Taking on new role, Barkley shows good and bad

He’s 6-foot-2, 227 pounds. Big enough that he’s hard to miss. He was a famous quarterback when he was 15 years old. By 21 he was a star in a city known for them. And yet he’s been almost invisible over the last few months.

It has not been a banner training camp for Matt Barkley so far. The headlines and the local curiosity have centered on Michael Vick and Nick Foles. The snaps with the first- and second-teams have gone their way, too. The spotlight, once Barkley’s to bask in by his lonesome, is focused on the other two -- and so he has spent most of his time on the sideline, in their shadows.

During practice against the Patriots at the NovaCare Complex this week, Barkley barley saw the field. He took just nine snaps on Tuesday and only 10 on Wednesday. He did more standing and watching than throwing and improving. The quarterback competition? It involves two guys. Three is evidently a crowd. Barkley knows it. Earlier in the week, he said the situation “can be tough” at times.

When he was pressed about the rookie’s decreased playing time in practice, Chip Kelly got chippy, said “camp’s not over,” and “you’ll see a lot of him Friday night.”

Barkley played quite a bit in Friday night’s 31-22 loss to the Patriots at Lincoln Financial Field (see Instant Replay). That much is indisputable. How well he played is less concrete.

Barkley threw 22 passes, which was double the attempts by Vick and Foles combined (see story). Barkley completed 11 of his throws for 103 yards. That’s 50 percent and 4.7 yards per completion average.

“I thought it started a little slow and finished on a great note,” Barkley said. “I think it was great to get in that rhythm of no-huddle. That’s how we’ve been practicing every day, so that’s the rhythm I’ve gotten into. When Chip got into that tempo package, I felt more in sync with what was going on. My feet felt right. My arm felt right.”

He zipped two separate balls across the middle to Clay Harbor in the third quarter. He threw a fourth-quarter touchdown to Greg Salas and then converted the two-point conversion by connecting with Matthew Tucker. Those were the highlights. They were good plays. But there were also some rough spots.

Barkley overthrew James Casey. He underthrew Russell Shepard. He missed on passes to Damaris Johnson and Felix Jones.

In the third quarter, he threw a lazy ball into double coverage and allowed the Patriots’ defensive backs to issue a wallop on wide receiver Ifeanyi Momah. (My editor tells me the rugby people call that a “hospital pass.”) On the next play, Barkley went back to Momah, underthrew him and only missed having the ball intercepted because New England cornerback Logan Ryan dropped the easy pick.

The in-game version of Barkley looked a lot like the training camp practice version of Barkley: raw.

Shortly before the half, when Barkley launched a ball over the head of two receivers and into the Patriots’ sideline, one press box joker quipped that it was “a bad route.” That’s been something of a running gag throughout training camp. Whenever Barkley throws an ugly ball, the writer will blame it on the receiver. Or the tight end. Or the punters. Or the water guy. The scribe has gotten a lot of use out of that shtick so far.

Barkley probably wouldn’t find it very amusing. Earlier in the week, he told CSNPhilly.com’s Geoff Mosher that it hasn’t been easy for him to move up the QB depth chart “because it’s a different scale than what I’m playing with.” He meant Vick and Foles get the good (or at least better) receivers and he gets the guys who will be unemployed soon. That might be true -- but it is also true that, at times, he has looked as unspectacular as the guys around him.

It is early. The Eagles have played just one preseason game. Training camp isn’t over, and the regular season is still a month away. It is important to note all that when evaluating Barkley.

But.

But there is a reason he isn’t really in the competition.

He shows flashes, but not enough. Not yet.

Barkley recently told the Los Angeles Times that “there’s an opportunity here.” But he couched that bit of optimism with a thinly-veiled complaint.

"Chip supports me,” Barkley said. “[Eagles owner Jeffrey] Lurie supports me. It's just kind of like, when does that full support come? Maybe preseason will be that time."

Maybe. Or maybe the level of support is dictated by the quality and consistency of the performance.