Tanner McKee & Marcus Mariota Week 1 preseason report cards: Eagles rookie QB impresses versus Ravens

Tanner McKee did all that was asked of him versus the Ravens in Week 1 of the Eagles preseason. Here's the rookie's first report card as we shift our attention to Thursday's game versus the Browns.
Trey Sermon #22, Tanner McKee #10, Philadelphia Eagles
Trey Sermon #22, Tanner McKee #10, Philadelphia Eagles / Rob Carr/GettyImages
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If you're not careful, it can become relatively easy to become a slave of the moment. Philadelphia Eagles fans have been guilty of this from time to time, but this isn't just an issue that exists among the Birds contingent. No, no, no! This issue exists in every fanbase of every NFL team. People tend to overreact to what they have just seen.

Guys who play poorly are dismissed by stating 'they suck'. Guys who have great games or showings are, at times, prematurely fitted for gold jackets. Here are the cold hard facts. Tanner McKee has outplayed both Ian Book and Marcus Mariota at various points of training camp, but the Eagles are paying Mariota a guaranteed $5 million. He WILL be the backup quarterback when the regular season begins.

Sure, we all have our opinions on that. Marcus Mariota's first appearance as a Birds signal-caller was a rough outing and a snapshot of what his first ten practices with Philly looked like.

He isn't very accurate. He can, however, make plays with his legs. Still, after watching him lead the first-team offense, we can all agree on one thing. If Philly, at any point of the season, loses Jalen Hurts for a game or so and Mariota has to play, there's minimal confidence that Marcus can step in and lead this team to victory.

Here are final grades for Eagles quarterbacks Marcus Mariota and Tanner McKee following their preseason Week 1 appearance versus the Ravens.

As stated earlier, it's wise to avoid the temptation to overreact. Some things are obvious though. Some of what we saw during Saturday night's game versus the Baltimore Ravens can't be dismissed as if we didn't see it.

Marcus Mariota was impressive while running the football. He wasn't as impressive while throwing it. Meanwhile, Tanner McKee's arm looked impressive, but he isn't much of a scrambler. Ian Book is all legs and no arm.

Statistically, Marcus seemingly had the best game of the three in many aspects. The eyeball test tells us that McKee is the better quarterback right now, and the better option if Philly had to play a game that Jalen Hurts was unable to play in. Ian Book... Well... We're trying to keep things positive. Here is a look at everyone's final numbers.

Marcus Mariota - 11 attempts, seven completions, 58 yards passing, 0 TDs. 0INTs, 77.1 QB rating, four rush attempts for 29 yards, sacked once for a loss of nine yards

Tanner McKee - 20 attempts, ten completions, 148 yards passing, 0 TDs, 0INTs, 74.6 QB rating, one rush attempt, seven yards rushing, sacked once for a loss of six yards

Ian Book - Four pass attempts, one completion, 11 yards passing, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 39.6 QB rating, five rush attempts, 24 yards rushing

Final grades for Marcus Mariota, Tanner McKee, and Ian Book

One preseason game is in our rearview mirror. Two remain. Then, the Eagles trim the 90-man training camp roster to 53 men and a 16-man practice squad. Here's the QB depth chart as it currently stands.

  • Jalen Hurts
  • Marcus Mariota
  • Tanner McKee
  • Ian Book

Marcus Mariota

  • Accuracy: C
  • Vision: B-
  • Intangibles: A
  • Decision-making: C
  • Leadership: B-
  • Overall; C

Tanner McKee

  • Accuracy: A
  • Vision: A
  • Intangibles: C
  • Decision-making: A
  • Leadership: A
  • Overall: A

Ian Book

  • Accuracy: D
  • Vision: C-
  • Intangibles: A
  • Decision-making: D
  • Leadership: B-
  • Overall: C-

The Philadelphia Eagles host joint practices versus the Cleveland Browns on Monday and Tuesday. A walkthrough comes on Wednesday, and that's followed by a game on Thursday evening.

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