{"id":295044,"date":"2025-08-17T09:48:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T09:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/295044\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T09:48:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T09:48:15","slug":"eagles-qb3-battle-mccord-thompson-robinson-struggle-in-preseason-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/295044\/","title":{"rendered":"Eagles QB3 battle: McCord, Thompson-Robinson struggle in preseason loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The Eagles<\/a> started a drive without a quarterback during Saturday\u2019s preseason game against the Cleveland Browns. Ten offensive players stood in the huddle, looking to the sideline, wondering who was going to come in and run the show. <\/p>\n

Kyle McCord and Dorian Thompson-Robinson alternated every two series to work with the second and third-team offense, which generated a bit of confusion. <\/p>\n

They ended up figuring it out. McCord jogged out to the huddle. No harm, no foul. But that moment served as a microcosm for what was a messy day for the quarterbacks battling for the No. 3 job. <\/p>\n

Neither McCord nor Thompson-Robinson played well in the Eagles\u2019 22-13 loss to the Browns. McCord, the sixth-round rookie out of Syracuse, completed 8 of 16 passes for 47 yards. Thompson-Robinson was worse, completing 5 of 8 passes for 17 yards. The third-year QB also got pick-sixed after bobbling a snap and getting hit while throwing.<\/p>\n

Thompson-Robinson and McCord\u2019s combined stats? 13 of 24 for 55 yards. It was a far cry from the stellar performance backup Tanner McKee had in last week\u2019s preseason opener, completing 20 of 25 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns against the Bengals.<\/p>\n

McKee did not play on Saturday, which was a first for Nick Sirianni. The head coach played his QB2 in all three preseason games the past four years. But McKee got enough reps during joint practices this week with the Browns that he didn\u2019t need to see the field. <\/p>\n

With McKee joining Jalen Hurts on the sideline, Saturday was a chance for McCord or Thompson-Robinson to separate themselves. How did they do in Sirianni\u2019s eyes?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll have to watch the tape,\u201d Sirianni said when asked about his quarterbacks. \u201cThey had some good moments and had some plays that they made. But we also missed some plays. … It wasn\u2019t good enough out there on the field, coaching, playing, anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Sirianni and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo watch the tape, they won\u2019t be pleased. McCord and Thompson-Robinson struggled mightily. They threw it into traffic. They missed open receivers. In Thompson-Robinson\u2019s case, he didn\u2019t take care of the football. <\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t help that the Eagles\u2019 reserve offensive linemen got pushed around. But McCord and Thompson-Robinson didn\u2019t help themselves, either, with roster cutdown day on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Thompson-Robinson is looking to make the team after the Eagles acquired him and a fifth-round pick in exchange for Kenny Pickett. McCord, a former St. Joseph\u2019s Prep star and south Jersey native, is hoping to latch on with his hometown team. <\/p>\n

Fortunately for McCord, he had the lone bright spot from the two quarterbacks on Saturday. The 22-year-old rookie connected with Ainias Smith for a nine-yard touchdown. McCord knew he was going to take a shot, but he hung in there and made the throw anyway. <\/p>\n

Asked if he saw Smith score or if he was on the ground, McCord laughed. \u201cI heard it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

That first touchdown was \u201csweet\u201d for McCord. He grew up a massive Eagles fan just over the bridge in Mount Laurel, N.J. So to throw a touchdown pass in an Eagles uniform at Lincoln Financial Field was a moment worth cherishing. <\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up you dream of it, but it\u2019s a far-fetched reality,\u201d McCord said. \u201cSo to see that come to life was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t a fairy tale day by any means for McCord. And it certainly wasn\u2019t for Thompson-Robinson, who failed on five drives to lead the Eagles across midfield. <\/p>\n

Last year, the Eagles felt great about their quarterback situation top to bottom. They had Hurts and two reserve quarterbacks they could win with. Pickett, after two years of starting experience with the Steelers, was acquired to back up Hurts<\/a>. McKee was a budding talent and has proved to be more than capable to take the reins from Pickett. <\/p>\n

Now, the Eagles might have a QB3 problem \u2014 and it\u2019ll be up to McCord and Thompson-Robinson to win a roster spot during next Friday\u2019s preseason finale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game reps, you can\u2019t replicate them watching film. You can\u2019t replicate them in practice,\u201d McCord said. \u201c… It\u2019s your time to go show you do know what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The Eagles started a drive without a quarterback during Saturday\u2019s preseason game against the Cleveland Browns.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[8693,25,7,492,570,1180,6,242,109,2476,1840],"class_list":{"0":"post-295044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-dorian-thompson-robinson","9":"tag-eagles","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-jalen-hurts","12":"tag-kenny-pickett","13":"tag-kyle-mccord","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-philadelphia","16":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","17":"tag-philadelphiaeagles","18":"tag-tanner-mckee"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115043480742752833","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}