the preseason and finished with a 42.1 passer rating, lowest by an Eagles quarterback in a preseason game since Clayton Thorson’s 38.0 mark – also against the Jets at MetLife – in 2019.
The Eagles released Thorson, their rookie 5th-round pick, a few days later. With McKee dealing with the finger and DTR having an even worse camp than McCord, they don’t have that luxury with McCord, their rookie 6th-round pick.
Nick Sirianni didn’t exactly give McCord a glowing vote of confidence postgame Friday.
“Obviously, he had some good plays and he had some missed opportunities,” he said. “So we’ll have to watch the tape, but he did some nice things. Ran the show well and played some good situational football to help us get some points.”
Is he ready if he has to play?
“I feel good about this roster as a whole and where we are right now at all positions,” he said.
OK then.
Maybe expectations are unfair for a 22-year-old rookie 6th-round pick. But McKee’s injury does magnify the situation.
“It’s just constant growth every day,” McCord said. “And sometimes it’s a good day and that’s kind of reassuring knowing that you’re moving in the right direction, but some days aren’t as good as the others. But you have to learn from those and get better.
“So as long as you just continue to stay on that trajectory of getting better every day, especially being a younger guy in this league. I think that’s all you can ask for.”
McCord’s interception came when he heaved a deep ball down the right sideline toward Darius Cooper, squarely into double coverage. It was the kind of mistake you don’t expect from a guy who threw just 20 college interceptions in 998 pass attempts.
“Yeah, just too aggressive a decision,” he said. “Obviously you want to try to push the ball downfield and make plays, But in that one, probably should have just come off that read and dropped my eyes to (John) Metchie, who was open on that play. So that’s on nobody but the quarterback.
“We want to push the ball down the field, but we have to do it when the opportunity presents itself.”
McCord’s 43.1 passer rating for the entire preseason is worst by an Eagles quarterback throwing at least 30 passes since 2010, when Mike Kafka – now the Giants’ offensive coordinator – had a 41.2 rating on 59 passes. Kafka and Thorson both played college football at Northwestern.
What options do the Eagles have?
This close to opening day it’s going to be almost impossible to find a quarterback on the street who would be a better option than McCord, who’s been here since April. Maybe the Browns will release Kenny Pickett, who was here last year and is a capable veteran. Maybe things will click in a hurry for McCord, who was one of the best quarterbacks in the BCS last year at Syracuse.
You know Howie Roseman will be scouring the waiver wire to see if he can find some help for the Quarterback Factory. But the reality is that DTR will probably be released, McCord isn’t ready, McKee is hurt and the Cowboys come to town next week.
Until then, it’s just a matter of coaching McCord up as much as possible. Just in case.
“It was great learning, great experience,” McCord said post-game. “Excited to go back, watch the film, see the areas I can improve on. And obviously, see the areas where I did well.
“So take everything into context and just put my head down and keep getting better.”
