Johnson Signs Extension

Some stability was maintained for our special teams today when Dirk Johnson was signed to a 5 year contract extension.

Not a big deal for most people but this definitly makes John Harbaugh happy knowing that we have two great veterans in our kicker and punter.

People don't usually recognize special teams as being a big deal but we realize that your ability to play a game of field position often times can determine whether you win or lose a game.

Dirk Johnson first signed with the Eagles in 2003 after stints in Seattle and New Orleans. Since his first year his performance has consistently improved until last year a sports hernia held him to only play in 7 games. This year though after a training camp where Harbaugh focused on not overworking Johnson, he has had an excellent preseason.

The recent move to cut Koy Detmer also made Dirk the starting field goal and extra points holder so this extension comes at an understandable time.

Last Chance

Tomorrow's game against the Jet's is literally a lot of players last chance this year to make the Eagles roster. There are players who are on the bubble such as Jason Short, Thomas Tapeh, and Darnerian McCants, among many others, who will all see lengthened playing time.

There are some things that I didn't expect going into this game that Andy just announced at the press conference. He said that Greg Lewis isn't going to see any playing time, his reasoning for that was because he "knows what Greg can do" and he wants to give the younger guys more reps. Now when questioned earlier in the preseason as to why Greg Lewis hadn't seen much time, Andy responded the same way. Then when he did see time he had a great game against the Steelers last week with 2 catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. I'm thinking that Andy isn't playing games, that having Greg now play means that he is going to make the team this year. I've gone back and forth a million times but most recently I was saying I thought Gaffney would make the team and Lewis wouldn't just from a buisness perspective, because they went to get Gaffney in free agency and are going to see what he can do during the season. But now knowing that Greg is going to sit tomorrow I really think that Andy has already decided he wants him on the team, otherwise you think he would have at least just given him a shot to show what he can do.

Also I thought that there was still a position battle between Josh Parry and Thomas Tapeh at FB but Parry isn't going to play, along with the other starters, so that gives me the impression that Parry has the job won. I wrote earlier that now it seems the only way Tapeh will win the job over Parry is if he comes up with a huge game to really prove that we should have him. Tapeh's dream situation would be to not only block well but be run a little bit even in the singleback, to show his versatility that he could also be a runner for us.

I'm excited to see Jason Short get some time at SAM linebacker because with the injuries to Gocong and Richmond, and even Simoneau leaving for the Saints, our back up at SAM is Jason Short. Though Short is feared on special teams he is completly unproven as a defensive player. It really seems like they are just finding any way for him to make this team because he is such a great special teamer and leader of that group. He was seeing some time at defensive end for awhile but now he is back at SAM linebacker.

Of course it would be great to see more of Buckhalter but he is a lock to make the team now, so he is barely going to see any time.

I'm really hoping that we can see A.J. Feeley out there, I have a feeling if he does get out there he is going to look pretty rough but it's going to take him some time to get back into things, I would be really surprised if he did well. You have to take into account that though Garcia has looked nice this preseason his first game against the Raiders was pretty bad because he was knocking all of the rust off.

Also I don't even care if we see any of Donte Stallworth. It would be nice for him to get out there and run some routes but it won't matter because he needs to work on his chemistry with Donovan, not Garcia.

Pre-Game Notes: 8/31

Today was A.J. Feeley's press conference and it was definitly weird to see him back on the team again. Though he has only been gone for 2 years this team has gone through so much between when we saw him play in 2002 and today.

Now the team is getting ready for our final preseason game against the New York Jets tomorrow where it will be many players last shot to show what they have.

• People that will not play tomorrow due to injuries: McDougle, Walker, Westbrook, Gocong and Reno Mahe
• Hank Baskett will be a game time decision because he has a slightly sprained ankle, he got it during warm ups two days ago
  
• Keyonta Marshall is sick so we will see how he does between now and the game
  
• The 2's and 3's will play in the game. The QB's will mix it up.
• Donte Stallworth and A.J. Feeley will both be game time decisions, they're in the process of having a cramming session on learning the playbooks
• Jeff Garcia and Timmy Chang are scheduled to take the bulk of it but it Andy feels comfortable with A.J. then he will see time
  
• There are a lot of guys that are very close to making the team and this game will be so important for them because they will get extended play time
  
• None of the starters will play, not even the new ones such as Jamaal Jackson and Matt McCoy, also not even Josh Parry who is suppousedly battling with Thomas Tapeh for that starting job. So it seems to me that there isn't much of a battle at FB if Parry isn't playing since he's a start, but if Tapeh comes up with a huge game then I think that could change things.
  
• A.J. Feeley was brought back because he had success here, won football games, they thought he would be a nice addition to the group here. Andy thought he would spend a few years in Miami but he just got lost in a coaching change. They were surprised he got cut from San Diego
  
• Timmy Chang hasn't had a ton of play time, he will get some against the Jets, but the time that he has had has been OK but he's getting better every week. Learning the offense has probably been the hardest part in his transition
• Correll Buckhalter is going to be a game time decision, right now he is penciled in to go but he won't see much playing time
• The only two WR's that won't play are going to be Greg Lewis and Reggie Brown. Greg won't play because Andy knows what Greg can do and he wants to see the younger guys.
  
• There is a chance that Broderick Bunkley will be in the game.
  
• Both Jason Avant and Hank Baskett know the slot reciever position, but Avant has gotten most of the reps at that position. After the game they will decide who that guy is going to be.
  

Lots of Changes

As I was reading through a David Aker's interview he pointed out that the only players left from Andy's first season here, 1999, are himself, Trotter, Dawkins, McNabb, and William Thomas. That just is a perfect example of the rebuilding of an organization. It cracks me up when people say this year is a year where the Eagles need to rebuild. How many teams do you know need to rebuild when they have a 5 time Pro-Bowl QB that is 2 years removed from a Super Bowl and isn't over 30 years old?

That little note about only those 5 players being left from our 1999, 5 and 11 team, shows how much work Andy Reid has done here and the way that he has built this team from the ground up. Yes the core players on the team in '99 are still the core guys now in Akers, Trot, Dawk, Donovan, and Thomas but they aren't successful without a good team built around them.

It was also noted that the only WR left on this team that played in our 2004 Super Bowl appearance is Greg Lewis, who scored a touchdown. I just thought that was interesting too because since I've been talking about players like Baskett and Avant for awhile now I forget that we totally rebuilt our WR depth chart this year.

We are most likely going into the season with Reggie Brown who is in his 2nd year after being a 2nd round draft pick in 2005, Donte Stallworth a 5 year vet we traded for, Hank Baskett an undrafted rookie free agent, Jason Avant a 5th round pick this year, and then a list of McCants, Lewis, and Gaffney all vying for the last two spots.

There have been a lot of changes this year from last year's roster despite their not being a huge Jevon Kearse like acquisition in free agency (but that D. Howard pick up is looking more and more like that every game.)

From A Player's Perspective

The addition of Donte Stallworth and A.J. Feeley within these past few days has really given me so much more confidence in this team. I said before that I really think that this team can be successful this year but the guys that we recently acquired provide us with a playmaker in Stallworth and some nice depth in Feeley, which makes us even better.

As a fan though I am starting to realize that I really have overlooked how moves like this affect the players the are already on this team, in the locker room. I addressed the fact that having Simoneau leave does weaken the depth at LB but I feel like a guy like Omar Gaither is going to step up and not have us regret trading Simoneau away. But there are so many players that are really attached to this guy and the more I have read the player's reactions it hit me how hard it is for the team when guys are traded.

Sheldon Brown admitted that once he found out that Mark Simoneau was traded he started to cry because he considers him a very good friend. Brown went on to say that the abscenses of Detmer, Pinkston, and Simoneau all hit him hard because he has played with all of them throughout his entire career.

I definitly think that all of the moves made so far have strengthened this team but from a players perspective they have so many more personal ties. A big thing for Sheldon Brown was that Mark and Sheldon's wives are good friends, so Mark leaving even hurts Sheldon's family.

Dave Spadaro described the locker room today as in a state of shock. It's understandable because as much as everyone knows that this is a buisness and there are going to plenty of guys that don't make the team, nothing hurts more than having your best friend cut. Mike Bartrum said when he was battling for a spot in Green Bay he had a position battle against his best friend and he talked about it being one of the hardest times in his life.

The players recognize that all of these moves are made in an effort to put the best team out their possible but that doesn't lessen the shock when they went to practice this morning and found out Koy Detmer and Todd Pinkston were no longer there. Andy really preaches to the players not to read or listen to any of what the football media reports, most of the players abide by this rule, so a lot of them weren't aware as much as the fans were about how unstable Todd Pinkston and Koy Detmer's jobs were.

Eventually things will start to calm down a little bit once the season gets started but days where big cuts are made really puts everyone on edge. I have no worries about the chemistry in this locker room, that will be fine once the season starts and the final roster is set. But as much as players might not have been huge fans of either Pinkston or Simoneau you have to realize that we did lose two quality guys. Mark Simoneau especially was always a big part of the locker room with his work ethic but that is exactly why the New Orlean's Saints, who are trying to rebuild their franchise, really wanted him on their team.

Roster changes temporarily having an impact on a locker room isn't just something we've seen in Philadelphia. It happens all around the league, we even saw it when Donte Stallworth came here from the Saints, Donte said how it was definitly hard for him to leave a great friend in Joe Horn. He repeated that he and Horn had an intimate moment before Donte left and that it was the worst part of his whole transition to Philly.

So when everyone is cheering, including myself, that we got a great guy in Stallworth and a quality back up in A.J. Feeley, it is important to recognize how the players feel. In the long run these transitions are nothing compared to what we've seen before with huge leaders like Ike Reese, Troy Vincent, and Duce Staley leaving in the past, everytime we moved on. But the first couple of practices are going to be hard on the guys until the season gets started up.

Team Notes 8/30

Koy Detmer and Todd Pinkston were cut this morning whereas A.J. Feeley was brought back with a 2 year contract:

• John Harbaugh said that emotionally it's a difficult thing to lose Koy Detmer because he had been here for even a year longer then Harbaugh has
  
• They didn't hear about Koy being cut until they were out on the practice field this morning but the guys know it's part of the buisness and they are moving on
  
• It was probably hardest for Akers, Bartrum, Johnson and the QB's because they were all closest to Koy
  
• Harbaugh said that he and Akers noticed that there is a different, but good, flavor to this team with all of the youth that is here
  
• JR Reed is going to be on punts and kickoffs early, see how it goes with how many reps he is getting between special teams and defense.
  
• Then you'll also see Dexter Wynn and Bruce Perry back there returning as well
  
• David has kicked, every other day, and Dirk has punted 2 out of every 3 days, both in an effort to keep their legs fresh considering last year they both ended up injured
• Holding on field goals and extra points is a lot harder then you would think. The holder has a spot the size of a dime that they are expected to hit with the ball. Dirk is one of the best in the game but it's good that he has had Koy to learn from. There are many really small details that go into a good hold.
  
• Koy taught Dirk about holding from day 1. Dirk has great hand eye coordination but Koy is so good that he should have a clinic on holding according to Harbaugh
  
• E.J. Cochran got picked up by the Green Bay Packers and Harbaugh believes that he is definitly ready for kick off's, field goal wise he just has to be a little more consistent
• With Mark Simoneau leaving it will give guys like Omar Gaither a chance to really step up. But on special teams there is no single guy that is going in to replace Simoneau, it will be a combined effort between Jason Short and Dedrick Roper too.
  
• It's a bonus to have WR's that can play Special teams which is what we have in Darnerian McCants and Greg Lewis.
  
• Andy Reid told Harbaugh that Donte Stallworth does have return ability, so Harbaugh's eyes lit up when he heard that. He said whenever Stallworth wants to come over and catch some punts, he's welcome to it.
  

Detmer Out, Feeley In

Earlier this morning I mentioned that the Eagles and Vikings had both expressed interest in A.J. Feeley but as much as I wanted A.J. here, I expected him to sign with Minnesota.

That was not the case though as A.J. has agreed to terms on a 2 year contract with the Eagles. Nothing is official yet until the deal is signed but still this looks like a done deal.

I love this move and it just adds onto what has already been a great week for the Eagles. No need to go through Feeley's history again but just to sum it up, he was drafted in 2001, saw most of his playing time when Donovan broke his ankle in 2002 and then was traded for a 2nd round draft pick in 2004 to the Miami Dolphins. After one year of unsuccessfully starting off and on in Miami he was then traded to the San Diego Chargers towards the beginning of this offseason but didn't make it into the regular season before just recently being cut.

This is a great addition to our QB depth because the two things that were going for Koy Detmer while he was here was that he knew the offense like the back of his hand and he was a good field goal holder. Well A.J. doesn't hold on field goals, that's Dirk Johnson's job now, but he did play 3 years in this offense so it shouldn't be too hard for him to get back into the swing of things.

Now we have a solid veteran in Jeff Garcia who has some mobility but isn't comfortable the offense quite yet. Then right behind him is a young QB that has played for us before and did well while he was here. A.J. never really amazed anyone but he had the confidence and poise in the pocket to be able to control the offense, which was surprising because it was only his 2nd year in the NFL. One of the reasons we won when A.J. had to play before was because our defense was pretty good, now though our defense is way better which just makes the offenses job easier.

Big Roster Cuts Made

Todd Pinkston and Koy Detmer both were cut by the Eagles today.

This comes just a day after Pinkston was given permission to seek a trade, which alerted everyone to the fact that he really wasn't wanted any longer in Philadelphia. Before I thought that the Eagles were giving him the ability to seek a trade just as a sign of respect, so that way he might possibly get a chance to start somewhere because he wasn't starting over Brown or Stallworth. But now it looks like they were just trying to see if they could get anything for him before he was cut.

Pinkston had been a starting WR on this offense since he was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2000 draft. He is just another name you can add to the list of unsuccessful draft picks spent on WR's during the Andy Reid era among names like Freddie Mitchell and Billy McMullen.

During Pinkston's early years on the team he found a way to work into the system and did help the team win. We never focused on our WR's too much as he saw 60 catches in one season, his best year in 2002, but the majority of the time he saw about 40 catches a year, we just had a theory of spreading the ball around between all of the recievers. He had the ability to stretch the field with his speed but his big problem was getting off of the line of scrimmage.

He was often criticized because of how thin he was, it looks like you can fit two fingers around his entire ankle. But the anger from a lot of Eagles fans really emerged after we lost the 2003 NFC Championship Game to the Panthers in part because our WR's, Pinkston especially, just could not get off of the line of scrimmage. Then combined with the "alligator arms" incident against the Washington Redskins, the love between Pinkston and the fans was quickly lost.

I never hated him, I always felt like he had so much potential and loved what he did early in his career, I hoped he would get back to that point. But after he ruptured his achilles during the training camp of 2005 then the situation really got tough. Everyone expected that he would be back healthy this year for training camp with a full year to recover but he suffered some swelling in sometimes one, often both, achille's tendons and was unable to practice for the majority of camp. Pinkston logged in his first full week of practice just recently, before the Steelers game, and he had his preseason debut that night with only 1 catch for 4 yards.

What really seemed to strike people the wrong way, including myself, was prior to the Steelers game when reporters were asking Todd how he felt about the game, if he had anything to prove and he said no. The thing that I didn't like about that was he seemed like he really believed he was guaranteed a roster spot and that despite only playing in one preseason game he would just make the team. That obviously wasn't the case and that started to become evident once the trade was made for Donte Stallworth.

Koy Detmer is a guy who it's hard not to like just because of his work ethic and attitude. For so long I always have just pulled for him because he had been an alright back up for some time and was now going into his 10th year. Everyone knew the stories that he would always just bring a playbook and a toothbrush to away games and how he was pretty frugal with his money. But I really began to resent him last year once Donovan was down and we had to watch game after game of just pathetic play from Koy and Mike McMahon.

