August 22, 2026
Edward Finan/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Tanner McKee, clearly better than Andy Dalton (low bar).
After facing off in a pair of joint practices, the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots played a preseason game on Saturday night, and oh hey, the Birds played a lot better than they did in their first preseason game last week in Baltimore. As always, we hand out 10 awards.
During the first few offensive series, the Eagles' second-string offensive line absolutely bullied the Patriots' backup defensive line. Drew Kendall, Willie Lampkin, and Markel Bell were particularly good. Here's Kendall and Lampkin double-teaming a Pats lineman into oblivion:
One of my concerns heading into training camp was the interior offensive line depth. Not anymore. And really, that's beginning to look like a strength.
Shipley carried 11 times behind the Birds' second-string line, and he had 56 yards and a TD. I thought he ran hard, and showed good vision.
Shipley had a good week during the Eagles' two joint practices with the Patriots, mainly as a receiver and in pass protection. He capped it in the game with a good rushing performance.
Earlier in camp, it was beginning to look like Shipley's spot as the RB3 was being challenged by Dameon Pierce, but Shipley has pretty clearly pulled away and is now a roster lock.
Dalton stunk in the Eagles' first preseason game against the Ravens, and he stunk again against the Pats, completing 3 of 10 passes for 44 yards.
On his first drive, Dalton sailed passes over the heads of a couple of receivers, including Eli Stowers, who got open and could've used a little confidence boost. Dalton also got lucky that an INT was negated by a roughing the passer call.
The Eagles have started Dalton over Tanner McKee in both preseason games, and it's becoming really hard to reconcile why.
For what it's worth, McKee finished 16 of 22 for 173 yards and 2 TDs. A lot of that was on short throws and then runs after the catch. I thought he threw a good ball that gave E.J. Jenkins a chance for a third TD. Good performance. Certainly he ran the offense far more efficiently than Dalton.
All three of Dalton's completions went to Cooper, who had 3 receptions for 44 yards in his short time on the field. He had a nice run after catch on one of his receptions.
Makai Lemon will return to practice soon, and there will be a battle between Lemon and Cooper for the WR3 job to start the season.
Jeremiah Trotter made two really nice plays, and then his night was quickly over.
Pats QB Tommy DeVito got loose on a scramble, and Trotter minimized the damage by making a nice open-field tackle. He also had the following sack on a well-timed blitz.
Jihaad Campbell has enormous upside and the only way he's going to reach that is if he plays. So he absolutely should play, and start. But right now I think there's an argument that Trotter might be the better player. Ultimately, the Eagles are in good hands if a LB goes down, with Trotter, Smael Mondon, Chance Campbell, and Deontae Lawson all doing good things.
MORE: It's been a long time since the Eagles had this many good ILBs
Ty Robinson did some positive stuff in the Eagles' first preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens. When asked about Robinson's performance, Vic Fangio said, "Yeah, he came to life. He's been on life support since he's been here, but he came to life and hopefully that will continue." LOL!
Well, Robinson had another good night against the Pats, notching two sacks.
Robinson has now also become a lock to make the team.
Playing in just the second football game of his entire life, Weru absolutely dusted Pats rookie RT Dametrious Crownover with a fake inside stunt, before exploding to the outside and sacking Pats QB Behren Morton. Via Anthony DiBona:
Later, the Pats ran a play-action boot to Weru's side, and he read it, putting pressure on Behren.
Fangio called Weru and Uar Bernard, both of whom are from Africa, the Eagles' "exchange dudes."
Bernard has gotten more hype, but Weru looks like the player more likely to pan out in some way. If the Eagles cut Weru, I think he'd get claimed.
We should note that Bernard did some nice things, too. He was able to shed Pats offensive linemen for a couple of run stops. The "exchange dudes" played well.
Carson Steele had 6 receptions for 84 yards, a TD, and two hurdles that posterized Pats defenders. One of the hurdles was into the end zone:
He may have played himself onto the roster bubble. I'd like to get another long look at him in postseason game No. 3.
The Eagles got their asses kicked last week in Baltimore. At one point in that game, the Ravens had 31 first downs, vs. 2 (lol) for the Eagles. This was a very fun, entertaining game. The Eagles lost, by the way, but the important players did encouraging things, and that's what matters.
The Eagles will have a practice on Monday, an open practice at the Linc on Tuesday, a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Friday, and then the regular season will be right around the corner.
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