On a day where not a single starter received any playing time, the Philadelphia Eagles backups fell in their preseason finale to Anthony Richardson and the Indianapolis Colts Thursday night by a 27-13 final.
Philadelphia got their scoring started early in Thursday’s contest. Devon Allen started the game with a 73-yard kickoff return to give Marcus Mariota and company a short field. Mariota would convert on a key third-and-long while Trey Sermon closed out the opening drive with a two-yard score to put the Birds on top 7-0.
After the two teams traded punts, the Colts would strike back. Starting their first-team offense against the Eagles’ backups, fifth-overall pick Anthony Richardson would lead a six-play, 52-yard drive capped off by a Deon Jackson touchdown run to tie the game at seven.
In total, Richardson finished 6-17 passing for 78 yards. He added 38 yards on the ground. After leading the team down for the game-tying score, the former Florida product began to taunt the home Eagles crowd by mock “flying” in the end zone. A chorus of boos quickly followed Richardson off the field.
After his opening drive three-and-out, Richardson led three straight scoring drives while playing for the entire first half. Indy’s first-round rookie wasn’t the only young quarterback to show off at times at the Linc though.
Tanner McKee, the Eagles sixth-round pick from the same class led a scoring drive his own to give the Birds a 10-7 advantage that was quickly answered by the Colts on the following drive. In total, McKee finished 19-34 passing for 159 yards and two scoring drives. His impressive performance was only overshadowed by a large number of drops and miscues from the receiving core.
After a 10-point swing from Indy to find themselves in a 17-10 deficit, McKee led the offense on an 11-play, 44-yard drive that was aided by a Joseph Ngata 19-yard catch and run on fourth down. Down 17-13 late in the second quarter, the Eagles defense forced a three-and-out but Ngata fumbled on the ensuing drive to effectively end any hope of the team scoring before the half.
In the second half, Gardner Minshew picked apart the rest of the Eagles’ defensive bubble players with a third-quarter scoring strike to Kenyon Drake to put the game out of reach for the hometown Birds.
The loss ended Philadelphia’s preseason record to 0-2-1 and 1-6-2 in the Nick Sirianni era. They open up the 2023 season on the road against the New England Patriots.
Eagles Game Notes
- Jalen Hurts and the starters did not play on Thursday night. It was the first time in his NFL career that Hurts did not appear in an entire preseason slate.
- The running back position battle appears to be over in Philadelphia. Kennedy Brooks, the Oklahoma product, dropped a wide-open touchdown pass from McKee while Sermon averaged just one yard per carry in the loss.
- Nakobe Dean and Zach Cunningham did not play but two depth signings stood out at the linebacker position. Special teams ace Ben VanSumeren tallied a team-high 17 tackles with 12 solo ones. Tyreek Maddox-Williams came away with two passes defended and an interception late in the game to give the team a late jolt. Both could be special teams aces for the club.
- Devon Allen certainly made a name for himself on special teams. While the opening kick return was a big moment, he also made numerous special teams tackles including a strong one during the third quarter. Allen may be a long shot to make the team, but he looked very fast on Thursday night.
- The Eagles need to cut their roster down to 53 by Tuesday at 4:00 pm – ET.
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