You don't expect a backup QB to be able to fill the role of your starting QB, just because if they were able to, they would be starting somewhere else. But you expect that the guy can put together a drive everyone in awhile, at least get a first down. Koy just played scared all last season, with no confidence in himself or the guys around him. The only thing that kept him around after Mike McMahon was cut was the fact that he was our holder on field goals and extra points.

But during training camp I saw David Akers kicking with Dirk Johnson holding, time and time again. It made sense that an effort would be made for someone else to be able to do Koy's job. The future was really seen though against the Steelers when Akers went 3 for 3, even a 52 yard field goal, with Dirk Johnson holding. There isn't going to be as much confidence this year because it will be Dirk's first year doing it in certain situations. As John Harbaugh pointed out before, Koy has worked with David while it's snowing, with wind blowing in his face, he has the experience. This is Dirk's year to gain the experience and hopefully we don't have too many botched kicks in the process.

Now replacing Koy Detmer is a guy who I love, A.J. Feeley.

Interest Shown In Feeley

A.J. Feeley was recently cut by the Chargers and I thought that in a time where Koy Detmer has performed pretty badly, it might be a good idea to bring him in as a backup.

Currently both the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles have suppousedly contacted Feeley's agent. If this is the case I would think that if it was Feeley's choice he would rather go to a place where he might have a chance to eventually start, so that would be the Vikings.

It's no coincidence that both Andy Reid and Brad Childress are interested in A.J., because they both witnessed first hand how he performed in 2002.

Our back up QB situation would work out pretty well if we had Garcia and Feeley.

Trading Todd Pinkston

The Eagles gave Todd Pinkston and his agent Joel Segal to seek a trade. This is prompted from the recent addition of Donte Stallworth to the team which really will probably rule Pinkston out of the offense. Len Pasquarelli stated that there are currently 3 teams interested in Pinkston and 2 of those 3 would view Todd as a starter.

I think the Eagles are doing this for a variety of reasons. One of them being just out of respect for Todd because he has been a big part of this team since 2000 but with Stallworth and Brown, he just doesn't have the chance to start in Philadelphia anymore. So they want to provide him with an opportunity to go somewhere else where he might be needed more and get the chance to start.

The thing is that he isn't healthy yet, still coming back from the Achilles injury. So even if we did trade him I don't think that he would be able to pass the teams physical, I'm not sure how that works.

If we could get anything for him, even a 7th round pick, I'd be really happy because at this point I believe that there is a big chance he might get cut. That also is another reason though why some teams might not offer too much for him because they are hoping he might get cut too.

If a deal is made we would probably get a 2nd day (not 2nd round) pick for him.

Team Notes 8/29

Yesterday was pretty exciting considering the morning started off great knowing that Brian Westbrook, Darwin Walker, and Jerome McDougle were all back at practice. But as the news broke that we traded for Donte Stallworth, things really started heating up. Today Donte practiced with the team for the first time as well as participated in a press conference:

• Donte Stallworth came across as just an extremely confident and mature player. He has confidence in himself that he'll be able to learn the offense quickly and will make an impact on this team.
  
• Donte said that he doesn't think he'll have too much trouble learning the offense, he says he knows at least 60% of the offense so far just from working in a west coast system before
• He's been in a west coast offense for 4 years and then this past year with Sean Payton it was a west coast based offense
  
• Donte said he was definitly estatic about coming to the Eagles "this green makes me look good" because this is a good team, 2 years removed from the Super Bowl, with a guy like Donovan who's not too bad of a QB
• Donte said the worst part of him leaving was having to leave Joe Horn who he considers an older brother
  
• He feels during this past offseason he has really learned and matured a lot from being throw into the #1 WR position last year after Joe Horn was injured
• Donte said he met Jason Avant before, he knew Todd Pinkston before he got here, but the team has welcomed him with open arms despite him being here for less then 24 hours
• Last year Donte was suppoused to go work out with Donovan in Arizona but he didn't make it, it's interesting how things work out
• Omar Gaither is going to play MLB a lot against the Jets, Jason Short is going to see time at SAM
• Depending on the D-Line and Secondary numbers they will keep 6 -7 LB's
  
• Jim Johnson would love to keep 10 players on the defensive line, obviously, if that is the case then we shouldn't have trouble keeping both Juqua Thomas and Jerome McDougle
• JJ noted that Chris Gocong is far behind because of this injury, if you think about it not only does he need to get into playing shape but he still is making the transition into the NFL and changing positions to LB
• Hopefully Jerome McDougle can get back for the Jets game on Friday
• The 4th CB is still being battled between Strickland, Hanson and Ware

Roster Down to 75

Jeremy Bloom's first year in the NFL has quickly come to an end as he was placed on Injured Reserve today in an effort to cut the roster down to 75 players. This means that Jeremy, due to his nagging hamstring injury, will be inactive for the entire 2006 season but will be probably brought back for next year's training camp.

Bloom has faced a tough transition after being drafted in the 5th round this year. During the mini-camps he tore his hamstring and then during offseason works outs in Arizona with Donovan, he reinjured it. He was never fully recovered and missed the majority of training camp. He came back for a little bit and played against the Ravens but on his 2nd kick return he reinjured the hamstring once again. So another year before we see if the former skiier turned NFL player sees any success.

Among the other 3 that were moved around to get the roster to 75 was fullback Jason Davis who was put on IR as well. Davis was an undrafted rookie free agent who surprised many but the impact he had in training camp. He was pretty productive and saw some time as a HB when our running back depth was weak due to various injuries. Davis first faced a set back when he had a hand injury that he had to have surgery on but he soon returned to the field. The season ending injury though that put him on IR was a torn ACL he suffered against the Ravens and underwent surgery for. He is another player who we won't see until next season's training camp.
The other 2 moves there were made was cutting both OG Adrien Clarke and LB Greg Richmond
because of their injuries. Clarke saw time starting at LG last year once the starter Artis Hicks had to move to LT after Todd Herremans was done for the year. Then Richmond came into camp with hopes of pushing Dhani Jones for the starting SAM spot but this is the 2nd year in a row where he has had a season cut short before it really started because of back surgery. I wrote about both of these players when they underwent their back surgeries a week or so ago. Everyone knew they were going to be cut or put on IR but the moves weren't made until today.

22 more players will be cut before 4 PM on Saturday. To take the roster down to the season opening 53 player limit.

A.J. Feeley Gets Cut

The San Diego Chargers released QB A.J. Feeley last night after only playing in a few preseason games.

Feeley was a 5th round pick in the 2001 draft by the Eagles and spent 3 years here. In 2002 he gained his fame in Philly after both Donovan McNabb and Koy Detmer were injured and A.J. stepped in and went 5-1 leading the Eagles into the playoffs and then letting Donovan McNabb take back the reigns when he was healthy.

A.J. did the best we've seen a backup QB do at filling in for Donovan McNabb. The following season though he didn't see any playing time and then in 2004 we traded A.J. to the Miami Dolphins for a 2nd round draft pick which was then used to draft WR Reggie Brown.

The deal worked out great for us so far but it didn't last in Miami. After one season for the Dolphins A.J. was then traded to the Chargers during this offseason. He didn't reach the regular season before just yesterday being released.

I would love to have A.J. back on this team to replace Koy Detmer. I think the timing is absoloutly perfect and we already know that we don't need Koy to hold anymore because against Pittsburgh Akers went 3 for 3 with Dirk Johnson holding. This is a great opportunity for us as long as the price is right and you have to believe that the Eagles are at least considering this option.

Koy Detmer should no longer be on this team but there is no one adequate enough out there to fill his spot as the #3 QB, unless we got A.J. Feeley back.

Tough Cut At DE

Our defensive line as we all know has a lot of depth and a lot of talent. That said though there just isn't enough room on the roster to keep all of those guys. So we will start with the defensive line that has the toughest cuts to make which is the defensive ends.

Currently our DE's are:
Trent Cole
Darren Howard
Jevon Kearse
Darrell Lee
Jerome McDougle
Juqua Thomas

The locks to make the team are: Cole, Howard, and Kearse which I think leaves 1 spot open.

I think that we will only keep 4 DE's and with that being the case we have to choose between Jerome McDougle and Juqua Thomas, Darrell Lee is a practice squad guy.

This is a really tough call because in Jerome McDougle there is just so much potential. As we all know he is a former 1st round pick that has been constantly hampered by injuries with the most recent one being a gun shot wound. He came back stronger then ever in training camp and had a good camp until during practice he broke 2 ribs. That seemingly minor injury has really hurt him more then I thought it would because I wasn't thinking that he was battling to make this team with Juqua Thomas.

Juqua has had an excellent preseason, as he currently leads the league this preseason in sacks with 4 and a half. I loved J.T. last year when we would see him on 3rd downs and so far he has showed the Eagles they did a good job in signing him to a 1 year deal and not letting him leave this offseason.

It's tough to figure out if you take Jerome McDougle, a former 1st round pick, whose problem has been injuries or if you take the guy with much less invested in him, Juqua Thomas, who has played great so far in this preseason.

As much as I hate to say it I think you just have to take Juqua Thomas, it'd be ridiculous not to.

I'm not sure how this is going to work out, maybe they decide to keep 5 DE's and this isn't an issue. But right now it's a tough call.

I Thought Our LB's Were Weak?

With this trade for Stallworth being made naturally everyone, including myself, has just talked about what we have gotten out of the deal, not what we gave up. So most importantly we traded a 4th round draft pick, which I just learned could be bumped up to a 3rd round pick if we reach an extension with Donte on his rookie contract. The Mark Simoneau part of the deal wasn't really the highlight of the trade, he was just someone shipped along. That is why I thought it was weird that the Saint's are acting like they brought in a top quality LB in Simoneau, but apparently they are desparate.

I think the draft pick was much more valuable then Simoneau but still people are wondering why we let Simoneau go if everyone knows we have a weak linebacking corp. The thing is that Mark Simoneau simply provided good depth here. I did like the fact that he stayed around this year because last season when he was brought on the field in certain 3rd down situations he was successful. It's just that if we were able to get a starting WR in a deal that involved a back up LB, we were going to do it.

Simoneau worked out well here last year because he is a very versatile guy. He never found his niche in one starting position but he was great depth for our LB's. The thing is though that as shaky as Matt McCoy and Dhani Jones might be, they are still better then Simoneau.

Now we are relying on Omar Gaither, Shawn Barber, and I think Dedrick Roper as our backups. The situation got a little bit unstable recently with injuries because going into camp we had Greg Richmond, Chris Gocong, and Dedrick Roper all behind Dhani Jones hopefully pushing him at that SAM starting job. That never really seemed to happen though because recently Chris Gocong has been hampered by a stinger and Greg Richmond's season is over with back surgery again. So that leaves Dedrick Roper, a guy who was brought in last year basically just to strengthen special teams, as Dhani's back up.

Our MLB's are pretty strong with Jeremiah Trotter the obvious starter and a standout rookie Omar Gaither backing him up. But just to give us a little more versatility lately Shawn Barber, Matt McCoy's WILL back up, has also been getting some reps at SAM whereas Omar Gaither has been getting some time at WILL. So there is a lot of versatility going on but we are just trying to keep the situation as safe as possible if someone gets hurt.

More Cuts Today

Currently we have 79 players on our roster, by today at 4 PM we need to have 75 so just a heads up that 4 more cuts are going to be made today. There shouldn't be any surprises just probably guys like Gasperson, Sampy, Lee, etc.

The WR Number's Game

The addition of Stallworth is going to make the cuts for WR tougher then they were originally going to be. We now have much more confidence in the guy's we have but we still have to cut one more player that was previously going to make the roster.

Before the way I saw it was that our WR's were going to be: Reggie Brown, Todd Pinkston, Hank Baskett, Jason Avant, Greg Lewis, and Darnerian McCants.

Now though a lot of things have changed recently, not just with the addition of Stallworth but now knowing that Todd Pinkston didn't look too good in his preseason debut.

I have reason to believe that we brought Stallworth in because Pinkston is going to be put on IR. I mean I don't really know what else to do with him. I guess if we put Pinkston on the PUP list we can see how he is in Week 6 and if he will be ready to come back. I just can't imagine this guy sitting on the bench for 2 years and ever coming back to be successful. Could he be cut? We'll have to see how he plays against the Jets but I doubt they'll cut him.

The WR locks on this roster are Reggie Brown, Hank Baskett, Jason Avant, and Donte Stallworth. Which leaves probably 2 spots open, I'm expecting them to keep 6 WR's. So left to fill the other 2 spots are McCants, Greg Lewis, and Jabar Gaffney. Everything really hinges on if Pinkston is going to be on the roster or not because if he is then I think the last spot will be filled by Jabar Gaffney simply because they invested money in him this offseason, a 1 year contract, and they believe he has potential it's just taking him time to suppousedly learn the system. They know what they have in Greg Lewis and McCants and as much as I would love to see either of those guys on the team over Gaffney, I just think buisness wise they will give Gaffney a shot.

Now is Pinkston doesn't make the roster I think that McCants and Gaffney will. I mean I was so happy after Greg Lewis had such a good night against the Steelers but for some reason I just think that the team wants to bring Gaffney in still, despite his short comings so far. Then I take McCants over Lewis just because I feel like a lot of our WR's, excluding Baskett, are the smaller, faster guys, and typically the West Coast Offense thrives on big tall WR's. So McCants just gives you that red-zone threat that is needed.

I talk about how important the preseason games are and so it makes no sense that the 2 guys I think are going to make the roster, McCants and Gaffney, haven't showed much at all in preseason. But like I said I think the Gaffney move will be more so a buisness decision and then McCants will be brought in for some versatility and he is a great special teamer.

This is tough, very confusing, I have no idea how the coaches do it.

Stallworth Is A Great Addition

I'm thrilled over this Donte Stallworth trade for a few reasons. First, it's exciting that this late in the preseason you can get everyone worked up about bringing a new guy in. Of course the ideal situation would have been to get him in to participate in training camp with us but Stallworth is a veteran that I think won't have too much trouble working his way into the system.

My original plan when I noticed that Todd Pinkston really isn't going to be a consistent factor, if a factor at all, for our offense this year I just wanted to get someone equal to his caliber. I wanted to bring someone in that could just occasionally stretch the field, cause some pass interference penalties, just a deep threat. But when I was going through that in my mind I never imagined that we could get a player better than Pinkston that can really contribute to this team.

Donte Stallworth is a fast guy, he run's a 4.3 to 4.4 in the 40, but the thing is that he is a physical reciever too. We all knew with Pinkston that he wasn't one to go over the middle, he would use his speed to stretch the field and that was really it. Stallworth though is someone that does go over the middle, of course not to the extent that a T.O. would, but he has confidence and gets great yards after the catch. Everytime Pinkston catches the ball, even in the Steelers game on his one reception, he gained 4 yards and then was brought down. Stallworth though is someone that once he gets the ball in his hands, his best abilities come out by getting down the field.

The negatives that I have heard about Donte are a few things. One is that he did have shoulder surgery this offseason so that is something that needs to be kept an eye on. Another is that a Saints color analyst was saying they think he is too inconsistent and drops passes that he should catch. The analyst also noted that he thinks he butted heads with their new coach, Sean Payton, a Bill Parcells kind of coach. Also Adam Schefter pointed out that he led the team in fines last year for missing meetings. If those things are the case then that is a lack of focus from a younger guy. He should be greatly influenced from having a top leader and just all around good guy in Donovan. You can understand that though when he is playing for a pretty bad New Orleans Saints franchise. I went through before about the struggles the Saints have gone through recently when we acquired Darren Howard in the offseason because I was saying how his production had dropped off recently but it had to be partly because he was on such a bad team. Well that seems to have been the case so far with Howard having a great preseason, so I don't see why it can't be the same with Stallworth.

There are two situations to consider Stallworth's success and they both kind of even themselves out. You might say that Stallworth has only been successful in New Orleans because he had a great Pro-Bowl WR, Joe Horn, on the other side of him drawing attention from defenses. But to counteract that statement you also have to realize that he has had Aaron Brooks as his QB throughout his most productive seasons. To pair up a guy who has caught 70 balls from Aaron Brooks with a Pro-Bowl Quarterback in Donovan McNabb, that should definitly help him out.

