Barkley and Hurts sit as the Eagles tune up for the postseason with a 20-13 win over the Giants

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tanner McKee threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns in a game full of backups to help the Philadelphia Eagles tune up for the postseason with a 20-13 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday.

The NFC East champion Eagles (14-3) are the No. 2 seed in the conference and will host Green Bay next weekend in a wild-card game.

With making a run at the Super Bowl a priority, the Eagles rested their core starters, notably running back Saquon Barkley, quarterback Jalen Hurts, wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith and offensive linemen Landon Dickerson and Lane Johnson.

Barkley lost his shot at breaking Eric Dickerson’s NFL single-season rushing record. Barkley finished the season with 2,005 yards rushing, 101 yards shy of breaking Dickerson’s record of 2,105 yards set with the Los Angeles Rams in 1984.

While the prudent was move, there was some disappointment in Philly that Barkley didn’t get a chance at breaking the record, especially against the team that let him go at the end of last season.

“Would have broke the record in the first quarter,” former Eagles running back Brian Westbrook wrote on social media.

Any doubt that coach Nick Sirianni made the right move to play it safe was erased about 750 miles away in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where Packers wide receiver Christian Watson was carted into the locker room and quarterback Jordan Love hurt his throwing elbow in a game against Chicago.

Hurts might not have played anyway after the franchise QB spent a second straight week in the NFL concussion protocol. He missed the last two games. Kenny Pickett started last week against Dallas but hurt his ribs, opening the door for 2023 sixth-round draft pick McKee to start in a half-empty Lincoln Financial Field.

McKee impressed with a pair of touchdown passes in garbage time last week against Dallas and opened strong against the Giants.

McKee completed all three passes for 48 yards on the first drive and hit Ainias Smith for a 15-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. He threw a 7-yard TD pass to E.J. Jenkins in the fourth for a 17-3 lead.

The game may have been meaningless to the Eagles, but not to McKee. The 24-year-old threw for 190 yards in the first half in what was essentially his first real audition to unseat Pickett next season as the backup quarterback.

With Barkley sitting out, the Eagles rushed for only 51 yards in a game with fairly muted play-calling.

Tight end Dallas Goedert had four catches for 55 yards in his return from a knee injury. Goedert missed the last four games and his return is a needed boost ahead of the postseason.

Giant loss

The Giants saw their bid for the No. 1 draft pick take a serious blow when they upset Indianapolis last week, and it officially ended when Cleveland lost Saturday to Baltimore.

Both the Browns and Giants are 3-14, but New York’s Week 3 win in Cleveland was the tiebreaker.

Wide receiver Malik Nabers had five catches to finish with 109 overall and top Steve Smith for the season franchise record. Smith had 107 receptions in 2009.

Drew Lock, just 22 of 29 for 138 yards passing, hit Nabers for a 45-yard touchdown in the fourth that cut the deficit to 17-10.

Just for kicks

Jake Elliott missed a 39-yarder on a windy day and connected on a 24-yard field goal to send the Eagles into halftime with a 10-3 lead. He added a 32-yarder in the fourth.

Graham Gano kicked a 25-yard field goal for the Giants in the third quarter and added a 53-yarder in the fourth that made it 17-13.

Up next

The Eagles get set to play a home playoff game against the Packers while the Giants face an uncertain offseason.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL