Panthers Players React to Facing Tanner McKee Instead of Jalen Hurts

The Philadelphia Eagles announced on Thursday that star quarterback Jalen Hurts will not play against the Carolina Panthers this week because he has a superficial blood clot in his calf.

Tanner McKee will start in place of Hurts. 

"Obviously you're going into the week, you got to play that offense, you know it's a two-phase offense, right, with the run game and the pass game?" Panthers star Derrick Brown said. "So until you get to Sunday, you can't, you can't decide that, right? Like you don't know what the backup quarterback's got. So I've got to go back and watch tape on him, but I'm not real familiar with him, so I mean I'm going to go back and watch tape and see what he does."

McKee will play in his first regular-season game since January 4. He had 241 passing yards, one passing touchdown and one interception against the Washington Commanders last season. 

Jaelan Phillips was teammates with McKee last season in Philadelphia, so he knows how talented the QB is. 

"He throws the ball really well," Phillips said of McKee. "Good pocket presence. So he's definitely a good quarterback, no slouch at all. I mean, we prepare the same way. It doesn't really matter who they have. We've got to execute the way we need to, obviously. You know it changes what they might do, which then changes a little bit what we might do, but it's not like it's a different mentality. Prepare for everything the same way. Yeah, I mean, like I said, like they're going to do different things, so we're going to play a little bit differently, probably, but ultimately I have to just prepare and execute the same way."

McKee has 597 passing yards and five passing touchdowns in his career. It will be intriguing to see how he plays against the Panthers, who are giving up 27.3 points per game. That's 26th in the NFL. 

The Panthers lost to the Chicago Bears in Week 1, defeated the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2, lost to the Cleveland Browns in Week 3 and beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football in Week 4.

Bryce Young is putting up excellent numbers for the 2-2 Panthers. Through four games, he has 1,268 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns, two interceptions, 19 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. 

According to Next Gen Stats, Young has 411 pass yards under pressure, four passing touchdowns under pressure, 321 deep passing yards, seven passing touchdowns outside the numbers, 534 passing yards outside the numbers, 928 passing yards vs. zone coverage and 340 passing yards vs. man coverage.  

Young enters Week 6 with 9,559 passing yards and 58 passing touchdowns with the Panthers. His starting record is 16-32-0.

Carolina should beat Philadelphia in Week 6. After all, McKee hasn't played in a meaningful game in a long, long time.