I'm sure Donovan was thrilled when he heard about this acquisition. We saw how excited he seemed during his press conference just when Stephen Davis was brought in for a physical, and this deal is so much bigger. I have a feeling that Donovan has probably already called Donte and talked to him if he was given the opportunity yet.

Donte needs a great leader in Donovan McNabb. He has learned from a pretty classy guy in Joe Horn but he has never had that quarterback leadership that seems to drive the best teams in the league. Stallworth gives us the ability to stretch the field and he is just another of many options that Donovan can get the ball to. It's not like we are relying on Stallworth to come here and be an MVP, we have a great WR in Reggie Brown who I truly believe is going to have a great season, but Donte's precense just takes pressure off of everybody. Now Donte will have the opportunity to play for a winning team with such high potential this year and this former 1st round draft pick is going to flourish here.

Welcome New Eagle Donte Stallworth

The Eagles traded the New Orleans Saints LB Mark Simoneau and an undisclosed draft pick for WR Donte Stallworth.

I think this is a great trade. First of all you have Mark Simoneau who wasn't serving much purpose in Philadelphia anymore. After he went down to injury in 2004 and Jeremiah Trotter stepped in, Simoneau never regained that starting job. Even in a linebacking corp that is weak at SAM and WILL, Simoneau still wasn't good enough to break into the starting lineup. That is exactly why we had to trade a future draft pick along with Mark to get the deal done.

This is a trade that came out of nowhere, during the offseason there was a little bit of time where Stallworth's name was being thrown around but nothing serious. So during a time when everyone was interested in Deion Branch the Eagles snuck around and got the Stallworth deal done.

Now, Donte Stallworth is a player with much higher credentials then the much sought after Ashley Lelie. Originially I didn't want Lelie because I believed that Todd Pinkston was going to make his way back from the achilles injury, but as camp closed out and we didn't see Pinkston play until Friday, I definitly started to get worried. So I was very dissapointed when the Falcons made a trade to pick up Lelie, but the Eagles waited patiently and we ended up getting a player better then Lelie.

Donte Stallworth's number have been rising throughout his 4 years in the NFL but last season was his best with 70 receptions for 945 yards and 7 touchdowns. During Stallworth's career so far he has had touchdown totals ranging from 8, 3, 5, and last year's 7. As opposed to Lelie's touchdown totals of 2, 2, his break out year in 2004 with 7, and then last season back down to 1.
I am elated with this trade and have so much more confidence in our WR's to this point. Lelie was an addition that I only wanted if Pinkston was a no-go, and it seems like he is. But I would have taken Stallworth at anytime I just never though it was even a possibility.

To think that our starting WR's are now going to be Reggie Brown and Donte Stallworth...it looks great on paper. We will have to see once the season starts up and the deal is completly finalized after Simoneau and Stallworth pass their physicals but right now, I absoloutly love it.

Team Notes 8/28

UPDATED

After the win against Pittsburgh the team had Saturday off and then Sunday everyone was at the Eagles Carnival so today was everyone's first day back at practice.

• Injuries: Darwin Walker and Jerome McDougle are going to try and practice today to see if they can fight through those broken ribs "see what they can do" they both went through the walkthrough, Jeremy Bloom out with hamstring, Adrien Clarke Jason Davis and Greg Richmond are all out because they had surgeries, Chris Gocong was out at practice but still has symptoms from the stinger and won't be in live period, Reno Mahe has a mild high ankle sprain and will not practice today, Omar Gaither has a slight high ankle sprain not as significant as Reno's and he will "do what he can do"
• Brian Westbrook also practiced today but they kept an eye on him the same way they did with Walker and McDougle
  
• No time table on Gocong's injury but in the next couple days they will learn more
• Todd Pinkston felt good after playing on Friday, had no swelling; there's a chance that he gets in against the Jets for a short time
• Andy said they have looked at and evaluated Deion Branch but he isn't going to talk about anything further
• The positives about Correll Buckhalter during the Pittsburgh game was he was good at the immediate change of direction and he was able to get up field fast and react to a play, he ran hard and agressively
  
• According to Andy, Westbrook is at 80-85% right now, he will gradually be brought back and won't be part of the whole practice
• He thinks that Westbrook will be back at 100% by the Texans came, barring any setbacks
• Darwin Walker and Jerome McDougle have a chance to play against the Jets
• Trotter said that he sees so much potential on this team that it's ridiculous, the sky is the limit

12th Annual Eagles Carnival and Auction

The Eagles Carnival this year was great, despite it raining a little bit there was a ton of people there and the event gets better every year. Every single person that is part of the Eagles organization comes out to this event just walking around the stadium you run into Jeffrey Lurie who was making his way through the concourse signing autographs. Even different players wives are at a table selling basically anything that is autographed. For example Jon Runyan's wife was there and she was selling a pair of his jeans that were autographed.

This year at the Headhouse Autograph section they had a lot of good player such as Todd Pinkston, Jabar Gaffney, Greg Lewis, Hank Baskett, William Thomas, and Winston Justice all signing autographs. Those are all players who didn't have a fast past table set up just for them, this year I had a fast pass ticket to get L.J. Smith's autograph which was really cool. The best part of that though was since it was raining they had to move the autographs inside to the clue suite level so most of the players had tables near eachother and right next to L.J. was Donovan McNabb so I got some great pictures. Also Andy Reid had a table set up and he was signing autographs, I told him that I was going to work for him some day.

They even have places where you can get your picture taken, earlier in the day you could get your picture with Jeremy Bloom but I waited until 6 when Lito Sheppard was there. He was the nicest Eagle that I met this time, last year it was Shawn Andrews. It's just cool when you can tell that some of the guys are having a lot of fun like Lito was interacting with all of the fans and had a smile on his face the whole time.

I didn't get to go in the Eagles Fly Wheels section where they had different players cars but when I walked by I could hear Hugh Douglas's voice because he was on a microphone talking about all of the vehicles. I know that Jon Runyan had a motorcycle, Sheldon Brown had a corvette that looks like the bat mobile, and Jevon Kearse had the best one of all a Rolls Royce.

The whole event can get pretty expensive but it really is worth it not only because it gives you the easiest opportunity to get players autographs but the money goes to different projects that the Eagles Youth Partnership does all year. From the Eye Mobile which hands out glasses to kids, the Book Mobile which gives little kids their first books, and the different scholarships as well.

Deion Branch

The last big WR move that was made was a just a few days ago when Ashley Lelie was traded to the Falcons in a three way trade. At that time I said the only option left out there for us to get would be Deion Branch but I wasn't even going to start talking about him because he wasn't allowed to seek a trade yet.

Well just yesterday the team gave Branch and his agent permission for 1 week to seek a trade. The problem with that is a situation like Branch's takes a long time to negotiate. Not only will the team trading for him need to find a way to compensate the Patriots but you also have to work out a contract with Branch and I think he wants a long term deal.

So far the names that I have heard from PFT.com have been the Minnesota Vikings and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Whereas Chris Mortensen has said the the Broncos, Eagles, and Seahawks are all interested. I don't know why I even write about this stuff because I just get my hopes up.
For the Ashley Lelie situation I just wanted Lelie if Pinkston wasn't able to go. I don't think that Ashley is any better then Pinkston but we just needed some depth at the position. Well I don't feel that way about Deion Branch because this guy has been pretty productive over the past 4 years and has Super Bowl rings to prove it. Just having been part of a Super Bowl team gives him more credentials because he knows how to win. The last time we saw Branch was when he played us in the 2004 Super Bowl, breaking the reception record, and being named Super Bowl MVP.

I would love to have Branch but I think it is crazy to believe we would be able to get a deal worked out between Deion's agent and the Patriots by September 1st, especially considering this is a pretty big week with cuts having to be made. There's no reason to get your hopes up but it would be awesome.

First Cuts Are Made

Cut days are the saddest part of the NFL. Some of these guys listed will play for another team, others won't play in the NFL anymore.

OT Calvin Armstrong - We drafted Calvin in the 6th round in 2005. He never saw any playing time here because the depth in front of him was just always better. The OT's on this team are pretty solid in William Thomas and Jon Runyan but even their backups like newcomer Winston Justice, pushed Armstrong out of the door.

CB Matt Clark - Clark wasn't signed until about a week into training camp this year. He was just a camp body and never showed any potential. He barely got any playing time at all during the preseason games too.

K E.J. Cochran - Everyone knew this was coming, including E.J. His time spent in Philadelphia was just to help out the depth during training camp, so David Akers could take some breaks and not get overworked. His being here was basically just a favor to him to be able to get some opportunities by other NFL teams seeing him.

WR Carl Ford - Carl was on the roster at the end of 2005 after being in Green Bay for 2 years but he never saw any playing time. I don't think he was ever even activated for a game. He had a couple of catches in preseason but didn't produce enough to be kept around.

WR Jermaine Johnson - Brought in during training camp as a camp body when we were short on depth because Jason Avant, Todd Pinkston, and Jeremy Bloom were all hurt.

DT Ed Jasper - We signed Ed this offseason in free agency but when we did so I wrote that he wasn't a lock to make the roster. He is a 10 year veteran that has spent time first in Philly, then Atlanta and Oakland. Our depth at defensive line is so great but Jasper didn't make an impact like we saw from the young guys like Ramsey, Bunkley, and Patterson.

RB Marty Johnson - Marty was signed fairly recently because we had so many injuries in our backfield between Perry, Moats, Buckhalter and Westbrook. Now though with everyone but Westbrook back Marty just isn't needed. He came in so late that he had a hard time learning the play book and he said it was very different from the Bronco's despite the fact that we both run a west coast offense. Some people started to get a little carried away when he did a nice job a preseason game, he did what was asked of him but didn't show anything to build upon. We just have other guys that can make the roster over him.

WR J.J. Outlaw - An undrafted free agent that everyone locally was pulling for because he played for Villanova. J.J.'s father also used to be a CB for the Eagles in the 70's. He struggled during training camp where lesser known players such as Bill Sampy and Mike Gasperson had better camps. I think they wanted to work him in as a returner but he struggled with that as well. The only way he was going to make the team was by special teams but he just wasn't good enough at it. I think we will see J.J. on our practice squad this year.

CB Brandon Pinderhughes - I don't know much about Pinderhughes, the most I saw of him was in camp, barely saw him in the preseason games. I think he played in NFL Europe this past season but he's just another guy that didn't make the cut with our depth in the secondary.

OT Dejuan Skinner- Skinner was an undrafted free agent this year and his situation is similiar to Calvin Armstrong's that he just wasn't better then some of the other young guys. Guys like Pat McCoy and Winston Justice have had really good camps which left Skinner behind.

SS Scott Ware - Scott was a cool player that I was pulling for. He was a nasty guy, really tough, and I thought he would do a great job on special teams. JR Reed's comeback really pushed Ware out of the way and Matt Ware has done a decent job switching to safety from CB.

If there is any surprises in this group, which there really aren't, it would be Ed Jasper just because he is a veteran that was bigged up this offseason. A lot of the early cuts are camp bodys and people that aren't expected to make an impact but some people thought that Jasper might provide some good veteran depth this season. The guys around him were just too good and young which didn't give him many opportunities to get reps. There are going to be more cuts made down the line and with each cut the decisions will get harder and harder.

Reed's Redemption

JR Reed came up having a good game last night despite taking a huge hit in the 1st half. In an interview prior to the game JR was talking about having a lot more opportunities tonight since John Harbaugh had announced at the press conference that JR was going to be handling most of the returns. He said that is was a big deal to him to be able to go out and field some punts because as Harbaugh had talked about earlier, our punt returners haven't seen many returnable balls so far in the preseason.

Something that seemed to give light as to why JR just stood there and didn't call fair catch yesterday, besides a complete mental lapse, was when talking about returning punts he had previously been dissapointed by balls going in the endzone and out of bounds. So when this ball was coming towards him, I just think he wanted to return it so bad that he thought he had enough time to catch it before the defender got to him, which was obviously not the case. The most amazing thing about that hit though was the fact that JR was able to hold onto the ball.

On a night where Mayor John Street proclaimed August 25th, Vince Papale Day in Philadelphia, it was just fitting that we had a complete nutcase back there in JR Reed. JR had been on the bubble up until this point but I think with the showing he put up last night, he made this team. When he went to the lockerroom he knew that he had to get back out there because he is vying for a job. JR has faced much bigger challenges, he wasn't going to let one hit take him out. So when he returned he made two big defensive plays in a sack that forced a fumble as well as a game ending interception.

JR Reed should be on this team, no question in my mind. A previous "good hearted story" about a player rebounding from a career threatening injury to come back and play, has now just turned into a story about a great football player. It's the same way that Dick Vermeil didn't put Vince Papale on the roster just because he was a good story, he put him on there because he was a good player.

JR definitly redeemed himself last night and in my eyes, made the team.

Post-Game Notes 8/26

We had a very nice win over the Steelers yesterday. It's always great to go out and out play a team that had so much success the previous year. It's still preseason, we have to keep that in mind, but we did see some great things, as well as some things that still need improvement. I get the feeling that a lot of fans are a lot more confident after last night's win.

• Injuries: Reno Mahe suffered a sprained ankle, see how it is over the next couple of days
• Andy said they had a couple plays called for Pinkston and were trying to get him the football but the defense rolled the coverage to him. Pinkston said he felt pretty good and Andy thought he did a decent job.
  
• On the first drive the Steelers kept putting 8 men in the box, so we were passing a lot more. But in the 2nd drive they backed off and we were able to run the ball a little bit.
  
• Koy was put in after Donovan was done for the night because 2 weeks ago Garcia had a chance to run with the 1st team so now Andy wanted to see Koy run with the first team. Then he put Jeff back in because Garcia hadn't gotten a chance to run a 2 minute drill yet.
  
• They were checking on Todd Pinkston to see how he felt after every series and then did it again at halftime but he seemed fine so he even played in the 3rd quarter. The most important thing is to see how he feel the day after the game.
  
• Andy seemed to not hold the personal foul penalty against Greg Lewis for suppousedly taunting the defender. Andy said he doesn't question what Greg says and Greg told him that he was throwing the ball back to the ref but the ref thought he was throwing it at the defender.
  
• Jevon Kearse said that with this being a nationally televised game and playing the defending Super Bowl Champs the team definitly wanted to come out and make a statement for the world to hear
• Kearse also said that he thought Bunkley did a great job, he is such a young kid with a high motor.
  
• Dawkins reiterated that Lito Sheppard now has gained the confidence back in his ankle and so he's starting to take the chances that he always used to take when he plays; he has been physically healthy for awhile but now he really has the mental part back too
• In preseason the defensive coverage schemes are pretty vanilla, mostly 3 deep, cover 2, man to man, a couple of blitzes here and there. There's not a lot shown as far as what you will see once the season starts.
  
• Donovan said that an injury like Pinkston's is going to take some time but he took steps forward today with that first catch just to get that hit out of the way and move on. Tonight gives him a little bit to build on.
• The players have the weekend off so we probably won't have any news until Monday.
  

4th Preseason Game vs. Steelers

Eagles: 16 Steelers: 7

I came away tonight a lot happier then I was after the last showing against the Ravens. Not just because we won, since the score doesn't even really matter in a preseason game, but the fact that everything just seemed together. The backups did a nice job of holding off the Steelers offense and even producing a little bit themselves.

I discovered something pretty cool tonight at the Linc, that for the Sunday and Monday Night Football games, when they have the stage set up near the field for there to be a panel of analysts, the stage is actually right behind my seat. So it was pretty entertaining heckling Michael Irvin during halftime. I haven't rewatched the game yet, I will tomorrow, but I'm not sure if you can hear the "Dallas Sucks" chants going on everytime Irvin went to speak. I was actually surprised that you weren't allowed to yell anything, when we all started doing chants the security guards came over and were threatening to throw people out if they didn't stop.

