Philadelphia Eagles: Watch Gardner Minshew throw his first touchdown

Well, that didn’t take long.

After watching Marcus Epps save a special teams touchdown by Braxton Berrios for a 79-yard return, Gardner Minshew nailed Dallas Goedert for a 36-yard touchdown on his very first drive as the Philadelphia Eagles‘ starting quarterback.

Now granted, this technically wasn’t Minshew’s first drive as the Eagles’ quarterback. He got a few drives in the Eagles’ blowout win against the Detriot Lions and performed about as well as any player entering a game up by 40 in the fourth quarter could hope. But with Jalen Hurts out with an ankle injury, Minshew got his first chance to really command the Eagles’ offense.

The results? 61 passing yards, all of which went to Dallas Goedert, and seven points on the board for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Watch Gardner Minshew put points on the board for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Garnder Minshew is a checkdown specialist.

The third runner up to PFF’s check-down king award – which is an informal award but can be read about here – Minshew has historically won games by staying on schedule, avoiding big losses, and most importantly of all, checking the ball down if none of his downfield options are open.

In his first drive of the season with the Philadelphia Eagles, those tendencies were on full display, as only one of Minshew’s three passes traveled more than 20 yards through the air, and all three went to Goedert. Complemented with a few good runs by Miles Sanders and a little under center play action, Nick Sirianni had Minshew drop back on a seemingly routine 2nd-and-1 on the 36 and promptly deliver the ball into Goedert’s catch radius.

And from there? Well, watch it for yourself below.

While that might not have been the perfectly placed over-the-shoulder throw Minshew would have liked for his first touchdown, I’ll certainly take it, and I imagine he will too.

Look, the New York Jets’ defense is bad. Ex-Philadelphia Eagles practice squad member Elijah Riley is starting for them at safety, and their best overall player, Marcus Maye, is on injured reserve. But after watching Braxton Berrios blow up the Eagles’ second teams unit and basically put his team in the red zone, it was certainly nice to see Gardner Minshew take the field and give the Eagles the lead, even if it was taken away on the very next drive. But hey, as long as Dallas Goedert and Minshew are on the field, it would appear no New York Jets lead is safe, as they connected for a touchdown once more on the very next drive, which I, for one, can totally get used to.