Eagles’ preseason glimpse of their new-look offense comes with Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee at QB

BALTIMORE — The first look at new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s offense against another opponent came with a big, bold asterisk Friday night.

Tropical Storm Debby had dumped enough water to flood some roadways, and with the potential for wet weather to last near enough to kickoff, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni elected to rest just about every offensive starter for his team’s preseason opener vs. the Baltimore Ravens.

It was the Kenny Pickett Show off the opening kickoff, and his first two snaps as the No. 2 quarterback became a preview of sorts for the night: First, he hit Britain Covey for 6 yards and then connected with Johnny Wilson for 7. The short throws persisted. Pickett dropped back 23 times in the first half of an eventual 16-13 Eagles win and on just four of those plays did he throw the ball in the air for more than 10 yards (all of them incompletions).

Pickett, Pittsburgh’s 2022 first-round pick who the Eagles traded picks to acquire this offseason to back up Jalen Hurts, was efficient in his Eagles debut. He connected on 14 of his 22 pass attempts, good for 63.6%, a number that is higher than his career total (62.6%) in Pittsburgh. But Pickett threw for just 89 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked twice and had an 87.1 passer rating.

Friday’s game came during the same week Pickett ceded second-team reps to third stringer Tanner McKee, and it came during a training camp when Pickett has at times struggled to move the ball down the field against his own defense in practice. Several plays in practice have ended with him not throwing the ball, getting sacked, or scrambling. (Insert an asterisk here, too, because Pickett rarely, if ever, gets to work with A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, or Saquon Barkley on the field.)

And while his receivers didn’t give him a whole lot of help Friday, Pickett’s performance couldn’t have been a confidence booster for those hoping the Eagles acquired a capable insurance policy to stash behind Hurts.

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“We were just taking what they were giving us,” Pickett said when asked about all the short passes. “If it’s open, you just got to take it and keep methodically moving down the field, which I think we did.

“Obviously, you want explosive plays, but at the same time, you just want to take what’s there.”

Pickett did lead a 15-play, 75-yard drive late in the first quarter that ended with a 7-yard touchdown pass to rookie running back Will Shipley, and the Eagles found some success running the football.

“We were moving the ball nice when Kenny was in,” Sirianni said. “It’s not his fault there were penalties that stalled drives that weren’t necessarily [on] him.”

Sirianni wasn’t ready to give a full evaluation of Pickett or McKee’s performances, saying he needed to watch the tape to get a good read, but said he “thought they both were in complete control when they were in and made some big throws. There’s going to be plays they want back, but definitely made some big throws.”

Sirianni pointed to an out route Pickett connected on with John Ross during the touchdown drive and McKee’s third-down throw to Ainias Smith in the fourth quarter to keep a drive alive.

It was Moore who on Tuesday cautioned not to put too much stock in McKee taking reps with the twos, which proved prophetic because McKee hardly took any second-team reps in the practice that followed Moore’s morning press conference. If there was any controversy over who was next in line behind Hurts, McKee hardly raised his hand Friday night. The second-year quarterback completed just 6 of 16 pass attempts for 39 yards.

» READ MORE: Who’s the backup QB? Kenny Pickett is confident he’ll be as he learns the Eagles’ system

Asked about the nature of the consistent short throws, McKee pointed to the pressure Baltimore threw the Eagles’ way.

“We knew that they were going a lot of pressure, especially exotic pressures — show one side, try to get us to send our line one way and then bring two off the other side so you would have to play hot, even in a six-man protection,” McKee said. “I think part of our game plan was we had to get the ball out of our hands.”

Pressure has been a theme of this camp. It’s an area in which the Eagles struggled badly last season, and one they think Moore’s offense will work to correct. Hurts has indicated that the Eagles have more answers for pressure than they had in the past. McKee said he thinks the new offense is “really quarterback-friendly” and does a good job balancing taking advantage of one-on-one opportunities and providing spacing concepts against zones.

Friday night offered only a small glimpse of that, considering the personnel on the field. The Eagles have a joint practice Tuesday in Foxborough, Mass., ahead of their Thursday preseason game against the New England Patriots. That session will provide the first look of Hurts and the first team against another opponent, possibly the only look before the Eagles open their season in Brazil.

Which means more opportunities await for Pickett as his life as a backup begins.

“Whenever you go from a new place, you’re learning a new system, it’s always a process that’s never going to end,” he said. “The continuity with the guys is getting there.

“I feel good, but there’s a ton of work still to do.”