Offense:

Donovan McNabb came out firing on all cylinders again, completing 7 of 9 passes for 79 yards. There was a possible interception there for a moment but it got taken back after Andy challenged that the DB had control of the ball when he fell to the ground. At first I didn't even think he was going to challenge it because there was a long TV timeout where I expected him to throw the challenge flag but he didn't until the Steelers were actually set up on offense and ready to snap the ball. I'm not sure if there was any strategy to that or if he just decided at the last minute to challenge it.

It was good to see the WR's get a little more involved tonight. They still weren't a big part of the offense but Reggie Brown stepped up with 3 catches for 46 yards, it was the first real showing of what he can do, that we have seen this preseason. He's had a catch or so here and there but he was consistent tonight and set up at least one field goal. But the standout WR tonight was actually Greg Lewis who came up with 2 catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. I've been saying up to this point that if Pinkston makes the roster then we'll either have Jabar Gaffney or Greg Lewis, not both. Up until tonight we hadn't seen anything out of Greg and though Jabar had 1 catch for 18 yards, it still just didn't show as much as G. Lew's pair of receptions. So despite the fact that you don't make a team because of one game, I now think that Greg is going to make the roster. That is something I definitly wasn't going to say coming into tonights game but the thing is we have seen him play like this before. As Andy has said, we know what Greg can do, we saw it in 2004 but it definitly trailed off in 2005. But Gaffney has struggled throughout the entire camp and despite a good showing last week, tonight bumped Lewis ahead of Gaffney.

Jason Avant also had 2 catches for 20 yards and there was one play where I thought he would have been able to make the catch in the endzone but Koy overthrew it, I'll have to talk about that after I watch the film because I can't completly remember.

Hank Baskett was very quiet tonight, he caught the 1st pass of the game for 5 yards and that was it for the night. Also Pinkston's debut didn't show us anything, he didn't look as hurt as he has in practice lately, but he just simply wasn't getting open. He had 1 catch for 4 yards but it was nothing, the big thing for Todd is to see how his body responds tomorrow after playing tonight. It's a similiar situation that we had with Correll Buckhalter last week, he looked good against the Ravens but we wanted to make sure his knee didn't swell up too much afterwards.

Speaking of Buckhalter, I was really proud of him starting tonight. He didn't have a flashy play like he did last week but he sured up my mind a little bit on his running ability. I've heard people talk about "Well we haven't seen Buck make any sharp cuts on that knee yet" tonight I saw him make at least 3 of them and he seemed to respond fine to them. Buck didn't come out and amaze anyone but he was very solid averaging 4.4 yards per carry after 7 attempts for 31 yards. I'm loving what I'm seeing out of Buck, he is on this team. I'm not going to overreact about the potential he has but it's nice to see him out there, it will be a lot of fun come Week 1 to see Buck and Westbrook in the backfield.

Also Jeff Garcia looked good tonight, he completed 50%, but he was very successful in the throws that he did make and he gave G.Lew a perfect pass which he caught in stride for a touchdown. Jeff came out a little bit shaky at first, which you kind of expect, but he sured things up as he went along. He gives me a lot more confidence back there and he has really improved since his first showing against the Raiders where he really started to scare me.

Defense:

I love Darren Howard. After we signed him I said that this signing could make the Eagles front office look like geniuses, and I feel like it has already started to pay dividends. My love for Darren isn't just because he had a sack tonight, but he just consistently gets pressure on the Quarterback. Of course it's not just Darren that is doing this, his success is in part to the offensive line having to accomodate for Jevon Kearse on the other side. It's really going to be a game of pick your poison because between Kearse and Howard, not even talking about both of our 1st round pick DT's, some one is always going to be there applying the pressure. I think it takes a pretty good defensive line to make Ben Roethilsberger feel shaky in that pocket because he is a big guy with legs and it is hard to bring down, but we were just constantly in his face. A perfect example of just applying pressure is when we didn't get the sack on Ben but we caused him to force a pass and it was intercepted by, future hall of famer, Brian Dawkins.

Let me just take this time out to say, Brian Dawkins has looked amazing this preseason. Not like that is suppoused to surprise anyone, because he always look amazing. But when you take into account that this is his 11th season, it really starts to put things into perspective.

Now that I'm on the subject of safties like Brian Dawkins, I have to talk about the fighter, JR Reed. Alright, on that punt return he took a huge hit, definitly one of the biggest of the preseason. It really scared me at first because when someone takes a hit that hard, there are a lot of health issues to worry about. But not only does this kid walk off on his own power, but he ends up coming back into the game!! If you had watched JR from when he went back onto the field until the end of the game, you never would have known he took that hit. He had a great game out there with his two biggest plays being a sack that forced a fumble and then the leaping game ending interception. JR knows that that hit is going to be on Sportscenter for the next few days but he completly redeemed himself by those two plays, not even to mention the nice job he did throughout the whole game at safety. This kid is someone with so much character that he becomes such an asset for our team.

Broderick Bunkley was pretty quiet in his first night starting. He's definitly someone I have to keep my eye on when I go back to watch the game to really see what his situation was. It's just crazy to think how much potential we have in having last years 1st round pick, Mike Patterson, and this year's 1st round pick, Broderick Bunkley, starting at DT together. I'm not sure when Darwin Walker is going to healthy enough to come back but it'll be interesting to see if he gets the starting job again. It really doesn't matter because we rotate our DT's so much, but it's still something to look out for.

Special Teams:

David Akers had a great night with 3 field goals: a 40, 49, and 52. The best part about all three of those is that Dirk Johnson held on every single one. So as much as we always hear that Koy Detmer is the best holder, Dirk seemed to do just find as David went 3 for 3.

When we play a team with a kicker that isn't as stable as ours, it really makes you start to appreciate having David Akers on this team. I really think that a lot of people take Akers for granted because they think of him as just a kicker. But to see the Steeler's kicker, Jeff Reed, who I always considered a pretty reliable kicker, miss two field goals, it shows how lucky we are with David.

As for back up kicker E.J. Cochran missing a 48 yarder, I just feel bad for him personally because he is auditioning for NFL teams right now so he needs to do his best. Other then that, it has no effect on the team.

On the drive home I was listening to Bill Bergey on WYSP and he talked about how important, but overlooked, that Akers 52 yard field goal was. Not only just because it was a long attempt but because of the situation we were in. He mentioned that the Steelers had just scored a touchdown and the clock was winding down in the 1st half but the Eagles didn't want to go into the locker room just being scored on. It really shifts momentum when the defense goes back to the locker room having just been scored on and the opposing offense goes in feeling good about themselves. So he said how great it was to be able to drive down the field to get in field goal range and then have Akers make a great long score as the time in the half ran out.

Our kick returners didn't do anything special. JR Reed and Bruce Perry each fielded a kick, Perry doing better returning it for 28 yards. On punts JR fielded one, took a huge hit, and Reno returned one for 16 yards which was ok. As much as no one wants to hear it, I do think that Reno Mahe is going to win the punt return job. There is just no one that has done better then he has so far and though he isn't flashy he's at least safe and consistent with the ball.

Overall:

Usually when it's a home game I miss a few things but I'll probably cover them tomorrow when I rewatch the game on TV. As a whole though there were definitly too many penalties again, it kills you to have over 100 yards in penalties and a bunch of them were stupid, like a taunting penalty.

This is really the last time we will see the starters until the season opener against the Texans. September 10th feels like years away and against the Jets we will see at most, one series from the starters. Right now the biggest deals between now and Sept. 10 are going to be the cuts made. That will be very interesting this year as we have some decent depth.

Pre-Game Notes 8/24

Tomorrow we play the Pittsburgh Steelers at Lincoln Financial Field.

• Will Not Play Tomorrow: Jeremy Bloom, Jason Davis, Adrien Clarke, Chris Gocong, Jerome McDougle, Greg Richmond, Darwin Walker, and Brian Westbrook
• The most notable name missing from the above list is Todd Pinkston who will make his preseason debut
  
• The first team will play the 1st half, into the 3rd quarter. The 2's and 3's will take over after that.
• Broderick Bunkley will start, he still needs to get himself all the way back to playing shape but he's making progress
  
• There's a chance that Timmy Chang will play in the 4th quarter
• Todd Pinkston is going to run with the 2's but he will rotate in a little bit with the 1's. But Andy did say that he is going to limit his reps
• Correll Buckhalter is going to start at running back
• Both Thomas Tapeh and Josh Parry are going to see time running with the 1's. Andy likes Tapeh because he gives us flexibility since he ran singleback in college. So we might seem he a little bit as a running back in the game.
  

Take What Is Given To You

John Harbaugh really is put in a tough situation as a special teams coach. Not just Harbaugh, any ST guy in the NFL is in the same spot, but for playing such an integral part of a team they face the biggest challenges as coaches. Field position is such a huge part of success in this league and to excel at that you have to have great special teams. But that is where it gets hard.

For the offense and defensive coaches, they get to examine every player vying for a position and take the best guy available. But that isn't the case for ST coordinators. Harbaugh just has to take what is given to him by Andy Reid after all of the roster cuts are made.

There are two different kinds of situations, both of which we have seen recently. One that really affected us last year was when you have a player that is a back up and makes an impact on special teams, it's great. The next year though or later on in the season that player ends up starting for one reason or another. Well no starters are going to play on special teams because you don't want to risk them being injured, so the special teams unit loses a key member of the squad. A perfect example of that last year was in 2004 Keith Adams really emerged as a great ST player. He was the leader of that group but when 2005 came and he was starting, he couldn't play ST anymore and that left a big hole.

Then there is the other situation where there is a player who might perform great on special teams but can't make the team because they struggle at their regular position. Usually a rookie has the best chance of making the team if they make an impact on special teams during their first season. The thing is though, it gets old if by year 3 you are great on special teams but are horrible at your main position. That is something that is going to be looked at with Jason Short this year. He has been a stand out on ST when he's been healthy but for him to make the ST he has to perform better on defense. That is why the coaches have been trying to find him a spot to play at by moving him around from DE to LB, he is looking for his niche because they want him on this team.

The only real stable points on a ST roster is the kicker and punter, if you're lucky. We have been fortunate to have an excellent Pro-Bowl kicker in David Akers for the past 7 years which has kept us from making a lot of changes. But then you look at what happens to a lot of teams year after year, it happened for us for the first time last season. We had a lot of different kickers back there once David Akers was injured the only name that comes to mind right now is Todd France who is now kicking for the Philadelphia Soul, then when Dirk Johnson was hurt all last season we had Reggie Hodges for awhile. There are teams though that go through that every season because they can't find a good enough kicker to keep around for awhile.

So right now as much as the offense and defensive coaches are really solidifying who is going to make the team or not, Harbaugh just has to deal with those decisions. He currently is looking at JR Reed, Reno Mahe, Bruce Perry, J.J. Outlaw, and Dexter Wynn for return men. The thing is though that all of these guys are subject to not making the roster this year. Of course at least some of them will be on the team, I think they all will be except Outlaw and possibly Perry. But a player has to perform amazingly for Andy to make the depth at a position a little weaker in order to keep a great return man around. Hopefully that won't be the case because if JR wins the job, he has performed pretty well at safety so far. Reno is going to make the team and he is a solid HB but is definitly around because of his ST abilities. Then there is Dexter Wynn who is in a tough spot right now with us having very solid starters in our secondary as well as there being younger guys like Donald Strickland and Joselio Hanson right on his heels.

Any decision that is going to made is going to affect Harbaugh but as a ST coordinator he has definitly learned to role with the punches and he does a great job at that. I think our ST unit is looking pretty solid so far, nothing amazing, but they aren't letting up big returns which is a good sign. Right now we don't have an explosive returner, like we had hoped for in Jeremy Bloom, but if JR makes the team, which I think he will, he'll get better and better as the year progresses.

John Harbaugh is someone who doesn't get enough credit, and I know I talk up basically anyone who has any ties to the Eagles whatsoever, but he is honestly one of the best, if not the best, ST coaches in the NFL.

Team Notes 8/23

We should have a lot of questions about Friday's game answered tomorrow after Andy has his pre-game press conference. Other then that though, not much news today:

• Broderick Bunkley is getting some time working on the wedge on kickoff returns but he still has a lot to learn for that. He also is on the field goal block team but is best at that because he's done that his whole life whereas the wedge is new for him.
  
• There is no clear return guy yet there are a lot of guys still in the mix: Reno, JR, Dexter, etc. John Harbaugh said it is still open because there are some return guys that are still fighting for spots so they have to play well at their normal position to even be in the mix once roster cuts are made.
  
• Koy and Dirk Johnson both are doing the holding on kicks. Koy is "the better holder by the virtue of experience whereas Dirk "is doing real well." Dirk has been getting the most reps this week and he will do the majority of holding in this upcoming game. The plan is to get them both ready and then Andy will make the decision based on the holding part and offensive part.
  
• They charted David Aker's kicks to compare how he did when Dirk was doing the holding instead of Koy and the numbers are equal. He hasn't been affected by the change of having Dirk hold, so you wouldn't undertand by Koy is considered better. But Harbaugh then responded to that by saying with experience Koy is great at adjusting to the conditions. He has had to hold in December with wind blowing in his face and he and David are on the same page and can make the right adjustments necessary.
  
• JR Reed is going to get the most reps at return against the Steelers. Harbaugh knows what Reno can do so he doesn't need to see many from him. He also wants to get Bruce Perry back in there a little bit, but look for a lot of JR.
  
• Against the Steelers for Punts we will see JR, then Dexter, and possibly J.J. Outlaw towards the end of the game
• A reporter mentioned that most teams play offensive linemen in the wedge on special teams but we play defensive linemen, what's the reasoning? Harbaugh said it really just depends on who you have, our D-Line is so physical this year that he wants to put them in their. O linemen are getting so big now that it's hard to put them out there in that kind of space. Guys like Nick Cole, Winston Justice, and Max-Jean Guilles might work their way into the mix but it's mostly D-line in there
  

Justin Gatlin

I don't know if anyone remembers this happening but before summer started there were some rumors that the Eagles were interested in trying to get Sprinter Justin Gatlin to sign an NFL contract and play for them. No real Eagles officials ever commented on it but there were some articles written about it and obviously nothing happened.

He apparently wasn't interested but what's really interesting is that today he was banned for the next 8 years of participating in track and field because of testing positive on a steroid test. I didn't know anything about Gatlin, had actually never even heard of him, until the Eagles suppousedly inquired about him.

Any More WR's Available?

Cross Ashley Lelie off of your list of players that we might be able to add to our WR corp. The disgruntled reciever who has been unhappy for awhile now finally had his wish granted today.

There was a 3 team trade:

Ashley Lelie to the Falcons
T.J. Duckett to the Redskins
and an undisclosed Skins draft pick to the Broncos

Very dissapointing because I don't think that Todd Pinkston is going to be healthy enough to start the season and Lelie, though he isn't that good, would have been capable enough to fill in for Pinkston. Now there is no one available, the disgruntled WRs out there now are Jerry Porter who I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole because of his behavior problems. As well as Deion Branch who is holding out of Patriots training camp and is a long way away from actually being able to leave the team. There's no reason to even mention Branch now though.

I don't know what to do. I mean I guess just hope for Pinkston to experience some kind of miracle and be able to come back before the season starts. Realistically though I think that he'll probably be put on the PUP-list and we won't see him play until after Week 6.

DDDDUUUUUCCCCEEEEE

Could we possibly have a Duce Staley and Philadelphia Eagles reunion? Now this rumor really has no backing whatsoever it's complete speculation by Adam Schefter from NFL.com but I love this kind of stuff so I'm eating it up.

I was almost positive that Staley would not be playing for the Steelers this year, I was wrong because he's still on the roster. A long time ago I wrote that it would be great to get him back in Philly but the Steelers restructured his contract this offseason and he stayed.

