Eagles’ Tanner McKee, Bengals’ Joe Burrow start preseason in fine form
McKee appears to have backup QB spot locked down
From The Reporter/MediaNews Group: https://tinyurl.com/yvcmrekm
PHILADELPHIA — It was Tanner McKee vs. Joe Burrow, and both quarterbacks put on a show Thursday night.
In an effort to stave off another sluggish start to the season, the Cincinnati Bengals played many of their starters in their preseason opener against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. And the Birds’ defensive backups quickly found themselves with their hands full.
Burrow played the opening two possessions for Cincinnati, which began 1-4 last year and missed the playoffs despite a late push, and marched down the field for a pair of touchdowns. He finished 9-of-10 for 123 yards and a QB rating of 157.5 (0.8 points from perfection), connecting with familiar target Ja’Marr Chase four times for 77 yards and a score.
Chase was often working against 23-year-old Eagle Kelee Ringo, who is battling Adoree’ Jackson for the second outside corner spot. Ringo got burned on a short out route when Chase spun back inside after the catch and ran 36 yards to the end zone without being touched.
McKee showed some effective style of his own as he helped the Birds to an eventual 34-27 win.
McKee, who performed well in a couple of opportunities late last season spelling Jalen Hurts, seemed to pick up where he left off against a Cincinnati defense that used most of its projected starters. He commanded the offense on a nine-play, 75-yard drive, capping it with a 1-yard tush push across the goal line — much to the delight of a roaring crowd. The ‘90s song “This is How We Do It” played over the stadium loudspeakers.
The Green Bay Packers, with the tacit (or not-so tacit) support of commissioner Roger Goodell, led an offseason effort to ban the tush push, but it fell two votes short of the 24 required among team owners for such a rule change.
“It felt good, felt like we were moving the ball, which is always fun,” McKee said. “Obviously, we’ll watch film and you never really know until you watch film. There are things that like, ‘Oh man, I missed that’ or whatever. But overall, moved the ball well, had a lot of guys that made great plays. So the feeling is good.”
McKee, who played into the third quarter, slung the ball around the yard like a natural, making quick decisions while completing 20 of 25 passes for 252 yards and delivering two TDs (plus the tush-push rushing score) for a rating of 135.3. He hit Johnny Wilson — who hadn’t been having a great training camp — three times for 73 yards while spreading the ball around to six other receivers.
The QB and new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, calling plays for the first time in his career, seemed to be in sync.
“He played pretty good,” head coach Nick Sirianni said with a smile. “No, he did a lot of good things, went to the right place with the football, was accurate. Had really good operation, him and Kevin, a lot of communication. And (quarterbacks coach) Scot (Loeffler). Yeah, he did a really nice job.”
Running back Will Shipley rushed seven times for 48 yards and caught a pass out of the backfield. Receivers Darius Cooper and Ainais Smith caught touchdowns passes. Cooper, an undrafted rookie out of Tarleton State, hauled in a team-high six receptions for 82 yards.
For McKee, a 25-year-old Stanford alum, his first NFL start of any kind came in Week 18 against the New York Giants on Jan. 6, when he threw for 269 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a 20-13 victory. He found eight different receivers in that game. Thursday, he seemed to make everybody shine again, not giving preferential treatment to any single receiver.
“I think it just happened,” he said. “I think it’s a great job by (Patullo), spreading the ball around and those guys just doing a good job of getting open. I have my reads, if they’re going to give us a one-on-one matchup, then I guess I can pick on what side I want to go on, but a lot of times I’m just going through my reads and so good job on those guys for getting open.”
Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. led the Eagles with six tackles, and first-round rookie linebacker Jihaad Campbell had three tackles and nearly an interception. Fourth-round pick Ty Robinson out of Nebraska notched the team’s only sack. Patrick Johnson pocketed an interception of Bengals third-stringer Jake Browning.
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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.