As the Browns and Raiders work through their starting quarterbacks for Week 1, the Eagles are still trying to figure out their QB2.
After Saturday’s preseason game between Philadelphia and New England, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said “it’s still a competition” between Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee.
“I think both the guys are battling, and I’m really confident in both of the guys,” Sirianni told reporters after the game. “We’ll see where that goes.”
Dalton has been getting first dibs during the preseason games, but that’s apparently not a tipping of Sirianni’s hand.
“The reason Andy is going in first -- in practice they’re still rotating,” Sirianni said. “Andy is going in first because he’s not going to play as much as Tanner because he has had more experience and he has more experience within this type of system, and Tanner needs to continue to play there because I think you saw the improvements there from Tanner. So we got to continue to give both of them opportunities within practice and potentially games.”
On Saturday, Dalton got the start and played 22 snaps. McKee had 38 snaps. Dalton completed three of 10 passes for 44 yards; McKee connected on 16 of 22 for 173 yards and two touchdowns.
McKee’s performance drew praise from Sirianni. "[I] thought today he did some good things,” Sirianni said. “You know, there will be plays that we’re going to have to correct and there was a lot of positives. I know stat-wise he came out having a pretty good game, and so, but obviously for all of us there will be corrections within it. But, yeah, thought he did some good things. Made some nice plays. Had a couple fourth downs that we would have liked to convert. Not saying those are his fault in that situation, but those fourth downs hurt us, not converting there.”
Dalton definitely has the experience. Now 38, he started immediately for the Bengals as a rookie in 2011. After nine years with the Bengals, Dalton has bounced from the Cowboys to the Saints to the Panthers (where he spent three seasons) to Philly. He has 169 career regular-season starts.
McKee, in contrast, has two starts in three seasons with the Eagles. He has created preseason buzz during his much shorter career, but he has yet to be entrusted with the primary backup spot behind Hurts.