Well now Schefter is reporting that an NFL General Manager told him that the Steelers are indeed shopping Duce Staley around the NFL trying to see if they can trade him before they might have to release him. But take note that he said the Eagles have no yet participated in trade talks with the Steelers, it just seems like a logical place for Duce to end up.

My thing is if the Eagles think that there is a good chance the Steelers are going to cut Duce before the season starts then they probably will want to save a few resources and not have to trade for him. The positive about trading for him though is he would get here a lot sooner then he would if we waited until the final roster cut down day, September 2nd.

Duce's story is the typical player leaves Philadelphia tale we've heard from guys like Jeremiah Trotter, Hugh Douglas, and Shawn Barber, where they leave in free agency for a big fat pay check right after they hit their prime and never live up to the hype on their new team. Trot went to the Skins, Hugh went to the Jags, and Barber to the Chiefs, every single guy ended up being cut for lack of production. The thing in common with those 3 specifically was they were all brought back to the Eagles for a pretty cheap contract, some saw success like Trot, others didn't like Hugh, and Shawn Barber is still pending.

After 7 pretty successful years in Philadelphia Duce Staley left for the Pittsburgh Steelers lured by the free agent check that every player dreams about. It was a fitting time considering Brian Westbrook had really emerged during Duce's last year and so we just didn't need him anymore, especially for the money he wanted. His time spent in Pittsburgh though hasn't been successful, for him personally, because it has been plagued by knee injuries along with the fact that younger guys have rendered Duce disposable. I mean he has a Super Bowl ring but he only played in 5 games last season and in the first of those 5 he didn't even touch the ball.

Duce has only played in 15 games over the past 2 years and you also have to take into account that the Steelers have been in the playoffs both years so he had more then 16 regular season games to participate in. He was never a touchdown machine in Philadelphia but he still only scored 2 TD's during his time so far on the Steelers, to put that in perspective remember that Mike McMahon had 3 rushing TD's last year.

Adam Schefter is saying that the Steelers have a pretty deep backfield now which could really make it hard for an injury prone HB like Duce to make the team. That's where we come in.

One of the biggest questions now on this team is the depth at our running back spot. Going into camp I was so happy about it but recently with Bruce Perry and Ryan Moats having extremely dissapointing preseasons, there are some worries.

From a sentimental standpoint I would absoloutly love to have Duce back on this team. He was a great locker room leader and was the voice of the offense when he was here. The way Trotter is able to get the defense pumped up in the locker room by being a vocal guy, Duce took the role as that vocal player for the offense. From a playing stand point he has tons of question marks about his health but the thing about that is, we brought Stephen Davis in for a physical. If we were considering bringing in a veteran HB with problematic knees like Stephen Davis, then why not make the same move for a guy that ran in this offense for 8 years in Duce Staley. The situations are different considering Stephen is already off of a team, he has been for the whole offseason whereas Duce is still on the Steelers and that complicates things. But Donovan seemed really excited about possibly bringing Davis in, I think he would be even happier about Duce coming back.

Duce fills the exact same role that Stephen Davis might fill which is that he's a veteran HB that can be successful in a limited number of carries. Duce isn't as old as Davis is either and like I said before, he already knows our offense.

This is going to be the news that everyone will probably be talking about but like I said at the beginning this is complete speculation on behalf of Adam Schefter. He has one NFL GM source that told him that Duce is being shopped around but no moves have been made yet. The only reason the Philadelphia Eagles names are out there is simply because it seems like an obvious more for us. So if anything does happen with this it probably won't be for awhile.

It would be really funny if Buckhalter stays healthy, makes the team, and Duce actually ends up here. There's no way we would look like the Three Headed Monster again but it definitly wouldn't hurt us.

Eliminating Fumbles

Since Brian Westbrook has been hurt since the Hall of Fame game we've had a lot of time to see players such as Reno Mahe, Ryan Moats, Bruce Perry, Correll Buckhalter and Marty Johnson, not including any of the FB's that filled in when we were short on depth. But along with that we've seen 4 fumbles from those 5 players: 1 from Reno, 1 from Ryan, and 2 from Bruce Perry. That is something that is completly unacceptable and needs to be worked out.

Reno's fumble came against the Ravens after a reception, Moat's fumble was on his first carry of the preseason against the Ravens, and both of Bruce Perry's were when we played the Raiders.

Marty Mornhinweg said that the coaches are working on it to make sure that the players to remember to hold onto the ball and not put it on the ground. They focus on every angle of it and place an emphasis on not turning the ball over. He noted that if you haven't played in awhile, which pertains to Ryan Moats since he didn't play until the 3rd preseason game and to Bruce Perry because it was the 1st game of the preseason, then no matter how much you emphasize it sometimes it still just happens.

Ryan Moats said that he has been constantly thinking about the Ravens game and he went back to watch film on the play but feels like he couldn't have done anything better to protect the ball. After it happened he figured he probably was holding the ball a little loose but after watching it on film he believes that the LB just had a perfect hit on it, it was out of his control. Whatever the case may be Moats still needs to be held accountable for his mistake as well as just learn from it and grow. He's going to make this team if he plays half decently simply because of the fact that he was a 3rd round pick in 2005, there is a good deal invested in him.

Brian Dawkins was saying that the defense is looking to strip the ball on every single down. Which went hand in hand when Marty said that in comparison to college, in the NFL, you have bigger, stronger, faster guys that are going after the football on every single play moreso then college. Whenever you see a little bit of leather you're going to punch for it because you need turnovers to be successful. Dawkins also said that it is something that he forces the young HBs to work on when they scrimmage eachother in practice because Dawk is going to go after the ball on every down and so it needs to be an instinct for them to secure it tightly.

We saw that the coaches are going to punish a player for putting the ball on the ground. I'm sure it was a deliberate effort by Andy that Bruce Perry hasn't taken a snap at HB in a game since those 2 fumbles in Canton. The first game back, against the Browns, Perry was out with a concussion but last week against the Ravens he only saw time fielding a kickoff which is John Harbaugh's call. Bruce is someone who has really dissapointed me so far and especially with Correll Buckhalter seemingly getting better by the day, Perry isn't going to make this team unless he comes up huge in the next 2 games.

Fumbles aren't fair to the defense at all because against the Ravens the Moats and Mahe fumbles both forced the defense to get back onto the field only minutes after they had made their way off. These guys need time to rest a little bit and it is the offenses job to help them with that. It's not

According to Dawk "Andy and those guys will chew into them pretty good if they keep laying that ball on the ground."

Team Notes 8/22

There isn't going to be much news on Pinkston's progress today because no one besides Andy is really allowed to comment on injuries. So let me just take the time to say this T.O. Dallas thing is the funnest thing I've witnessed in awhile. Their situation is really get more out of control each day and now the latest rumors are that T.O. is angry that they forced him to practice because he says that he injured his hamstring even more. Jerry Jones said that T.O. is going to have another MRI on his leg to see what the deal is.

• No news on Stephen Davis, when asked Marty said that you'd have to ask Andy about that
  
• The no huddle offense could possibly be a big part of the offense but they still have to work on it and see how the players execute it. The positives are that it keeps a defense off balance, at a quicker pace, but it depends if your players can handle it.
• Marty Mornhinweg said that the no huddle ran pretty smoothly against the Ravens considering it was their first time doing it, so it looks like we'll see some more of it down the line
• Pinkston is running and getting in and out of cuts, he had no ramifications from yesterdays practice. He's progressively getting better but still has to improve.
• Hank Fraley still has the chance to win the starting LG spot over Todd Herremans, nothing is locked up yet. But I think that Herremans will end up winning the job. Fraley is going to be great to have as a backup C and G though.
• Marty said that there is competition at more spots towards the end of this preseason then any team he's ever been on
  
• As much as the starters hate having 5 preseason games Marty showed how it really can help the coaches especially on a team like this where there are going to be some tough cuts made
• On defense Jim Johnson said that the DT position because of Walkers health and Bunkley coming in late is still open but for the most part all of the others starters are set
  
• Broderick Bunkley is still learning and is trying to get in playing shape. He had 20 snaps last week and will play a lot more this week.
  
• Matt McCoy has to show that he can handle the game mentally. Jim was proud of him against the Ravens is doing a good job of not making mental mistakes.
• Omar Gaither has been being working at MLB up to this point and I have said that I wish he could play outside LB because he looks so good and our WILL and SAM LB's are pretty weak right now. Jim mentioned before that he was going to learn all 3 spots and he said that we'll see him play some WILL this week. Omar has to work on the mental and discipline parts of the game right now.
  
• Darren Howard has not dissapointed and he is actually better then Jim expected him to be.
• Jim said this is the best defensive line he thinks we've had between bringing Darren in and Trent Cole doing a lot better this year.
  
• Jim is concerned about the depth at SAM LB right now since Greg Richmond, Dhani's back up, had back surgery and it's been tough for Chris Gocong to get on the field. So Shawn Barber is going to be taking some reps at SAM but Omar Gaither is too light to play SAM so he'll just play WILL and MLB.
• When asked if he worries about what's going on at RB and WR and so on Dawk responded by saying no because our defense pushes the offense so hard in practice that he knows it makes them that much better. He said that having them go up against, what he considers, one of the best secondarys in the NFL, prepares them for facing other strong defenses

Who Plays Friday?

Not too much to say but I was just thinking, who's going to play in this upcoming Steelers Preseason game on Friday?

Normally in your 4th preseason game the starters don't play at all and remember we played in the Hall of Fame Game meaning we've seen the Raiders, Browns, and Ravens already. Which makes this our 4th preseason game despite the back it's only technically Week 3 of the preseason.

But our starters did only play one series in the Hall of Fame game.

This was a situation I had my eye on as soon as I found out that we were selected to play in Canton, Ohio. Pretty soon we will find out how everything will be handled. I'm figuring that the starters will probably play a quarter each and then not play at all in the 5th and final game against the Jets.

Is Andy going to use the 5 games as a way to give the starters 2 preseason games to rest or does he want this opportunity to see them 4 times in the preseason and have 1 game to rest?

The only possible hint I have seen is that Andy did give the players the weekend off after the Ravens game so if he was going to rest them this week he probably wouldn't have given them 3 days off to get their legs back because all of the starters will have some extra time for that by not playing against the Jets. I know that the backups needed time to rest too but still.

All of these questions but we won't know until when Andy has his pre-game press conference which will probably be on Thursday.

No Contract Yet For Davis

Stephen Davis visited the Nova Care Complex today as I wrote about last night prior to him going so there's not much left to say just an update that he left without signing a contract.

I know they ran him through a physical and at Andy's press conference he hasn't sat down with him to talk yet but they were going to. I was surprised though that Donovan really seemed excited about possibly getting Davis. I wrote earlier that he compared it to the addition of Dorsey Levens a few years ago, which is a great comparison and just shows an older running back, definitly past his prime, but with still some left in his tank when used sparingly.

It would be cool to just bring Davis in to see what he can do.

PFT.com was saying that a reason he might not be signed before the season starts because from a salary cap standpoint if he is on the roster of any team when the regular season starts his salary for the year is fully guranteed.

Eskin Show At Pro Shop

I went up to the Linc this evening because Howard Eskin, not my favorite radio host, was broadcasting from the Eagles Pro Shop. I really went up there though because Jon Runyan, Shawn Andrews, and Reno Mahe were signing autographs.

It was pretty cool, their weren't a lot of people there and so it gave you more of an opportunity to actually talk to the players a little bit instead of being pushed ahead like at most signings. Shawn Andrews was the best because he got all excited since I had him sign my custom Shawn Andrew's jersey that I got for Christmas, which he doesn't see often since they don't make them. He had a really cool reaction and he definitly is the best Eagle I've ever met. This is the 2nd time I met him, before was at the Eagles Carnival last year where you could use activity tickets to get your picture taken with him, their were a few other Eagles players that were at other booths but they didn't sign any autographs, Shawn did voluntarily though before taking the picture. Just little stuff like that matters overtime because you can tell he really appreciates the fans.

I mean no offense to Michael Lewis at all but I paid to get his autograph at last years Carnival and I was really excited about it because he had always been my favorite player prior to Andrews coming but he was just one of those guys that just signs the jersey and moves on to the next person. I don't hold it against him at all though because that must get so old always having to sign autographs, but it does just make me Shawn Andrews a little bit more.

Like I said before Jon Runyan and Reno were there too, they were really nice but you can tell Andrews just geniunely enjoys interacting with the fans.

Team Notes 8/21

Today is the teams first practice back since the Ravens game. Everyone should be pretty fresh and ready to keep this preseason moving as quickly as possible. We're 20 days away from our regular season opener against the Texans:

• Injuries: Jeremy Bloom was out today with a hamstring, Adrien Clarke had successful back surgery and we will see how he recuperates, Jason Davis tore his ACL and will have surgery next week, Chris Gocong has a stinger and is going through tests to evaluate the severity, Jerome McDougle is doing better with the broken ribs, Greg Richmond had low back surgery and is feeling really good right now, and Darwin Walker has a fractured rib and is getting better, Brian Westbrook continues to get better and has started running in the pool
• So a name that was missing from that injury list is one that seems to have been permanently on there for the past couple of weeks: Todd Pinkston. He was back at practice today, he has to play this Friday if he wants any chance of playing this season. This is going to be the big story this week along with the Stephen Davis thing.
• Regarding Pinkston practicing today, since they're regular practices now they aren't open to the public so I have to take the media's word for it but in a short interview with Todd Pinkston the reporter told Pinkston that he was running like he was still hurt, that's not a good sign. Also Todd confirmed that he's not yet in football shape and he needs to start working on getting his wind back, etc. He said once again that he's "getting back into the flow of things" I'm usually really patient with guy's injuries but this is starting to drive my crazy and I very concerned about Todd. I really really think he's going to end up on Injured Reserve for this season.
  
• Today is the beginning of the in-season schedule, they started with a walkthrough and finished with meetings and practice
  
• There is concern with Gocong's stinger and he's been tested because this has been a recurring problem but it is getting better
  
• We will see with Stephen Davis, he was given a physical today and the team is working him out to evaluate his knee
• Andy said them working out Davis was not necessarily to say that they are more concerned about the running backs, they've wanted to get Davis in since the beginning of training camp
  
• Brian Westbrook will be ready to practice in another week or so
  
• Jeremy Bloom's hamstring is just a strain, not a tear
  
• Andy isn't worried about Reggie Brown only having 2 catches in practice so far because him and Donovan get so many they work on their chemistry together so much in practice. It just has been a situation in these past couple of games that he hasn't gotten any catches
• Correll Buckhalter didn't have any swelling in his knee after the game, I think that is great news
  
• Bunkley will still increasingly get more reps as the weeks go on to improve his conditioning
• Donovan McNabb compared the possible Stephen Davis addition to when we had Dorsey Levens before. It was actually a very similiar situation, a successful back that "knows what to do, knows how to win, and has been on successful teams." He said going into is everyone just basically wrote Dorsey off and didn't think he would get any touches but he stepped up when the ball was given to him and he was pretty successful for us.
  
• Donovan seemed genuinely excited about possibly bringing Stephen Davis in. He said that he loves the situations, if Davis was signed, where we could line Westbrook up as a flanker, put Davis in the backfield, and give Davis the ball for an 8 yard run. Then it just adds more to the offense that the defense has to accomodate for.
  
• This always gets on my nerves, I'm watching the Donovan and Andy press conferences right now and I only hear one woman reporters voice, which is actually more then normal because it's usually all men there. But what drives me crazy is that the only question this lady asks to both Donovan and Andy is "How did you spend your weekend off?" No offense to this lady but seriously, if you have the opportunity to go to these press conferences, why waste it on some stupid human interests question?
  

Stephen Davis Visits

Running back Stephen Davis will be visiting the Eagles on Monday probably in an effort to get him signed to a contract. I've heard these rumors the past couple of days about the Eagles possibly being interested and it has been confirmed by a team source that Davis will visit the Nova Care Complex tomorrow.

