Going into Week 9 against the New York Giants, Nick Sirianni and the Philadelphia Eagles felt like they needed to make a change at quarterback.
Jalen Hurts is out for the year, and he was replaced by Tanner McKee. The Eagles went 0-3 with McKee under center, so they tested out Joe Milton against the Giants.
Technically, it was the first start of Milton’s career. After spending some time with the New England Patriots and the Dallas Cowboys, Milton got a chance to put his limited NFL action to the test with a struggling offense.
The results? More struggles from Philadelphia.
Joe Milton Gets Honest With Personal Assessment After Eagles’ Loss vs Giants
“For my first game here, I feel like I did all right,” Milton told reporters, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark.
“There are a lot of things that I can clean up as far as protection, just helping those guys out with protection. That’s something that we’re going to get better this week coming up for sure. We’ve just got to get there as a whole, as a collective. We just want to make sure everybody is on the same communication, and that starts with me for sure.”
How Did Joe Milton Perform?
The veteran quarterback threw 34 times on Sunday. He completed 18 of those passes for 169 yards. Milton didn’t toss any touchdowns, but he took care of the ball in the passing game, avoiding turnovers through the air.
Part of the reason why the Eagles wanted to roll with Milton was due to the fact that he could use his legs to give the offense a versatile look. Milton rushed nine times for 64 yards. That led the Eagles in rushing, with Saquon Barkley going for just 22 yards off 13 carries on Sunday.
The worst part was Milton taking seven sacks. Once again, the Eagles’ offensive line struggled to protect the passer. On one of the sacks, Milton took a big hit, which resulted in a lost fumble.
Overall, Milton did what he could. Similar to McKee over the past two weeks, the pass-rushing pressure was high, and the top two wide receivers were not on the field. The result? 11 points for the Eagles.
