Kenny Pickett had played just 28 snaps all season, and those were in blowout Eagles wins.
Finally, in Week 16, Pickett was called on for something more than mop-up duty. Quite the opposite. He was being forced to step into an intense, physical game that had a real playoff atmosphere to it on Sunday when Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu knocked Jalen Hurts out of the game with a concussion on a hit that was questionable at best.
Pickett nearly pulled it out, but so many things didn’t go the Eagles’ way, from questionable penalties that led to an ejection of safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to a rare defensive meltdown by the NFL’s top-ranked defense, which made a 36-33 loss seem inevitable.
“I’m honestly just sitting here pissed off,” he said. “I wanted to win that one bad. Point blank. …I wanted to get that one for our team.”
There was a point late in the game where it didn’t look like Pickett would be able to finish. He was hit while attempting to throw and landed awkwardly. Tanner McKee began warming up, but Pickett went back out. The awkward fall did earn him a trip to the X-ray machine to get some pictures of his ribs.
He said there will be more testing done on Monday. Pickett thought he would be OK, but if there if something more serious is uncovered and Hurts cannot clear the league’s concussion protocol, Tanner McKee will be in line for his first action as a pro when the Dallas Cowboys pay a visit to South Philly in Week 17 and the Eagles will have to find another quarterback somewhere to serve as the backup.
But that’s getting ahead of things.
Certainly, the Eagles’ offense changed when their franchise quarterback left the game. So did Washington’s defense. They began to load up on Saquon Barkley runs without the threat of Hurts’ legs and the team’s RPO packages.
Pickett did the best he could but admitted not getting any snaps or throwing the ball to A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith during the week was challenging.
“It’s tough,” he said. “You don’t get any physical snaps. I just try to do the best I can mentally locked into the game plan, understanding the checks and really how these guys run routes because I don’t get a chance to throw to them. So, I try to pay attention to them as much as I can and then just go out there and let it loose and throw the ball. I just try to channel as much as I could from a preparation standpoint when I get out there, but at the end of the day you just have to go play.”
Pickett threw a 4-yard touchdown to Brown but also a crucial interception that seemed to give the Commanders life after they fell behind 14-0 early in the first quarter, but also threw a pick to Luvu that gave Washington the ball at the Eagles’ 25 that they turned that into a touchdown.
“Kenny was trying to get his feet under him,” said Brown. “He hadn’t played all year. It was just a little different. He was trying to calm down and get comfortable. He did at times, and sometimes, he got rattled.
“There was a lot going on. They were pressuring him a lot, changing looks up. I felt he did well to handle everything (without) playing a single game. It was a most intense game, and they’re throwing everything at him.”
Pickett said he communicated with his top receivers throughout the game.
“We were talking after every series, honestly,” the QB said. “We were coming up with some things on the fly, some things they’d done with Jalen they’d done before that I wasn’t aware of, trying to play catch up in certain parts of the game, and just making sure we communicated very well.
“Those guys are awesome at it. They’ve been doing this a long time, so it was really cool to get out there and have an opportunity to play with them.”
He may get that opporunity again against the Cowboys.