Stephen Davis has been in the NFL for a long time now, since 1996. He was drafted by the Redskins that year and spent 7 years in Washington until he left for the Carolina Panthers and was there from 2003-2005. Stephen had one of his most successful career years during his first season in Carolina where he ran for 1444 yards averaging 4.4 yards per carry. Since that year though his career has been on a decline due to knee injuries. He spent the majority of 2004 on IR and then played 13 games in 2005 and scored 12 touchdowns in short yardage situations.

Davis was cut by the Panthers at the end of the season and from my knowledge didn't recieve any interest from teams until just recently he passed a physical and sent a letter to every NFL team letting them know he was still available. I had actually just assumed that he was going to retire because of his nagging injuries, but he at least believes he has something left in his tank.

The positives about Davis is that he is a hard nosed veteran that has plenty of experience and has seen success, even as recently as last year where he scored 12 touchdowns. So he is definitly a guy that can help you get those first downs and score in goalline situations. The obvious negatives about Davis are that he has been botherd for the past 2 seasons with knee injuries and those never seem to go away. He is going into his 11th year, along with Brian Dawkins, and it really just shows you how lucky Brian has been to avoid being banged up as much as Davis has but it's understandable considering Davis is a running back so he takes a pounding on every single snap.

It makes sense to bring Davis in with our running backs being really banged up lately. We have Westbrook with the foot sprain, Perry had a concussion, Moats had a knee injury, Buck is coming back from numerous knee injuries, and Reno Mahe has a concussion as well. Every single guy in our backfield, besides Marty Johnson, has had some kind of problem this preseason. If Davis is brought in he would help out with depth but that's only if he can stay healthy himself.

There still is a ways to go but if Stephen Davis ends up signing with the Eagles it definitly won't hurt us and there won't be a lot of money invested in him anyway. This just makes me nervous because does this mean that Westbrooks injury is more serious then I have believed it to be? I don't think so because if that was the case then I would hope the Eagles would pursue a younger back that would be able to fill a little bit of Westbrook's role, right now this just seems like more of a depth situation.

This Week

Tomorrow the team gets back to practice but it's at the Nova Care Complex because training camp is over. There are just a few things going on this week involving the team.

This Sunday, August 27th, is the 12th annual Eagles Carnival & Auction. It's a really cool thing to go to, online you can purchase fast pass tickets to get different players autographs. At this point the favorites such as McNabb, Dawkins, Trotter, are all gone but there are still a few available. The prices are pretty high but it all goes to the Eagles Youth Partnership with provides different schools in the community with books, they fix up a park every year, and provide kids with eye glasses who can't afford them, among other things.

Also there are activity tickets which you can purchase and these aren't only for little kids. There are a lot of games that can be used with the tickets for kids but for adults you can get different players autographs with these tickets as well. It really just depends who is standing around, for example, I got a picture with Shawn Andrews and his autograph last season with the activity tickets. I know in the past there have been alumnae autograph sessions and tables set up with lesser known Eagles players signing autographs.

This year there are a few new activities that still have tickets available such as Eagles Fly Wheels where some of the players will bring their cars and you get to see them on display. As well as something called Face Time where you get to sit down in a group of people with a player and ask them some questions. So there are ton of cool things to check out this year and it's all for a good cause.

Then on the same day as our preseason game against the Steelers, August 25th, Vince Papale's movie "Invincible" will be released to theaters. I can't wait for that.

No Touchdowns Scored

The defense has been pretty impressive thus far in the preseason. Coming into this season though that is something that a lot of us expected with the additions of guys like Darren Howard and Broderick Bunkley. So far against the Raiders, Browns, and Ravens our 1st team defense hasn't let up a touchdown which has been a great testament to how well they have been playing.

When we played the Raiders they had a very hard time moving the ball at all as Aaron Brooks looked really bad faced up against our defensive line. Eventually when our starters left at the beginning of the 2nd quarter Brooks ended up throwing for a touchdown, but no points were scored against our starters.

Then in the next game against the Cleveland Browns our defense was all over the place. The Browns were held scoreless until the 4th quarter when they eventually scored a touchdown but against our 1st and 2nd string defense they weren't able to even score a field goal.

A week after that was the Ravens game which was just a few days ago and during that outing the starting defense let up their first points but that was only a Janikowski field goal, no touchdown.

Going up against the Raiders and Browns was a much easier test for this defense who was easily able to disrupt Aaron Brooks and Charlie Frye. We faced our first real challenge against Pro Bowl Quarterback Steve McNair, who has caused us trouble in the past. You can sack him 2 times in a row, but it doesn't disrupt him, on that third play he'll drop back in the pocket with the same confidence and given the time he will throw for a touchdown. That can't be said about a lot of quarterbacks, even if pressure isn't there on every single play if you get to a normal QB a few times it really disrupts their rhythm and they get scared and end up making bad decisions.

Steve McNair was able to move the ball against us but he was unable to get in the endzone. He led the Ravens on a 9 minute 15 play drive but it resulted in a field goal after Mike Anderson was stuffed on a 3rd and 1. Then during the following drive headed for the endzone McNair fumbled after being hit by Jevon Kearse. Finally on the last drive of the first half the Ravens were in the redzone once again but Musa Smith was stopped on a 3rd and 2 run up the middle which left the Ravens without enough time to get the field goal off to put up more points. So despite Baltimore controlling the ball for 9 more minutes and gaining 69 more yards, they still were unable to score thanks to our red zone defense.

This "bend but don't break" philosophy is something that we've seen a lot of over the past couple of years. The defense might let up a lot of yards but they don't let up a lot of points, which is most important. The negative part about this though is it keeps your defense on the field longer so the guys get a lot more tired. What makes it even worse is if the defense gets caught up in a 9 minute drive but they don't let up any points, and then the offense comes on the field and goes 3 and out, the defense is so gassed from the last series they didn't even get a chance to catch their breath.

If the offense looks more like it did in the first series with the Raiders where we ran the ball numerous time and had success with it because Westbrook was there, then that prevents a lot of times where an offense is on and off the field very quickly. Ever since Westbrook was injured in the Raiders game we haven't seen that same type of success in the running game. But I don't think there's any cause for concern, as I've said before, because I really believe that Westbrook is going to be back and completly healthy in time for the regular season. There probably is going to be some nervousness in the media and a lot of hype but it's not going to get to the team.

Whenever a situation arises like this one, where the media makes too big of a deal out of Westbrook not playing until Week 1, I'm reminded of the 2004 playoffs. By the time December hit we had everything locked up, we knew we had made the playoffs and had homefield advantage, so there was nothing to play for. In an effort to not suffer any serious injuries the starters were benched for the last few games of the season. It ended up working out great when you look back on it, the team came back in full force for the playoffs, there were no ill effects of Andy's decision. But people seem to forget how big of a deal the media made out of Andy resting the starters, critics said that we would get out of a rhythm and build up too much rust. It was questioned in every newspaper and on every TV show whether he was doing the right thing, basically just because it gave writers a story.

With the lack of headlines in this preseason the Westbrook thing is just a story. It's not a big deal, it's not being downplayed, it's just nothing to be concerned about. He will be back
for our game against Houston and we won't even remember that he was gone.

Very Quiet

No news today, just a quiet day which all of the players are loving. After the Ravens game Andy gave the guys 3 days off and players eyes lit up and smiles came to their faces when they heard that they finally have the chance to get their legs back and just relax. For a lot of guys like Dawkins it means they finally get to spend some time with their families and Dawkins described it as something that "everybody needed" after such a long and hard training camp.

As much as NFL players are envyed because they make so much money, the job has to be a lot harder then it looks at first glance. Yes, they do only have to play 16 regular season games as compared to a baseball season but the hits that they endure and the way they sacrifice their body for a game has to be rewarded. These guys really have no offseason they start reporting to mini-camps and OTA's in April but even up to that point they are still working out every day and keeping their bodies in good shape. They then use the training camps to get into football shape which has them start working at the end of July through August and then the games begin. In the season every single day is accounted for because the league is so competitive that one game can mean whether you make it to the playoffs or not.

In a lot of cases if a team wins they will have 1 or 2 days off but as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday hits they are back at work. The punishment on their bodies really never ends week after week until the season is over. They might have a few days to rest but by the end of the season every single guy is playing injured. So these few days off end up adding up and mean a lot to the players.

Second Glance vs. Ravens

Here are just a few notes I have after rewatching the preseason game, no big revelations:

• I forgot to mention before that Bruce Perry didn't get any reps at running back and I think it was a deliberate move by Andy to send him a message after fumbling twice against the Raiders
• William Thomas came out not playing well again, on one play in particular where Donovan could have hit Baskett for a leaping catch, he overthrew it because he was underpressure from Thomas letting a guy through
• L.J. had a really good night not only with his 2 big receptions but even blocking. That is something that he has been criticized for, whether he's a good blocker, but when Donovan ran for 6 yards and even upfield when Buck broke out that big reception, L.J. had key blocks.
• Reno did a decent job on his carries, the most you could ask of him. But, I completly shut that out of mind because I was so mad that he fumbled. So far this preseason we've had Reno, Ryan Moats, and Bruce Perry fumble, not a good sign.
  
• Dhani did have a great night like I said before but Trotter was pretty nonexistent. He really didn't see to have any fire and I'm not sure whether that was because he was frustrated that he wasn't making any plays or what.
  
• Buck also had a nice block on one of L.J.'s receptions, he really dug into the ground on it and it gave me a little more confidence about the condition his knee is in, that he didn't shy away from the block
• I came away not feeling as good as I did about the 1st team offense as I did when I first watched the game because I realized that so much of our production was just off of the Ravens defensive penalties. We're not going to get things like that every game and we are really missing Westbrook right now.
  
• The Ravens just ate up the clock by pounding the ball away and getting a lot of underneath completions.
  
• This goes hand and hand with the above note that the Ravens did gain a lot of yardage but our red zone defense did a really good job. Of course you don't want your defense on the field for so long getting worn out but we stopped Mike Anderson on a 3rd and 1 in the redzone and then we did that again to Musa Smith on a 3rd and 2.
  
• With Hank Fraley getting some reps with the first team at LG, I know that Herremans was having a tough time at the beginning of camp, could Fraley start at guard over Herremans? I have to see a lot more of Hank to figure that out but it's just an interesting thought that I never even considered until just recently.
  
• For some reason our defensive line didn't start getting consistent pressure on McNair until the Raven's 3rd series. At that point we were really rushing him back there and Jevon was having a good game but it took us awhile to get going.
  

Post Game Notes 8/18

A few notes after the 3rd preseason game against the Ravens:

• Injuries: Jeremy Bloom tweaked hamstring, Jason Davis will have MRI on his sore knee, Rod Hood didn't play with sore toe
• The players have the weekend over to recover, get their legs back, and just relax after a really rough couple of weeks
  
• Broderick Bunkley will increasingly get more reps as the games go on
• Hank Fraley has been playing some guard so he saw some time playing guard in the 1st half and he will be getting work with the 2nd team at center
• Need to eliminate penalties, turnovers, and do a better job tackling according to Andy
  
• Despite giving up yards the starting defense hasn't been giving up points which Dawkins says is the most important thing because last year we gave up so many points

Question

During the training camp when you were watching the receivers, I know Brown and Baskett played well, but were they showing separation from the CBs?

That is a really good question because you're right the WR's production has not been good this preseason. During the first 2 preseason games I figured the reason why we weren't seeing too many catches from WR's was because Donovan wasn't in the game long so he didn't really get time to spread the ball around. But then in the Ravens game where our starters played the whole first half, the WRs had less catches then they did when we played one series against the Raiders. So that makes me think that a big part of that success against the Raiders was because they were just going up against bad DB's as compared to the more proven Ravens defense.

This is something we're going to have to watch and so you bringing up the WR's separation from CB's could lead to some answers about why against the Ravens Donovan only completed a pass to one WR and that was Reggie Brown for a screen pass.

In training camp Reggie Brown definitly creates separation between himself and a CB. Reggie's pretty fast and is so sharp in his routes that he very frequently will get a step on a WR and that is why he's going to be our #1 and eventually Donovan's go to guy.

But Hank Baskett is not someone who burns a cornerback or makes it easy for Donovan to get him the ball. That is why he did end up going undrafted. That doesn't mean he's not a good WR, because he is, but like you hinted at, it doesn't make it very easy for Donovan to get him the ball. Baskett's strengths are that he can be such a great red zone reciever because he can jump so high. That is probably the best thing about Hank and we haven't seen that being used in a game yet, but he can jump overtop of a defender and go up to grab a ball.

We did see in the Browns game exactly how Baskett will make his catches. During the 1st series Donovan completed a pass to Hank along the left sideline which put us right in range to score a touchdown but if you watch the replay of that catch the CB was right with him the entire time. Hank didn't even have a step on the defender but Donovan has developed a confidence in him that Hank can go and make the catch. So Donovan threw the ball where only Hank could get it and he stretched out to make the grab.

So Reggie Brown does make it easy for Donovan to get him the ball, Baskett does not.

I can understand how people are worried about the WRs right now because Donovan has been completing a lot of his passes to the HB's and L.J. Smith. My outlook now is that I do think that we will see a lot more of these recievers when the regular season starts up but their are going to be very few games where we have a WR that racks up over 100 yards. The ball is going to spread around from HB, to TE, and the WR's but we just haven't seen that yet.

Also once Westbrook gets back and our running game gets going again, because we have gone downhill in that department without him, then it is going to open up our passing game a lot more. So that leads to the next comment...

I'm beginning to get concerned about the depth at running back:

I have full confidence that Brian Westbrook is going to be back 100% healthy for our Week 1 game against Houston. I am completly confident that if this was the regular season Westbrook would be playing next week against the Steelers, it's just there is no reason to risk him. Westbrook's foot sprain is not serious it's just especially in the division where Clinton Portis dislocated his shoulder, no one is going to have a star player play unless they are completly healthy. I think that preseason is very valuable for many top players especially quarterbacks who need to develop timing with their receivers and just knock the rust off. But I don't feel the same way about running backs, they get beat up every single game of the regular season, there's no need for them to start getting banged up in the preseason.

But still even with a healthy Westbrook the backups have shown us nothing and we need them to produce especially in the NFL where so many teams right now use their back up running back pretty often. I went into this season with such high hopes for Ryan Moats and Bruce Perry but both of these guys have really dissapointed. Ryan Moats started off training camp well but before the Hall of Fame game he suffered a strained knee ligament which kept him out for awhile and so he got his first preseason game in against the Ravens and carried 7 times for 7 yards and a fumble, horrible. Then Bruce Perry also emerged at the end of last season the same way Ryan Moats did but he has had a problem with fumbling in the past and he fumbled twice in his preseason debut against the Raiders and also suffered a concussion which kept him out until this Ravens game.

Correll Buckhalter has emerged though as possibly being healthy enough to play a real part of our running back depth. He had a good game but there is still more to see of him and we need to see how his body responds to his first game back. If Buck is in the situation then it makes me a lot less worried about what could happen if Westbrook goes down.

So Westbrook is going to be back healthy and play great, I trust that. But everyone behind him has these next 2 preseason games to make themselves stand out from the pack of HBs trying to make the team. Hopefully Buck stays healthy and proves himself durable enough to play this year. Also Ryan Moats should return to the way we saw him last year because he looked great at the end of last season but he has had a rough time since coming back from the knee sprain.

Two Seasons Are Ended

Linebacker Greg Richmond and Guard Adrien Clarke both had their seasons cut short this week when they underwent lower back surgery. The scariest part is for Richmond it seems like this being his 2nd surgery really could put his future career in jeopardy.

Greg was signed as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2004 and spent that season on the practice squad. Then in the 2005 training camp he had to undergo surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back which is exactly what is bothering him now. At almost the exact same time one year ago, Greg had to undergo surgery again to repair a herniated disk.

