What To Watch For In Eagles Second Preseason Game

The Philadelphia Eagles will host the New England Patriots on Thursday night (7:30 P.M.) in their second preseason game. The two squads have spent the last couple of days participating in joint practices at the Novacare Complex.

 

Many insiders who attended these joint practices have been impressed with the young Eagles squad. It’s not just the Eagles insiders, either.

 

 

The fact that Patriots insiders are just as impressed, if not more so, than Eagles insiders should tell you a lot about Hurts’ progression since the beginning of camp. More on that later.

 

The Birds will look to build off of their strong first half showing in last week’s preseason contest. While the Eagles did end up losing that game, they thoroughly dominated the first half with their first and second stringers. With the roster and coaching staff littered with inexperience, it’s encouraging to see how good they looked in their first dress rehearsal.

 

Week One’s Stars

 

Anything and everything that happens in preseason should be taken with a grain of salt. With that being said, Jalen Hurts has Hall of Fame potential and Quez Watkins makes Jerry Rice look like Todd Pinkston.

 

Jokes aside, those were the two Birds that impressed the most last week. Hurts was the most efficient he’s ever been in the NFL. His first two pass attempts on the opening drive showed exactly what fans wanted to see from him.

 

The first completion was a broken play that saw Hurts leave the pocket and connect with Zach Ertz. This was a play where we might have seen Hurts take off and run instead of keeping his eyes down field in a similar situation last season. The second attempt was a bullet on a corner route from Dallas Goedert that showed off Hurts’ arm strength. If that throw wasn’t put in as good of a spot as it was, it could have easily been intercepted or fallen incomplete. There have been doubts about Hurts’ ability to complete those exact routes, so it was definitely encouraging to see him make that throw early on.

 

Those two plays ended up being the highlights of the day for Hurts. His next two pass attempts were dropped, but could have easily been caught. He also missed on a deep ball to the aforementioned Watkins, who had beaten his guy by a couple of steps and likely would have scored. The deep ball is one of Hurts’ strengths, so don’t be too discouraged by that misfire.

 

Hurts has built off the momentum from last Thursday’s game and reportedly had his most consistent showings in practice this week. He has been winning teammates over with his on field performance, as well as his off field intangibles. The on the field stuff is most important, but the off the field things are the sweet cherry on top. Hopefully it continues to translate in games.

 

 

Quez Watkins has continued to impress in the joint practices this week after his breakout game against the Steelers. He’s shined so brightly that many have projected him to be in starting lineup alongside Devonta Smith and Jalen Reagor. Watkins beat Patriots starting cornerback J.C. Jackson in a one-on-one drill badly, and the play resulted in a fairly easy touchdown. J.C. Jackson is no slouch either, he had the second most interceptions in the entire league a season ago.

 

Look for Watkins to get a decent amount of playing time Thursday night. He could potentially get playing time with the starters as well as the second unit, much like he did last week. I’m eager to see how he does against a decent New England secondary.

 

 

Camp Champs

 

Jalen Reagor might be the most interesting storyline to follow in Eagles camp this year. His camp got off to a rocky start when he failed his conditioning test and was constantly being berated by the new head coach. Since then, Reagor has made not one, but two impressive one handed catches that look eerily similar to each other.

 

 

Yet, he has still had his inconsistencies. In last week’s game, Reagor started but didn’t do anything overly impressive. Outside of his one catch for 13 yards, his performance was fairly disappointing. He had a key drop on the Eagles opening drive on what appeared to be a catchable ball. He also misread a lot of his punt returns, allowing the Steelers to down the ball inside the Eagles ten-yard line.

 

That erratic performance has mirrored his entire camp. Yes, the highlight plays are mesmerizing and make you want to believe in the kid. On the flip side, he is also reportedly dropping the easy catches. He’s had drops on routes he’s worked hard to get open on, and drops when there isn’t a defender lined up against him.

 

Reagor’s inconsistencies seem to be mostly mental. He clearly has incredible skills, as there aren’t many people on this planet that can make the catch he made above. That being said, he’s going to be in a lot more game situations where the easy catch is required and the acrobatics aren’t. Fans should be watching Reagor like a hawk Thursday night.

 

Quarterback-turned-tight end Tyree Jackson was off to a superb start. He was impressing in training camp, and had a solid debut in last week’s preseason opener. He tallied 2 receptions for 32 yards and was likely robbed of a third catch because of who was playing quarterback and offensive line.

 

Unfortunately, Jackson suffered a fractured bone in his back while attempting to make a catch in the back of the end zone during camp. While he will avoid having surgery, Jackson will be forced to miss 8-10 weeks. Here’s to hoping he’s able to stick around.

 

 

Eagles Defense

 

It was too hard to single out any one player on the Eagles defense. Jonathan Gannon’s defense was extremely vanilla throughout the entirety of last week’s game, but the first and second units were still impressive. The 1’s and 2’s combined to allow just one touchdown in the first half, surrendering just 131 yards of offense.

 

There were many defenders who stood out. Safety Elijah Riley had an interception late in the game. Alex Singleton and T.J. Edwards continued to be tackling machines at the linebacker position. Defensive lineman T.Y. McGill had a sack that was set up by another youngster Milton Williams. Keep an eye on all of these guys heading into Thursday night.

 

Milton Williams, out of Louisiana Tech, didn’t record any official stats but still stood out. He was a disruption for Pittsburgh’s offensive line for the majority of the time he was in the game. This is exactly the type of play you want out of a undersized defensive lineman like Williams, as it’s not always about the stats for that position. It’ll be interesting to see how Williams plays going forward, and whether last week was a flash in the pan or a sign of things to come.

 

 

Meanwhile, during this week’s joint practices, the Eagles defense reportedly dominated the Patriots. They didn’t allow Cam Newton to do much of anything in the pass game, which isn’t that surprising given the player that Newton is at this stage in his career. The Birds D forced Newton into a lot of checkdowns, which once again, is not at all surprising.

 

The Eagles defensive line was reportedly superior to the Patriots offensive line, having their way and controlling 11-on-11 drills. While that may not be all that shocking given their talent level, the secondary being equally dominant is somewhat surprising. Keep an eye on the starters like Darius Slay, Steven Nelson, and Anthony Harris to see if their dominance carries over to the game.

 

Also be on the lookout for young guys like Zech McPhearson at corner and K’Von Wallace at safety. McPhearson wasn’t overly impressive last week, but has shown some flashes in camp. Wallace has been taking reps with the starters as he heads into year two. Whether that’s due to Rodney McLeod’s injury status remains to be seen. Either way, I’m interested to see how the young fan favorite plays after missing last week’s game because of injury.

 

When it comes to Wallace, one thing is certain. It’s going to be entertaining.

 

 

Broadcast Information

Time: 7:30 P.M. EDT
TV: NBC 10
Radio: 94.1 WIP
Stream: NFL Game Pass

By Matt Szczypiorski | August 19, 2021
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