Milton threw for 169 yards and rushed for another 64 on Sunday against the Giants.
AAA Official Review Joe Milton 110926
Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro analyzes quarterback Joe Milton's first NFL start here in the Official Review, Driven by AAA! Make sure to visit AAA.com/eagles to sign up today!
One start and for quarterback Joe Milton, there were moments when he showed his athleticism, moments when he displayed his inexperience, and times when his upside was clear for all to see.
In other words, pretty typical for a player at the game's most important position making his first NFL start.
"For my first game here, I feel like I did all right," Milton said after Sunday's 19-11 loss to the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field. He completed 18 of 34 passes for 169 yards, with seven quarterback sacks, and ran nine times for 64 yards. "There are a lot of things that I can clean up as far as protection, just helping those guys out with protection. That's something that we're going to get better (at) this week coming up for sure.
"I felt blessed, more blessed. That's about it. I felt more blessed than anything. I was able to see my family in the stands, so it was great, but it was also just great to be out there with the guys that I've been here training with for the past three weeks and learning and just that communication and connection that the team has and just being a part of it. I love it. It's great. I wouldn't ask for no better situation than this."
The Eagles have a bye week ahead with their next game against Pittsburgh on November 22, and there is no official word on who starts at quarterback. Milton made his case three weeks after joining the Eagles' roster, and he made sure to do what he said during the week that he would do.
He stayed where his feet were – and that included his special ability to escape the pocket and gain yards with his legs.
"If it's there, I'm trying to get it. If not, I'm trying to throw the ball," Milton said. "Whatever the team needs at that moment, that's what I'm trying to do. We've just got to clean up a lot of stuff tonight and just move on, keep going.
"With my three weeks being here, it's been amazing seeing these guys never give up. Seeing them tonight, they still had excitement on their faces, and I knew it wasn't over. It's great to see."
Milton's goal is to continue to learn the offense, gain comfort and confidence, and build on his first start. He will take time away during the bye week and then get after it when the Eagles return to the Jefferson Health Training Complex.
"I'm learning every day. I'm learning every day, every week, day by day and just enjoying the process, but also just overworking the body, not crazy, but overworking the body to be where I want to be and get to where the team wants to get to," he said. "So, the only focus I really have is just getting better week by week. That's something that Nick (Sirianni, head coach) preaches day by day: shovel, shovel by shovel, barrel by barrel, and just keep going, keep chipping away. Things are going to happen. Life (is) going to happen. You're going to lose some games; you're going to win some games.
"You may tie here and there, but at the same time, you wake up, God blesses you to wake up the next day and go attack it. That's all you got to do is attack it, and that's what we will do for sure."
Success for the offense in the second half of the season is reliant on the entire 11 on the field, not just the quarterback position. That is what has been so elusive for the Eagles in their 2-7 season.
Frustrating? Yes. Something to improve? No doubt.
"I think just like everybody, he had some really good plays and then he's going to have plays that he's going to want back naturally. But I thought he did a lot of good things, a lot of solid things, made some plays with his feet, gave our guys a couple chances downfield," Sirianni said. "Thought he was good in the play-action world. I thought he did some really nice things. Obviously, we have to play better complementary football to be able to have the run game coincide with the play-actions that we were running, but there were some good things that he had. But like I said, there's always going to be plays back throughout a game that you're going to want back, and Joe's no different than anybody else."
One start is in the books. More ahead? We will see about that, but for now Milton and the coaching staff will review the performance and work on adjustments and improvements and all that goes into building a quarterback.