From the teams standpoint it does hurt our linebacking corps depth because I think that Greg would have made the team behind Dhani Jones. But now if Dhani goes down the next man to step in is going to have to be Chris Gocong who is definitly not ready to start yet.

Adrien Clarke was drafted in the 7th round of 2004 but he was put on injured reserve after tearing his hamstring. He didn't see his first gametime until 2005 when injuries really depeleted our offensive line. The year started out with Artis Hicks at LG but once both William Thomas and Todd Herremans were out for the year at LT Artis had to switch over to LT which gave Adrien the opportunity to start four games at LG.

I think we're going to see Adrien next year in training camp and his injury doesn't really affect our depth at O-line because we did just draft Guard Max Jean-Guilles.

3rd Preseason Game vs. Ravens

Ravens: 20 Eagles 10

I wasn't happy when this game was over because despite the fact that our 1st team offense and defense played really well, that isn't enough. It seems like the we've gone forwards in some departments and backwards in others. I say that because in the 1st preseason game our backups did not play well and ended up losing the game for us in the end. But against the Browns things changed a little bit, we had a lot of penalties but our backups played a lot better, which is a reason why we won. Tonight though we fixed the penalty problem but our backups were no match for the Ravens reserves.

Offense:

I feel like when I go back and rewatch the game I'll be a lot happier because I'll get to see how well our starters did. But after sitting through a pathetic half where our offense was unable to move the ball and our defense let up some big plays, I forgot all about our starters because it started to get so frustrating. I'll being by talking about our starters though.

Donovan went complete 6 of 10 for 97 yards which was a pretty good showing. We saw him scramble around a little bit, once for 6 yards and another time he was running around in the backfield waiting for someone to get open but he eventually just threw it away. I actually like seeing that in Donovan, just throwing the ball away. It's good because he's not forcing anything or throwing a Brett Favre style ball straight up in the air that just gets picked off. Donovan was able to connect with L.J. on a couple of passes, which we are going to see a lot of this year, and he completed one to Reggie Brown. My only problem was the lack of WR's in the offense when our starters were out there. Hank Baskett didn't have a catch, Reggie Brown had one, and the opening play, a bomb to Darnerian McCants drew a pass interference flag. In that situation even if you don't complete the pass, an interference call is just as valuable. But the biggest play of the game was the screen pass to Correll Buckhalter which he took for 48 yards, no one was more deserving of that then Buck was. He also did a great job pass blocking on a few different occassions.

Reno Mahe started the game at HB for us, didn't really do much. I'm not worried because I have full confidence that Brian Westbrook is going to be back in time for the regular season and that will improve our running game by miles. Reno was having a pretty solid game with the touchdown grab he had after Buck set us up in the redzone, but then he fumbled in our last drive before halftime. That is just something you can not do, there are no exceptions. We had a lot of trouble against the Raiders with Bruce Perry fumbling twice, he didn't see anytime this game, but Ryan Moats and Reno Mahe each fumbled once. That is something that has to stop and I want to know what the heck happened to Ryan Moats? After his knee injury during camp he has had a lot of trouble in practice and that led to trouble in the game as well.

Koy Detmer was pathetic. In a post before I talked about how I love everyone on this team, the only Eagles that I didn't like before were Hollis Thomas, Mike McMahon, and Artis Hicks, and they're all gone. Well Koy has definitly moved to that list. I am so frustrated with this stupid field goal holding situation. I understand how important it is to have a good holder and that Dirk Johnson was getting reps at it and Andy said he isn't as good as Koy but Koy can not be on this team just to hold kicks. This preseason needs to be used to get Dirk Johnson and David Akers practice working together. I understand maybe if he played another position and we just kept him around for kicks but our back up QBs are very important on this team because we have had to play many games before without Donovan so if we don't have someone who can adequately fill the position, they don't deserve to be on the team, it's a pretty simple concept.

When Koy lead our offense on the field he did absoloutly nothing. We couldn't move the ball. He was getting pressure in his face but the times that he didn't he still looked horrible. Koy plays scared and he is terrified out there. He's not an NFL QB, not a back up QB, he can not make the team this year. So that opens a door for Timmy Chang.

You can have to take into considering that Timmy was playing against the 3rd and 4th string Ravens defense but he also was playing with guys like Carl Ford and Bill Sampy and was able to get them the ball. Timmy was 7 of 17 which isn't even good but the fact that he completed more passes then Koy for about 4 times the yardage, Koy threw for 21 yards and Timmy threw for 91 yards. Timmy also saw pressure in his face but he had some confidence back there and would just look down field and make the pass. I'm not raving about this kid and saying he's the next Peyton Manning he just actually completed a few passes and it shocked me after sitting through a quarter of Koy's horrible play. He completed passes to Gaffney, Sampy, Ford, and Jenkins. If we want to have improvement on this team we need to see how Timmy can play with better players and against better players. Next week I want to see Donovan, Jeff, and Timmy play but I'm sure that won't happen.

Jabar Gaffney finally emerged a little bit being Timmy Chang's favorite target and catching 4 passes for 37 yards. I was happy about that because he really is taking steps in the right direction but we have to see him do that against better talent. He has had a really hard time getting out on the field this preseason but he's battling with Greg Lewis for that last WR spot. The only time we really was Greg was when Koy underthrew a ball to him and it was intercepted, otherwise you didn't hear his name all night. Andy's excuse for Greg not getting a lot of reps lately has been because Andy says he knows what he can do. That is definitly a cop out, I just think Greg was fallen to the bottom of this depth chart alongside guys like Bill Sampy and Mike Gasperson. There's no way he makes this team unless he really picks it up in these next games.

The running backs that played in the 2nd half didn't see anymore success then our starters, our running game was pretty nonexistant. But still one of the stand outs was actually Marty Johnson again. I answered a question earlier about which RBs will make this team and I said Ryan Moats would and Marty wouldn't. If it was based on this game though it would be the other way around because Moats fumbled and averaged 1 yard per carry where Marty had 3 carries for a decent 24 yards. I just based it on that we have more invested in Ryan Moats since he was a 3rd round pick last year.

Defense:

Our starting defensive line definitly faced a challenge in going against the Ravens offensive line. I thought they would have some weakness Jonathen Ogden missing the game but it was a real battle at the line of scrimmage. McNair didn't just get to sit back in the pocket and pick who he wanted to throw to but we also weren't sacking him on every play. I think we missed some of that push we have had the past 2 games from our defensive line and I think that has to do with Darwin Walker missing the game with a rib injury. It was very evenly matched as we went back and forth. As the 1st half started to close out we seemed to disrupt the pocket more and Jevon had a sack. There were a few occasions where McNair just showed how good of a QB he is by knowing he would get hit but getting the ball off in perfect timing. If we had played a more inexperienced QB our sack totals would have been a lot higher but we were able to get pressure on him and force the ball out sooner then he wanted it. But he did have a great completition percentage completing 14 of 18 passes.

Brian Dawkins had an excellent 1st half and would have continued if he had played the whole game. He was swarming around the ball on every play and had a few great knockdowns a milisecond before the WR could catch the pass. Around the league there have been numerous players complaining about the preseason games but Dawk just came out and he gives his all on every play, no matter if it's preseason or not. That is something that I love about him, I think he feels like he owes it to not only the team but to give the fans a good showing. I was also really proud of Dhani Jones, he was in the backfield on numerous occassions and I feel like this is definitly a by product of our defensive line. No one is going to say that Dhani is an amazing linebacker, he just isn't. But with the defensive line keeping Dhani free from blockers he was able to penetrate the backfield a few times. I was really happy about that because Dhani had a really bad year last season and we were hoping that Greg Richmond might come in and push him for the starting job but Richmond is probably going to be out for the season with this upcoming back surgery. So we need Dhani to step it up because there really isn't anyone behind him right now besides Chris Gocong and Dedrick Roper.

Once our starters were off of the field the 2nd half was a disaster not only on offense but there were some problems on defense too. Musa Smith ran all over the defense and Darling had over 100 recieving yards. I think we really missed Rod Hood because he was out with an injury and Joselio Hanson was blown up on a few plays. The stand outs on defense though were definitly Juqua Thomas and Omar Gaither.

I've loved Juqua for awhile, after his contract was up this past year I knew he had to be resigned because though he never made headlines he was a consistent 3rd down pass rusher. He had a really good game with 2.5 sacks and then Broderick Bunkley was getting a really good push throughout his time on the field. Bunkley ended up finishing the game with 1.5 sacks and knocked the QB down a few times right when he was throwing. We need to get Bunkley reps with the starters sometime before the preseason is over though because everything he does now needs to be taken with a grain of salt considering he's playing 2nd and 3rd string O-linemen.

Omar Gaither was making a lot of plays, one of special teams that ended up causing a penalty because he was down the field too early so it was a mental mistake but it at least showed his intensity. He was in on a lot of tackles though and he really makes his precense known when he is out there.

Special Teams:

David Akers made a 43 yard field goal which we all knew he would make. Dirk Johnson had another solid punting night, downing 2 of 4 punts inside the 20 and averaging 44.3 yards per punt. Then all of our returners were alright, Jeremy Bloom made an appearance with 2 kick returns before he was done for the night with a hamstring injury. Bruce Perry and JR Reed also returned some kicks but nobody really stood out. Bruce did the best on his possession but it's just going to take time to see who wins the job. I really think it's going to come down to who just makes the team. I don't think Jeremy Bloom is going to make the team, he'll probably be on IR or PUP list, then right now I don't think Perry is going to make it either because he hasn't done a good job. So if these are only options, and I'm sure that JR is going to make the team, then JR is going to be the man.

Overall:

Within the next few days I'm going to rewatch the game and see what I missed the first time I saw it. But our starters did play well, our defense faced a challenge but our starting defense didn't give up any touchdowns. Our old "bend but don't break" style of play seemed to be back because McNair complete a lot of passes for a lot of yards but they didn't get in the endzone against our starters.

The starting offensive line gave Donovan time to throw but again, our reserve O-line had Koy running for his life a few times. This Koy situation really has me frustrated and I want to see a lot more of Timmy Chang next week.

We started off the game doing good with penalties, our starters definitly fixed that from last week. But we ended up having 10 penalties in the game, 1 more then the Ravens, once our backups were on the field. The reserves need to play a lot better because what we saw in the 2nd half of that game was pathetic.

Question

Who do you think will make the final roster at rb and wr? At this point do you think Jeremy Bloom has a chance at making the team?

For WR it all comes down to the injury to Todd Pinkston. He's missed a ton of time with this Achilles injury, first it was talked about as just being something minor, that his other achilles was swelling up because he was favoring it over the one he ruptured last year. But then both achilles started to bother him, and so on and so on. He was talked about possibly being able to play against the Ravens but Andy ended up ruling that out after seeing him practice the past couple of days and realizing he's not ready yet. I'm starting to think that this is just getting closer and closer to the point where Pinkston is going to be put on Injury Reserve (and be inactive the entire year) or the PUP-list (and be inactive until Week 6.) If Pinkston is able to make the team though and be healthy enough I expect the WRs to be:

Reggie Brown, Hank Baskett, Todd Pinkston, Darnerian McCants, Jason Avant, and (if we keep six) the last guy will be Jabar Gaffney, if we don't then I don't think he will make the team.

Then at running back we also have some situations with health but I don't think there is anything serious. I'm not a doctor and I'm not going to act like I know everyone situations but from what I understand Brian Westbrook has a sprained foot. I really think that if he had to play, he would play next week, if it was a regular season game. But there is no reason to rush him back during the preseason and risk him being injured before Week 1. There are some people who say that he needs to get more practice before the regular season starts, I don't agree. I think that preseason is very valuable to a lot of guys but not a veteran running back that has been in the system since 2002. Running backs get so banged up throughout the season, they just need the preseason to keep their bodies fresh.

Then with Correll Buckhalter playing his first game last night, he did look good with that screen pass that he almost brought in for a touchdown, it was awesome. But what everything really depends on is how Buck feels today and tomorrow. Is he knee going to be inflammed and will he not be able to practice? If Buck has a reall hard time getting on the practice field this week, because he played in a game, then he won't make the team. But if he really is fine then he will be on the roster. Of course we have to see what he does in these next 2 games, he can't make the team from one screen pass, but that sure did help.

The running backs are a little bit of a numbers game as well because we will keep either 4 or possibly 5 of them. I think we will keep 4 and they will be:

Brian Westbrook, Correll Buckhalter (depending on how his knee feels this week), Reno Mahe, and Ryan Moats

As much as a lot of fans seem to like having a bigger back in Marty Johnson, he's not going to make the team. Then there are so many people that don't like Reno Mahe. Going into training camp I said that Bruce Perry was going to make the team over Reno, that has changed. Bruce has really dissapointed me when I put a lot of stock into how he was going to play this preseason. Reno might not be the flashy guy that everyone wants but he just flat out does his job. He is good about not turning the ball over (which is a bad thing to say considering yesterday he fumbled, but normally he doesn't.) Then he contributes on special teams, he led the NFL in punt return average last year, he has to keep a little bit of credit for that. But mostly he plays a good job on coverage as well, not just returning the kicks or punts. Then I've also been very dissapointed with Ryan Moats in camp so far, he started out well, but then suffered that knee injury and he just seems to have lost a lot. I don't know what happened but after the injury his performance in camp dropped a lot and then we saw him fumble on his first carry yesterday, not a good way to start.

So from what I answered above I already answered your 2nd question about Jeremy Bloom making this team. No, he won't make the team. I thought he really would be an impact for us but the injuries he's had haven't let him progress and learn. He came had a hamstring strain in the mini-camps and has never fully recovered. He reinjured that when working out in Arizona with Donovan and it kept him out for practically the entire camp. Then after fielding a kickoff last night I saw him wobble off of the field limping and Dave Spadaro said that he suffered another hamstring injury. I don't have any details on that yet but I know there isn't room on the team for him. I'm not sure what will happen, if he'll go on injured reserve, the PUP list, etc. we will have to see.

Tonight at 8

Who will not play: Chris Gocong, Darwin Walker, Calvin Armstrong, Todd Pinkston, Jerome McDougle, Brian Westbrook, Scott Young, and Greg Richmond. It's not sure if Rod Hood will play tonight or not, if he doesn't then I think Joselio Hanson will take his place.

Our biggest challenge in the preseason so far is occuring tonight with our matchup against the Baltimore Ravens. I think it is perfect not only that after 2 easier games we get to play a team that I think is going to win this year, but in this game when our starters are going to play a lot more it's perfect for them to get reps against a good team. The 1st team is going to play the whole first half with the 2nd and 3rd team playing in the 2nd half. So we will see 2 whole quarters of Donovan out on that field, this will be the best time for us to really get a feel on how his progression is coming. Then I think Koy Detmer and Timmy Chang will both play in the 2nd half since Koy sat out last week and Jeff Garcia got a lot of reps.

Also tonight considering we'll be on the field a lot longer I'm expecting Reggie Brown to play a bigger part in the offense. In the past 2 games I think he's only caught one pass and that was against the Raiders in our opening drive. He hasn't dropped anything, it's just that up until this point we've been on the field for such a short period of time he just didn't get many looks yet. I'm also expecting us to see more from Hank Baskett. Tonight we'll be the offenses biggest challenge going up against a very good defense in the Ravens. This is definitly a test for our young WRs because Baltimore has a pretty good secondary that should post a good challenge.

Our 1st team offensive line has done a great job of protecting Donovan to this point, there have been some protection problems with the 2nd and 3rd team lines, but that is somewhat to be expected. I mean an offensive line relys a lot upon chemistry and when guys are just plugged in to get more reps, it's hard for them to develop a good consistency. But since we are playing the Ravens we are going to see a good deal of blitzes so it'll be interesting to see how everyone handles it. We haven't seen Donovan take a hit yet, and not like I'm anticipating it, but he's bound to get some pressure tonight.

