As the Eagles touched down to play in Jacksonville, a familiar face was there to greet them.
Now with the Jaguars, quarterback Nick Foles got plenty of hugs from former Eagles teammates on Thursday ahead of a game in which neither he nor Philadelphia starter Carson Wentz saw playing time.
For Philadelphia, though, seeing Foles was likely somewhat bittersweet as having a quarterback -- who led the Eagles to their only Super Bowl title just two seasons ago -- of his caliber as a backup was indeed a luxury.
Having backups, in general, in Philly seems a bit luxurious these days as they have lost reserve signal-callers Nate Sudfeld and Cody Kessler in each of their first two preseason games and are holding starter Carson Wentz out of preseason action.
Following the loss of Kessler to a head injury, Eagles coach Doug Pederson, who had previously said the team wouldn't look to sign another QB, took a wait-and-see outlook.
"You know what, we will evaluate Cody again tomorrow and over the weekend," he told reporters after the game. "We're going to get through the next few days. We're going to evaluate everything. Obviously, I'm really excited for Clayton [Thorson] tonight getting a lot of time. We are going to evaluate where we are and make a decision where we go."
On the bright side was the play of Thorson, who completed 16 of 26 passes for 175 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
"I think he just really calmed himself," Pederson said. "[He] learned from last week which is great to see. Steadied himself. I know the feeling coming off the bench like that as a back-up guy. He stepped in there and did a great job of leading the team and managing the game. He made some big-time throws and it was encouraging to see them."
While Pederson aimed to keep things positive, he admitted losing two quarterbacks in the first two preseason games was an equally novel and unfortunate occurrence.
"I don't know if I have ever been a part in the 14 years I played or been coaching, where we lost two quarterbacks like this in preseason games," Pederson said. "The beauty is we will get both of them back and we will evaluate Cody in the morning. We still have a lot of preseason weeks to work out a lot of details and, again, make those decisions at the end."
Sudfeld was lost to a broken bone in his left wrist and preliminary reports have him returning around Week 3. Kessler sustained a potential concussion, and more news on his status is likely to come today. No matter how that shakes out, Pederson was steadfast in sticking with the plan to hold out Wentz.
"No," Pederson answered when asked if the injuries would change the approach with Wentz. "We are going to get some great work in with Baltimore coming into town this next week. The plan is to push the starters in practice and make sure they are prepared there. I really feel practice is where you make it hard and challenging on our guys. Carson and the starters on offense have done a great job embracing that. We have another good opportunity this week. We just take it day-by-day. I don't look to next Thursday. I don't even look to the (season) opener. I am looking to this weekend and getting ready for our practice on Sunday."
Unfortunately for Pederson and the Eagles, they can't take their quarterbacks' red jerseys from practice to the remaining two preseason games, because at this rate they could use them.
