The Eagles held their final home preseason game on Thursday night, a game against the Baltimore Ravens that was called early due to lightning, but saw plenty of action for their starters — except for one key player.
Here are some takeaways from the Eagles' preseason 26-15 loss to the Ravens:
No Wentz: The Eagles showed you they valued the preseason on Thursday night by playing nearly every significant veteran player against the Ravens to start the game on both sides of the ball. If they didn't value it, or see a purpose in it, they wouldn't have played anyone like they did the majority of the last two games.
They also showed you they are going to do everything they can to protect Carson Wentz.
Wentz was the only important player to not play on Thursday night, standing on the sideline while the rest of the team got their final tune up before the regular season. The Eagles protecting their key players is understandable given it is the preseason, but if they felt it was important enough to play veteran players like Zach Ertz, DeSean Jackson, Alshon Jeffery, Jason Kelce, Jason Peters, Brandon Graham and Malcolm Jenkins, why is it not important enough for Wentz to play?
It is fair to wonder if Wentz didn't end last season on the bench with an injury, and the season before as well, if he would have been playing on Thursday night. Either way, Wentz is the only healthy player on the Eagles that will go into the regular season without playing time in the preseason.
Cody Kessler: Veteran quarterback Cody Kessler got the start against the Ravens, but was so bad on Thursday night that the coaching staff benched him earlier than expected so they could actually get a look at their first-team offense. Kessler's days with the Eagles are close to coming to an end.
Josh McCown: McCown was called into action early after the benching of Cody Kessler, and it took him a little bit of time to warm up — which is understandable considering he was retired less than a week ago. Once he did warm up, however, McCown looked very good and finished the night 17/24 for 192 yards, two touchdowns and a QB rating of 122.2.
McCown got going when he had a great completion to receiver Carlton Agudosi with 3:45 to play in the first half. With pressure in his face McCown put it where only Agudosi had a chance to get it, and the receiver did a nice job getting both feet inbounds to make the catch.
McCown's worst throw of the night came on the first drive of the second half. With the ball on the 10-yard line McCown had a wide-open Greg Ward in the end zone, but his throw was off and Ward could not adjust to make the catch.
The good news for the Eagles is that McCown followed that pass up with his best pass of the night. With a clean pocket McCown threw an absolutely perfect pass to receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside in the corner of the endzone, dropping the ball right into his hands where only the rookie had a chance to catch it.
McCown led the Eagles' offense right back down the field on the next drive, capping off an 11-play scoring drive with an extremely impressive nine-yard touchdown pass to tight end Alex Ellis. McCown's pass was right on the money despite being drilled while throwing the ball.
Overall, McCown looked confident, accurate and efficient running the Eagles' offense, and the Eagles' coaches had to leave Thursday night's game feeling very good about what they saw from McCown.
Corey Clement: The Eagles are giving running back Corey Clement plenty of chances this week and he keeps knocking each one out of the park. Coming off of two impressive days of practice against the Ravens this week at the NovaCare Complex, Clement looked great against them on Thursday night as well. Clement's numbers — seven carries for 25 yards — don't jump off the page, but he looks quicker, more elusive and stronger than he did at any point last season. Any concern about Clement not making the roster ended with his performance against the Ravens and it would be surprising if he played next Thursday night against the Jets.
Joshua Perkins: One notable early-game decision by the Eagles was to put Joshua Perkins in with the first-team offense as the second tight end next to Zach Ertz. The team is currently without backups Dallas Goedert and Richard Rodgers, meaning they will likely keep either Perkins or Will Tye. Perkins seems to have a clear edge in that battle right now.
Brandon Graham: Graham was on the field with the rest of the defensive starts and made one of the plays of the night when he blew up a reverse in the backfield on the first series of the game. He seems set for a huge season.
Rodney McLeod: A notable starter on the defense was safety Rodney McLeod, who hasn't played yet this season but started on Thursday and looked good. McLeod a nice play at the end of the first quarter when Ravens quarterback Trace McSorley tried to run to the left sideline for the first town. McLeod did a great job reading the play and showed excellent closing speed to force McSorely out of bounds. McLeod has said during training camp one of his concerns coming back from a torn ACL was his speed wouldn't be the same, but that didn't seem to be an issue on Thursday night.
Nate Herbig: Every year an undrafted rookie seems to come out of nowhere and make the team. This year that player might really be coming out of nowhere. Rookie offensive linemen Nate Herbig had never played center prior to coming to the Eagles, but there he was on Thursday night, the first center to come into the game after Jason Kelce left. That job used to belong to veteran Stefen Wisniewski, but it appears he has lost it and it is now Herbig's job to lose. Considering Herbig has experience (in college) at guard, you have to wonder if the Eagles would trade Wisniewski and keep Herbig on the 53-man roster — something that seems crazy at the beginning of camp.
J.J. Arcega-Whiteside: Arcega-Whiteside looks like he could play right now with the starters during the regular season if the team needed him to. The talent gap between Arcega-Whiteside and Mack Hollins, who will likely be the fifth wide receiver on the roster, is massive. The Eagles might have a steal on their hands by grabbing Arcega-Whiteside in the second round.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
