Eagles vs. Patriots preseason Week 2: Five storylines fans must monitor

And, just like that, our attention shifts to another game, the second of the Philadelphia Eagles preseason slate. This one is also on the road. The New England Patriots are the opponent, one we expect to take this opportunity seriously.

In the past, we have heard coaches state that they learn more from joint practice sessions than they learn from preseason games, but we won't say these exhibitions aren't important. There will be much to discusss from the film that is produced from four quarters of action in Foxborough.

We can offer opinions, but it's too soon to make final assumptions about most of what we have seen. Just like the coaches, we need more study. How will guys deal with success and failure?

Most of the top half of the roster openings are already filled, but jobs are available. Who will make the most of their opportunities? That and these next five subplots will be among the storylines that we will be following.

Also read: Sirianni and Bradberry receive frigid summer welcomes to Foxborough

We'd like to see a more polished effort from all three phases of the game.

Though the game didn't count, players enjoy seeing the scoreboard tilted in their favor once the time expires. It makes the flight home more relaxing. Who are we kidding? Players keep scores in their heads at practice.

They also know when they need to get better, so no one would be offended to hear that all three phases needed a tune-up after beating Baltimore. Offense... Defense... Special Teams...

That's the point of preseason action though. These guys haven't played versus another team since January. The rookies had never played another NFL team.

All we can ask is they offer a more polished effort than we saw in Week 1. If we can give them credit for that, we can place this one in the books as a succesful outing.

Will Tanner McKee earn second-team reps with the Eagles offense?

In Week 1 of the preseason, Tanner McKee entered the game later than we expected but got a lot of second-half work. Unfortunately, he was asked to take lemons and make lemonade. The overriding theme after that first game is we need to see him with the second-team offense to give a fair sense of how well he is performing.

While that makes sense, it sort of feels like this organization is determined to place Kenny Pickett on the depth chart as their QB2 and much of what we see in camp won't matter. With that said, don't be shocked if Pickett takes second-team reps again.

Hopefully, it won't matter. We don't want to see either during the regular season.

How about this Jerod Mayo fellow?

A Patriot through and through, Jerod Mayo spent his entire playing career with the New England Patriots (2008-2015) before earning a job as an inside linebackers coach under Bill Belichick. He was named head coach after Belichick's dismissal this past offseason.

Some of you might have been part of that contingent that wanted Nick Sirianni fired and Mayo hired as his replacement. Oh well. It will be interesting to see how both operate.

How will the reserves perform versus the third-overall selection?

Some of you won't like this. It needs to be stated though. We aren't resigning ourselves to any theories that end with Drake Maye being the next great Patriots passer.

We could be wrong. We hope we are wrong. Honestly, we hope he succeeds. We need to be honest though. We're skeptical. All we keep seeing is Mitchell Trubisky. And, didn't they play at the same college?

Maye should be praised though. He isn't the 2024 NFL Draft's third-overall selection for no reason. It will be interesting to see how Philly's defense plays against him. We expect to see him with New England's second-team offense.

Prepare for the Jalen Reagor experience.

Yes friends... Jalen Reagor is still in the NFL. He plays for New England now, and while that may seem inconsequential, for whatever reason, he becomes Randy Moss during training camp practices.

During Philly's joint practice with the Patriots, he hauled in a pretty pass over Kelee Ringo. Expect a nice play or two from him when the game goes down on Thursday, but don't expect much during the regular season.

If you're interested, former Eagles linebacker Christian Elliss is also on New England's roster.