It was a rough night for Kelee Ringo and Adoree’ Jackson when the Eagles hosted the Bengals in the preseason opener on Thursday.
Vic Fangio isn’t going to sugar coat it.
But the Eagles’ defensive coordinator is eager to see what happens next.
“Yeah, obviously they had some tough assignments in that game going against that quarterback and those receivers,” Fangio said. “But I think it’s a great learning experience for both of them and hopefully they’ll both come back.
“Obviously, Kelee had more balls thrown his way than Adoree’ did, but I think it’s great that happened and we’ll see how much they can grow from that.”
The Bengals played their starters on Thursday night so it was a good test for the two cornerbacks battling for a starting job. But neither of them played very well and there’s a chance newcomer Jakorian Bennett could wedge his way into that competition.
Here’s a look at the stats from Ringo and Jackson in coverage against the Bengals, per ProFootballFocus:
Kelee Ringo: 4 targets, 4 catches, 79 yards, 1 TD
Adoree’ Jackson: 5 targets, 4 catches, 45 yards
The roughest play of the game came when Ringo gave up a 36-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase in the first quarter.
“Yeah, he’s got to tackle,” Fangio said. “I’m not upset that the guy caught the ball on him. I’m upset that he didn’t tackle him and he’s got to realize where he is on the field, use the sideline, realize who he’s going against. Those are all things you got to process and factor in a millisecond and he didn’t do a good job of that in that play, but I expect him to learn from that and I expect them to improve from that.”
Fangio on that play called a Cover 0 with no safety help, which seemed like an unusual call in that situation against that team and that receiver.
Turns out, it was purposeful.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of times in the preseason where you’re calling stuff for the purpose of evaluation, whereas during the season a real game, you’re calling stuff to stop anything that you can to help your guys,” Fangio said. “But during the preseason, a lot of times you’re calling stuff to get a good evaluation of everybody.”
Fangio on Saturday pointed out that when the Eagles played the Bengals in the 2024 regular season, he didn’t call Cover 0 for a reason. But he thought it was a good opportunity to put some stress on his corners for the evaluation.
Ringo didn’t hold up well on that play Thursday, but Fangio is hoping Ringo learns from it. It’s worth noting that Ringo on Saturday, in the first practice since the game, was back with the starters.
There’s still a long way to go in this cornerback battle.
