Eagles film: How the Birds burned the Cowboys with backups Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee

For the Eagles offense, there were different quarterbacks but a familiar script.

The offense got off to a sluggish start once again Sunday, but it reeled off six consecutive scoring drives in a 41-7 blowout win over the Dallas Cowboys that required both of the backup quarterbacks to step in.

How did offensive coordinator Kellen Moore manage the quarterback carousel of Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee with Jalen Hurts still recovering from a concussion? Let’s look at the film to find out:

» READ MORE: Eagles-Cowboys takeaways: Coaching staff, resurgent defense are battle-tested and playoff-ready

The offense stumbled out of the gate with a false start on the first play, which appeared to come down to a miscommunication between Pickett and Cam Jurgens about the cadence.

Facing first-and-15, Pickett overthrew receiver A.J. Brown on a run-pass option for an incompletion on the next play. Perhaps it was early jitters, but the throw was somewhat emblematic of the beginning of the game for Pickett as he tried to find his footing in his first start with the team.

The next down, the Eagles called a play-action rollout that sent Pickett out to his left with a three-level route concept flooding one side of the field. The Cowboys did well to cover all three levels of the route combination, though, and took advantage of the fact that Pickett left the pocket, which allowed Marist Liufau to make contact with DeVonta Smith and shove him to the ground.

Although Liufau’s shove would have warranted a flag in most situations, the league’s illegal contact rules only apply when “the player who receives the snap remains in the pocket with the ball.”

Pickett’s uneven start continued into the Eagles’ third series, but he found his footing eventually.

An illegal contact penalty by the Cowboys’ Andrew Booth helped cover up one of Pickett’s low moments, when late pressure around the edge caused him to double-clutch a pass to Smith, fumble the ball after ceasing his throwing motion, and fall to the ground.

From there, the switch seemingly flipped for Pickett with the help of the Eagles’ receiving corps. With the offense facing second-and-17, Pickett did well to find Brown on a deep out route for a 9-yard gain. As has been the case more often in the last few weeks, the Eagles were able to gather information and stress opposing defensive backs before the snap by lining up Brown and Smith on the same side of the formation.

Moore’s play design sent Smith in motion across the formation before the snap and identified zone coverage as a result with no defensive back following him. In response, Pickett was able to target Brown on the out-breaking route with anticipation; indicated by how quickly he started his throwing motion after Brown got out of his break.

One completion does not a rhythm make, though, and the next one for Pickett came courtesy of some acrobatics from Grant Calcaterra. Facing third-and-8 near midfield, Pickett started his progression looking for Brown on a stop route, but a lurking Dallas linebacker gave him enough pause to escape the pocket away from his initial read. On the opposite side of the field, the Eagles had Calcaterra and Smith each running out-breaking routes on a “high-low” combination to force Booth to choose between the two. Booth stuck with Smith on the shallow route, which left Calcaterra one-on-one with Dallas safety Israel Mukuamu.

Perhaps the on-field chemistry Pickett and Calcaterra formed as mainstays on the second-team offense during training camp paid dividends for them. Either way, it was an impressive one-handed catch from the backup tight end on a 34-yard pass that is best shown from the end-zone view.

After steadying himself with the string of completions, Pickett managed one of his best throws of the day to Smith for a 22-yard touchdown.

The corner route from Smith and the pass from Pickett each deserved plenty of credit for the result, but the play design from Moore stood out as well. Once again, Smith and Brown lined up on the same side of the formation with an added wrinkle for the Dallas secondary to sort out on the fly. With three receivers to one side, Smith and Brown lined up as the two innermost wideouts in a “condensed split” about a yard apart from each other.

The formation created havoc for the Dallas secondary deployed in man coverage. Brown got significant separation on an in-breaking route while also creating traffic for Booth as he trailed Smith on a deep corner route and Pickett recognized the space Smith created. With no safety help over the top for Booth, Pickett did well to put air under the throw for Smith to run underneath into the front corner of the end zone.

It’s hard to nitpick much of Pickett’s day. Typically the expectation for backup quarterbacks is to avoid turnovers and take what’s available, and the former Pittsburgh Steelers first-round pick deserves credit for battling through an injury to his ribs he suffered a week earlier against the Washington Commanders.

» READ MORE: Kenny Pickett played hurt to help the Eagles — his childhood team — capture the division crown

Still, one of his missed chances came on a rare target for depth tight end EJ Jenkins with Calcaterra flashing late in the end zone. Facing second-and-9 in the red zone, the Eagles ran another high-low concept with Calcaterra running the deeper of the two out-breaking routes and getting matched up with Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson. By the time Calcaterra broke toward the back pylon, Pickett had already thrown underneath to Jenkins for an incompletion despite having a clean pocket and time to stay with Calcaterra a tick longer.

Pickett bounced back relatively quickly with a perfectly placed deep shot to Smith for a 49-yard gain. Unlike Smith’s first touchdown, the play design didn’t have much to do with the end result; he just blew by Booth after baiting him with an inside release followed by a burst toward the sideline.

McKee had just four attempts in relief of Pickett midway through the third quarter, but each of them affirmed the potential the second-year signal caller has flashed during each of the last two summers.

His first pass came on a slant route to Smith, but take note of the pre-snap check McKee made to get the Eagles into the play in the first place.

Ironically enough, McKee’s only incompletion may have been his best throw. Watching the placement of his back-shoulder pass to Brown in the corner of the end zone, one would be forgiven for forgetting how infrequently the young quarterback has worked with Brown throughout the season.

Seeing how close Brown came to coming down inbounds with McKee’s first back-shoulder ball, Moore decided to go right back to the well the next down. Brown ran his fade route out of the slot on the second attempt, which gave him more space to work with and some more leverage against Dallas cornerback DaRon Bland.

Once again, McKee’s ball placement was excellent.

McKee’s fourth and final throw, a slant route to Smith that went 25 yards for a touchdown, put an exclamation point on his first regular-season action in the NFL. It also illustrated the timing and accuracy he brings to the position, which will go a long way toward strengthening the 24-year-old’s case to be the team’s No. 2 quarterback in the long run.