January 05, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Tanner McKee looked the part of a legitimate NFL quarterback in the Eagles' Week 18 matchup with the New York Giants.
In a game that the New York Giants displayed zero interest in winning, the Eagles took down their divisional rival 20-13 in Week 18. In a game that was essentially meaningless for the Birds as they rested nearly all of their key players while being locked into the No. 2 seed, the backups (and the backups' backups) looked the part. It's not hard when facing a disastrous organization like the Giants.
Here are some choice observations and takeaways from the regular season finale ahead of the Eagles' playoff run...
• Let's just get to the main thing everyone cares about in this game: Tanner McKee. The Eagles' third-string quarterback had turned heads in preseason and camp the past two summers, indicating that he might be more than a mere sixth-round pick. In mop-up work last week with Kenny Pickett injured and QB1 Jalen Hurts already sidelined, McKee was impressive, going 3-for-4 for 50 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He continued to look poised, accurate and capable against the Giants.
In the first quarter alone, McKee was 7-for-9 for 92 yards and a touchdown pass. In working with an offensive line entirely composed of reserves and the Eagles sitting star receiver duo A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, McKee made things work well enough even without the crop of elite talent the Birds' offense typically has.
You always remember your 1st TD 🕺@ainias_smith | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/w0O99SlIe5
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 5, 2025
No, of course, the Eagles do not have a quarterback controversy on their hands. It's certainly fun to gas up backup quarterbacks in a city that's defined by them and you can go wild buying your ironic McKee jersey from DHGate, but, again, no. They do, however, have some intriguing options as to how they handle the QB factory this upcoming offseason. Parting with Pickett for a late pick as his rookie contract inches to a close would make sense to enlist McKee as the clear-cut No. 2 on an ultra-cheap contract.
Pickett continuing to recover from a rib injury throws a wrinkle into this, but I want to see how the Birds handle the quarterback situation behind Hurts in the postseason. Pickett dressed, but was "inactive" as the third-string emergency quarterback on Sunday behind McKee and Ian Book. That could just be playing it safe with a quarterback the franchise clearly values to some degree, but when it comes to the playoffs, it's not reactionary to believe that McKee should be the active backup signal-caller behind Hurts. It's based on how this summer transpired and while Pickett absolutely had a gutsy performance while playing through injury last week against Dallas, there's a smoothness to McKee's game that's apparent with both the team's top players and their backups.
1st NFL catch. 1st NFL TD.
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 5, 2025
Atta way, E.J. Jenkins 👏 pic.twitter.com/XcOWg31rmy
Philadelphia: the city that demands hundreds of words on QB3 (for now).
MORE: What we learned about the Eagles' backups in Week 18
• Dallas Goedert in his return from injury: four catches for 55 yards and a tight rapport with McKee early on. Goedert's career has been a mix of unfortunate injuries and high-level play. Playing him in Week 18 was a move to shake off some rest and it looks like that's just what happened ahead of the playoffs.
• Will Shipley had some juice with the ball in his hands against the Giants. He's had minimal usage this season behind superstar Saquon Barkley and backup running back Kenny Gainwell, but he flashed once in a while in training camp before this. Gainwell is a free agent this offseason, potentially freeing up the RB2 role behind Barkley next fall. With how the Eagles have crafted a run-first offense, I'd be inclined to use a mid-round pick on a more traditional running back this spring, but Shipley is a capable pro as an RB3 and potentially a bit more.
• Is Vic Fangio a defensive mastermind who can work magic with anyone on the field or the Giants just an abject disaster? The answer is a little bit of both. With the only key cogs seeing meaningful amount of work in Jordan Davis and Milton Williams, New York's offense could do nothing. Sure, the organization is probably happy with the loss for draft pick positioning, but these are all professionals out there not concerned about that. They're concerned about their current and future standing in the NFL. The Giants really could do nothing. They appear eons away from being a real NFL team. How did the Colts give up 45 points to them last week?
MORE: Eagles will face Packers in Wild Card round
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