The Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Cleveland Browns 22-13 in their preseason home finale at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday.
Rookie linebacker Jihaad Campbell, a first-round pick, was highlighted for his performance on defense. On the opening drive, Campbell recorded a sack against Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel and finished with four tackles. He also assisted fellow rookie Andrew Mukuba during a 75-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“It felt amazing, just to get him on the ground. I think it could have been a better, efficient tackle. That’s going to come with time and me putting in the work to have a better finishing tackle. But I mean, it felt good just to be out there and celebrate with my teammates. I think that was the biggest thing,” Campbell said.
Campbell spoke about his approach as he continues to adapt to the NFL: “The words that I’m always going to keep saying are just growing and learning,” Campbell said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. Rookies coming in, of course we don’t know it all, but we have standard instinctual things that we do know that can help us on the field to the best of our abilities. I think the biggest thing is really just to get advice from the older guys and understand what’s going on, so we can get more acclimated to this NFL life.
“I’m always looking for a building block. Just to stack days, brick on top of brick on top of brick. I think that’s the most important thing. I don’t think about, ‘Dang, if I messed up on this, I’m down on myself now,’ because I know I’m better than that and I know all I got to do is just get back to the drawing board, see what I need to improve on, and just keep working at it.”
Andrew Mukuba made an impact in his preseason debut by scoring a defensive touchdown off an interception and recovering a fumble.
Quarterback Kyle McCord threw his first NFL touchdown pass late in the first half after anticipating heavy pressure from Cleveland’s defense.
“You know you’re going to be one short in protection, so it’s all about getting the ball out on time. I think that’s how you show toughness as a quarterback,” McCord said.
He described not seeing but hearing his first touchdown play: “I heard it. I heard it, but I didn’t see it,” McCord said. “I heard the crowd and then I saw Ainias celebrating in the end zone. Pretty cool way to get your first one.”
McCord alternated series with Dorian Thompson-Robinson during Saturday’s game and completed 47 passing yards along with executing a Tush Push play for a conversion.
“It was pretty cool. I think that it was good to get that early on, feel like you’re actually in the game, get hit, get tackled a little bit, get punched under the pile,” McCord said of running Philadelphia’s signature short-yardage play. “Obviously growing up, being an Eagles fan, within the last few years they’ve kind of trademarked that. We practice it a little bit in practice, but obviously it’s not full contact, so it’s really my first time doing it full speed. Pretty cool.”
Reflecting on his adjustment process as an NFL rookie quarterback after playing at Syracuse last season: “The game is definitely different,” McCord said. “You’re playing against the top 1 percent of athletes… It’s a constant learning process… Just constant, constant improvement…”
Head Coach Nick Sirianni explained why quarterbacks were rotated by series instead of splitting halves: “We wanted to get both of them reps, and get both of them reps with the twos and also with the threes,” Sirianni said postgame. “So that was the thought process of why we rotated them within series. Again, wanted them to both be able to play behind the two offense lines, with the number two pass catchers and also with the number three.”
Veteran team photographer Ed Mahan worked his final game after 55 years covering Eagles football.
