By Lavkush
The Ravens still have their stupid little winning streak, and the Eagles have a lot of positives after their preseason opener in Baltimore.
The Eagles opened their three-game 2023 preseason with a 20-19 loss to the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The Ravens extended their NFL-record preseason winning streak to 24 straight games.
Here's our 10 Instant Observations a month before the real opening day
1. The biggest thing I was looking for Saturday night was how Brian Johnson called the game, and the ultimate test will be the regular season because nobody is gameplanning for preseason games, the starters weren’t playing and everybody is vanilla this time of year. Still, I liked what I saw. Forget who was playing and look at what the Eagles were able to do on offense. The Eagles piled up 271 yards and had four scoring opportunities in the first half (touchdown, two field goals, missed field goal) against a team that desperately tries to win every preseason game and with a rookie 6th-round pick playing , and we saw guys getting open in the passing game, running backs making plays on the ground and a unit that was able to keep the Ravens off balance. This was the first NFL game Johnson has ever called, and he’s got one heck of an act to follow in Shane Steichen, but it was certainly an auspicious debut for the Eagles’ new offensive coordinator.
2. How about Jalen Carter? Yikes. On his first snap of the game – the first snap of his NFL career – Carter blew past Ben Cleveland, his former Georgia teammate – for an unchallenged pressure on Ravens quarterback Josh Johnson on a 3rd-and-10 in the first quarter. Carter flushed Johnson out of the pocket into the path of Derek Barnett, forcing the veteran QB to throw the ball away. His first snap. He is going to be scary.
3. I don’t need to see D’Andre Swift again until opening day. Honestly, I didn’t need to see him Saturday night. He’s been so good both running and catching the ball, and he gave us a brief glimpse with that slippery 22-yard run in the first quarter. There are definitely questions at running back, but for me they involve Rashaad Penny, Boston Scott and Trey Sermon. Kenny Gainwell and Swift are co-starters as far as I’m concerned. Gainwell didn’t play Saturday night, but Swift in his cameo showed why the Eagles are so excited about him. And wait till you see him catch the ball. He’s as much of a playmaker in the receiving game than the ground game.
4. Awfully impressed by rookie 6th-round quarterback Tanner McKee, who just started looking comfortable at practice the last few days and was able to transfer that into his first NFL game. McKee actually delivered the ball more accurately Saturday night than he has all summer. The Eagles have a better-than-usual group of 2nd- and 3rd-team receivers, and McKee made some really nice throws to Tyrie Cleveland, Joseph Ngata and newcomer Johnny King. He engineered an eight-play, 43-yard field goal drive on the first drive of his career and then followed that with an 11-play, 73-yard TD drive. I really like how vertical McKee was. He really drove the ball down the field – 27 and 18 yards to Tyrie Cleveland, 33 yards to Johnny King, 19 yards to Jadon Haselwood, 31 yards to Joseph Ngata, although that one was negated by a penalty on Ngata – and just looked very comfortable running the operation. McKee finished 10-for-20 for 148 yards with no TDs or INTs, and the 3rd-team o-line and a couple of his WRs didn’t do him any favors in the second half, but it was still a promising debut. Ian Book - a 4th-round pick in New Orleans – was out there with a bunch of deep backups, but he had a catastrophic evening - minus-10 net passing yards on three drives and an INT on a two-point conversion. I've seen enough. McKee is QB3.
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