The Eagles returned to Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night, making their preseason debut against the Tennessee Titans.
The results were mixed.
There were certainly some positives in the team's 27-10 loss, but the big story of the night was the injury to quarterback Nate Sudfeld, who suffered a broken left wrist and could miss a significant amount of time.
Outside of the injury to Sudfeld, however, here are some takeaways from the Eagles' first preseason game:
Miles Sanders: The most significant player that saw the field on Thursday night was rookie Miles Sanders. The running back got the ball three times, totaling a whopping three yards on the night. In Sanders' defense the offensive line did not give him much to work with. Still, Sanders didn't exactly have the preseason debut he was hoping for, and didn't look particularly elusive either. What was noteworthy, however, was that he was taken out of the game before veteran Jordan Howard was.
Jordan Howard: Projected as the clear-cut starter at running back, Jordan Howard was not treated like it on Thursday night, playing throughout the first quarter. Howard getting so much playing time is surprising considering none of the other starters on offense were in the game. Howard is new to the team, which could be part of the reason, but the Eagles are so deep at running back they certainly had other options to put in there if they wanted. You have to wonder if the distance between Howard and Miles Sanders isn't as big as many think.
Josh Sweat: A standout on the night for the Eagles was defensive end Josh Sweat, a player they needed a big game from. Sweat was everywhere on defense, making a number of nice plays against the run. He also had an impressive tackle on a screen pass on the Titans' opening drive, displaying his athleticism as he came across the line the make the tackle. Sweat did a very nice job against Dennis Kelly, the Titans' starting left tackle, getting some good pressure on Marcus Mariota on the Titans' first drive of the game. The Eagles are counting on Sweat to play a big role this season as one of the top backups at defensive end, and he looked up to the task on Thursday night.
Marken Michel: Coming off of an outstanding showing in OTAs and minicamp, Michel has not had an outstanding training camp so far. That changed on Thursday night. Michel had the biggest play of the game when he hauled in a 75-yard touchdown from Sudfeld, getting behind Titans cornerback Adoree Jackson for the score. The Eagles don't have a ton of speed at receiver besides DeSean Jackson, giving Michel a path to the roster if the Eagles feel he could potentially fill in Jackson's role in the offense if needed.
Clayton Thorson: Yes, it is his rookie training camp, and yes, he deserves some time to adjust to the NFL. Still, the rough training camp that quarterback Clayton Thorson is having so far got even worse on Thursday night. Thorson's first throw, a pass to a wide-open Donnell Pumphrey, went straight into the ground. It was the same exact throw Thorson made last week at camp, and a throw that any NFL quarterback should be able to make. His second throw was way over the head of his target and went right into the hands of Titans safety JoJo Tillery.
Thorson should be given time to develop, but the early results on the team's decision to use a fifth-round pick on the quarterback are -- to say the least -- not promising.
Linebackers: The Eagles started the game with Nate Gerry and Zach Brown as their starting linebackers, with L.J. Fort coming in as the No. 3 linebacker. Outside of Brown, who was strong against the run, it was not a particularly strong night for the linebackers.
Gerry appeared to be the reason the Titans scored their first touchdown of the game, as he let tight end Mycole Pruitt run right by him along the goal line for the score. Gerry seemed to not know whether he should stick with Pruitt or not, and by the time he decided, it was too late.
Fort did have some positive moments, making two eye-opening plays. The first came towards the end of the first half when he drilled Titans receiver Khalif Raymond over the middle of the field, landing a legal hit on the receiver that knocked the ball away. Fort showed off his speed later in the drive when he sprinted to the left sideline, forcing the Titans running back out of bounds. Fort did, however, allow the Titans' second touchdown of the game when he was beat 23-yards down the middle of the field by tight end Anthony Firkser. Fort was trailing in coverage on the play and couldn't recover in time to knock the pass away.
Starters: The Eagles, as expected, sat the majority of their starters on Thursday night. The only players of note, in addition to Jordan Howard, that got snaps were defensive tackle Malik Jackson and potential starting right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai.
You can follow Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