As for the running backs, Reno Mahe will be starting again but it's exciting that Correll Buckhalter is going to be out there, that's probably the main thing I will be focusing on tonight. I want to not only see how he handles hits but just how he plays in general. I'm trying not to focus on the injury and he shouldn't either, so with that bum knee aside I still just don't have any idea how he's going to perform. From what I've seen in camp, he should be the Buckhalter that we know from before, but we will just see. I'm also anxious to see how Bruce Perry is going to play because I loved him coming into this camp but to this point my opinion on him has faded a little bit after he fumbled twice. I just absoloutly hate when a player turns the ball over, for obvious reasons, so if he is a risk to fumble then he can't be on this team. We probably won't see him play until the 2nd half though. Then we should see Ryan Moats for the first time this year too, so there are some very interesting things to watch at running back.

I can't wait to watch our dominating defense line play an entire half, that is going to be exciting. They're going to have an interesting challenge in playing Steve McNair because I want to see whether he is going to scramble at all. I think he will a little bit, when I watched him in the last Ravens preseason game against the Giants I'm pretty sure that he ran in a touchdown. Then they also have a pretty good power running game in Jamal Lewis which we haven't faced yet. Since everyone will be on the field for the 1st half it will give offenses more time, especially running, to get into a rhythm so that is something that is definitly going to make tonights game different from what we've seen so far this preseason.

Back After 2 Years

There aren't many players in the NFL that don't play for 2 years and then end up getting another shot. We happen to have two guys like that on our roster right now, Jeremy Bloom and Correll Buckhalter. Both of these guys haven't played in 2 years for completly different reasons but they both have the same battles to face in making this roster.

Jeremy Bloom was a 5th round draft pick this year. But the question marks, and publicity, lie in the reality that he hasn't played football in 2 years. Jeremy played at Colorado State in 2002 and 2003 and was pretty successful posting 5 plays of 75 yards of longer between being a receiver and a return man. But then the NCAA decided that he wasn't allowed to play college football and ski for the U.S. Ski Team so he had to stop playing football. After he participated in the 2006 Olympics Jeremy decided that he was going to give up skiing to play football, so he entered the 2006 NFL Draft.

As I said before, we drafted him in the 5th round and he was mainly brought to be a great special teams player since we had suffered a big lose when our previous return man, JR Reed, was injured for the year. At the time of Bloom being draft everyone still had plenty of doubts about JR's ability to play football again, so they were looking towards the future. The problem for Jeremy arose when he participated in some of the team mini-camps and OTAs and was held out a little bit because of a hamstring strain. Then after those were over he went down to Arizona to practice with Donovan and reinjured that hamstring and it has kept him out for the vast majority of training camp. So not only has Jeremy never played in the NFL, he hasn't played football at all for 2 years, and he missed a lot of valuable training camp time with an injury. Tomorrow is the first time that Jeremy gets to prove to people that he deserves the attention he's been getting and the under armour commercial, because of his talent. He now has to prove he's more then just a gimmick.

Then we have Correll Buckhalter who I've talked about a million times just because I want him to succeed so badly. Buck was drafted in 2001, had a great rookie year, breaking the Eagles rookie running back rushing record. He then was out for 2002 with an injury and returned in 2003 having another good year being part of our awesome "3 headed monster" backfield. But for the past 2 years he has been hampered by a knee injury that has required surgeries.

Buck has pushed himself extremely hard, refusing to let his body end his career. The Eagles front office who is critizcised often for their brutality towards their own players regarding money, hasn't given up on Buck. They've kept him around because despite a little incident on South Street a few years ago, he has showed hard work and dedication to get back onto the field. He's been in and out of practice this past training camp because the coaches are afraid to push him too hard and reinjure his knee. But right now though, everything looks great as he has been consistently practicing these last couple of days and he now has to transfer his practice success into a game. I'm definitly pulling for him because I know what he can do and I'm not ready to gived up on him yet.

Correll Buckhalter and Jeremy Bloom. Two completly different stories but each have faced a 2 year absence from football. None of that matters on Thursday though because they will be looked at just like any other player on that field and they need to show the coaches that they deserve to make the team.

Pre-Game Notes 8/16

With training camp over and 3 more preseason games to go things are getting more serious. Some tough decisions are going to need to be made by August 29th when the first roster cuts are made to narrow the roster down to 65 players. We still have a good amount of time until then though to figure out who deserves to be on this team. Tomorrow is our 3rd preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens but remember since we played in the Hall of Fame game we still have 2 more left after this game.

• Correll Buckhalter will play on Thursday, his first game in what seems like forever. I can not wait to see him out on that field. From what I've seen from him in training camp, nothing should hold him back, but you never know.
  
• Todd Pinkston was given a possible chance of playing tomorrow but now that chance has been ruled out with Andy saying he's not ready yet. This situation is getting ugly. When will he be ready? If he can't play by the next preseason game then I don't think there's anyway he'll be able to play this season.
  
• Bruce Perry also will be back after the very scary concussion he recieved at the end of the Hall of Fame game. But Perry won't be around much longer if he has another game like that, 2 fumbles is unacceptable.
• Jeremy Bloom will also see some time fielding kick offs during the game. Let's see if the hype about him leading up to the draft was for real or if this year he's not going to make the roster.
  

Camp Comes To A Close

With only one closed to the public, mock game left tomorrow morning the 2006 Training Camp is coming to a close. This has been a very long camp with a lot of hitting, more so then in years past. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that our offseason was longer then usual this past year because we didn't make it into the playoffs, our season was done on January 1. In prior years we've gone into Februrary because of the playoff schedule and Super Bowl but this season everyone had more time to recover.

There's been news every day of this camp since July 20th when the rookies and selected veterans reported. But the good thing about this camp was really only Eagles fans cared about what was being reported. We had great storylines involving Hank Baskett, Correll Buckhalter, JR Reed, which I'll get into later. This year the stories of the team were written about players that have overcome all odds to be out on the football field, not about players wanting more money.

The only set back we had at camp was the Broderick Bunkley contract situation which was eventually solved. It is a shame that Bunkley missed so much time because even Jim Johnson has said that he is behind because he's not in football shape yet. That will work itself out as time goes on and I'm not worried about it because I know Bunkley is going to be a great player, it's just going to take him a little bit more time. This is one situation where having 5 preseason games really helped us out because he did miss the first one but he got to play in the second and has 2 more left to get some experience.

Going into this camp I had a lot of questions about different positions, players, and injuries. But things have gotten a lot more clearer as the regular season is getting closer and closer.

Players returning from injury
The main concern of an important player that was coming off of an injury was Donovan with his sports hernia. But I will talk about him later because there is a lot I have to say about Donovan. As for the others guy there was Lito Sheppard, Todd Pinkston, Correll Buckhalter, Brian Westbrook, JR Reed, Thomas Tapeh, William Thomas, Hank Fraley, Jerome McDougle, among others that were coming off of injuries from last season. Lito says that he's not at 100% yet which I think is a good thing because right now he is playing great. To think that he can only go up from here is a very big positive. There are a lot of people that are doubting Lito's abilities because he came into 2004 his first year starting and he went to the Pro-Bowl, but then his performance dropped drastically last year from what I believe was a combination of him being banged up (even before he was out for the season with an injury) and because the defensive line was getting no push.
Brian Westbrook's lis franc injury was the lesser version of the possibly serious injury. I think that if our year had been different and there would have been something for him to come back and play for, they wouldn't have put him on IR for the season. But considering that our season was already over, it just gave him more time to focus on next year and rehab the injury. We saw him play in the Raiders preseason game and he looked great, he was very happy about the possibility of him getting to see the ball a lot more this year. During that game he strained a few ligaments in his other foot, not the previously injured one, and I think that will keep him out of the entire preseason just for precautionary measures. As I mentioned before with the Clinton Portis situation, there is no reason why Westbrook needs to be out there again before the regular season. I'm sure the media is going to make a big deal out of this because Westbrooks durability has been a big question mark in his career but I think he will be practicing just not in any preseason games before we play Houston.
William Thomas seems to be on the less successful side of the coming back from injury stories we've heard so far. He has had back problems what seems like his whole career and so in the offseason he had surgery to repair the problem. He's been in and out of training camp and when I've seen him in he's had some pretty bad days. He had a really rough time at the beginning of camp trying to knock all of the rust off and his struggled in the Browns preseason game. The good news about his situation is that he has 2 more games to get back in the swing of things but if we have to we have our 2nd round draft pick Winston Justice that could fill in at LT. I'm not yet writing off Thomas but he needs to start playing a lot better, he can't play another game like he did against the Browns.

Against All Odds

Thomas Tapeh, JR Reed, Jerome McDougle, and Correll Buckhalter all have faced some of the biggest challenges I've seen in football. Each guy's situation was different but it all came down to having a huge hill to climb to be able to get back to where they are today. Starting with Thomas Tapeh because though his injury occured on the football field, unlike JR's, it was a very ugly injury that took a lot of time to heal. During a meaningless play in a meaningless game closing out the 2004 season as all of our starters sat on the bench, Thomas Tapeh dislocated his hip. This wasn't an injury that really drew much attention because frankly not many people knew who Tapeh was. He was ruled out for the entire 2005 season, with no chance of coming back until this training camp. He was hampered in the beginning of camp with a few non hip related injuries but has started to get more work in lately. With the numerous injuries to our backfield Tapeh got to see some time at running back during the Browns game and he even scored a touchdown. So while he is really here to battle with Josh Parry for a FB job, his versatility has given him the ability to play others roles as well.
JR Reed is probably one of the most talked about stories of this season. Drafted in 2004, had a good rookie year, plays in the Super Bowl, then things completly changed. While being chased by a dog in Florida he suffered a very grusome injury when a spike went into the back of his leg while he was trying to climb a fence. He damaged his peroneal nerve which controls how your foot moves. Being told that he would never walk the same again there was plenty of people who thought his career was over. Considering that he was hurt from a non-football related injury JR was legally not allowed to rehab at Nova Care Complex. He says there were days where he would just lay in his bed and cry because everything he had worked so hard for through high school and college seemed to now be gone. He didn't give up though and after being cleared by the Eagles medical staff he is not back on the field and making an impact. JR Reed would be making headlines even if he hadn't been injured in a freak accident because he is laying some big hits out on the field and making his precense known not only on special teams but as a safety. I really think that JR is going to make this team and I think everyone is pulling for him.
Jerome McDougles story is like JR's, just something that happened in the real world that ended up affecting their jobs on the field. While being car jacked in Florida, McDougle was shot in the abdomen and then when expected to make a comeback to the field at midseason he faced some complications which sidelined him for the whole year. McDougles whole career has been filled with injuries but that doesn't mean he can't play. He started off with a great camp, being in the best shape I've ever seen him in. Everyone says that he seems like a completly different person and that has been seen on the field as well. But of course he just recently faced another setback when it was announced yesterday that he suffered 2 broken ribs in practice that will keep him out at least 3 weeks. I can guarantee that he will be back by Week 2, possibly even week 1 of the regular season. Jerome has faced much greater odds, he's not going to let a few broken ribs get in his way.
Correll Buckhalter has been laughed at on WIP and by some fans because it has become a joke that he is always on the injury list. I don't think it's funny, either does Buck, but he takes those responses and just uses them as motivation. We haven't seen Buck in a regular season game since December 27th, 2003. A lot of things have changed since that time but one thing that hasn't is Buck's work ethic and determination. He is going to play against the Ravens on Thursday and if he can stay healthy and prove to everyone that he is the player we drafted in 2001, he is going to make this team. At the beginning of training camp I would have taken Bruce Perry over Buckhalter because of Bucks injuries and I just simply loved Perry. Right now I don't know if I can say the same thing, we have 2 more games to figure all of that out.

Put The Ball In The Baskett

Sports writers all over PA have had a fun time with the addition of Hank Baskett, there's been tons of headlines made from his unique last name. But the real attraction of fans to Hank Baskett is simply his ability to flat out make plays. I thought the training camp stories were going to be focused around Jabar Gaffney the WR we brought in from Houston but while Jabar hasn't done anything, the undrafted rookie free agent Baskett has made a tremendous impact. Seriously though I know this has been asked before but, did Brad Childress owe Andy Reid money?

I mean we trade the Vikings Artis Hicks for a draft pick, they sign Mike McMahon after we cut him, and then we trade them Billy McMullen for Hank Baskett. I was always pulling for McMullen because he had such tremendous physical talent but just had some serious mental blockage. But I strongly disliked Artis Hicks who constantly loved to get false starts, and Mike McMahon who was just pathetic. I am so easy on anyone that plays for the Eagles, as long as your in an Eagles uniform 9.9 times out of 10 I'll love you but there are a few of those guys that I just can't stand. They were Hollis Thomas, Artis Hicks, and Mike McMahon, all wiped out during the offseason, it was perfect.

Anyway though, the Baskett find seems to be a gift sent from heaven. I don't mean he's the next Randy Moss I just mean that he is a big physical reciever that's going to help us in the redzone. He lacks the speed needed to be a real deep threat but he provides Donovan with a solid reciever to grab a first down every once in awhile. We've seen him and Donovan connect on a couple of those quick slants which grab us easy first downs as well as Baskett showcased his ability to catch a deep ball if he has to. The thing I can't wait to see from him is jumping up over top of a DB in the endzone for a score because Baskett has one of the highest jumps out there considering he was the 2004 Mountain West Conference outdoor high jump champion. This kid is a physical specimen that has already developed a great chemistry with Donovan.


Receivers are Emerging

I wrote a post about this a few days ago so I'm not going to go in depth but one of the most talked about positions are the WRs. So far a few names have emerged, obviously Hank Baskett, who I already talked about. Reggie Brown has had a great camp and is definitly our #1 WR. That leaves a lot of positions open though and Darnerian McCants has done a good job so far, so he will earn himself a spot. I also think that the young Jason Avant from Michigan will be our 4th or 5th WR. Considering that Andy said Todd Pinkston might play on Thursday I'm thinking that his achilles is getting better so I'll throw him into the mix. If Pinkston is healthy he will make this team the question is just whether or not he is going to be healthy. Then I think either Greg Lewis or Jabar Gaffney makes the team, one or the other. A good veteran WR is going to have to be cut and it's going to be one of these two guys. I think our WR's are going to be: Reggie Brown, Hank Baskett, Todd Pinkston, Darnerian McCants, Jason Avant, and (if we keep six) Jabar Gaffney. If we don't keep six I think that Jabar will be gone despite the fact he was one of our free agent signings.

Donovan Is The Leader

No questions about Donovan's leadership this year. He has come out and had a great camp not showing any ill effects of last years injury. Every year we say that Donovan is in better shape then the previous year, and we will say that again. Donovan looks great, definitly slimmer and he packed more muscle onto his frame. We have seen Donovan progress year after year from a rookie QB into a Pro-Bowl QB and one day a Super Bowl winning QB. He has taken control of this team after a tumultuous last season and he is ready to prove that he is one of the Top 5 QBs in the league, I think he's the 3rd best in the NFL behind Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. I almost put Carson Palmer one step above Donovan but right now Carson hasn't accomplished the amount of things that Donovan has but I do think that Carson is a great QB. I'm sure I'm definitly in the minority of people, especially in Philadelphia, that think that Donovan is that good but I appreciate how great of a player he is, I don't hate him simply because we haven't won a Super Bowl with him yet. Because frankly, if I hated people because they didn't win Super Bowls I wouldn't like some of the best players to ever play for the Eagles, it's about a lot more then just a championship ring.

Donovan is the leader of this team, he is one of the best players in the NFL, and he will win a Super Bowl with the Eagles, mark my words.

Youth or Experience?

Jamaal Jackson and Hank Fraley are both vying for the center position. I think that Jamaal has the job, there is no doubt in my mind he will be the starter. The question now is whether or not to invest in a trade for Hank Fraley. There were rumors that we might trade Fraley to the Browns for HB Lee Suggs considering our HB's have been really banged up lately and the Browns 1st center is out for the year and their 2nd basically went AWOL, but Lee Suggs was recently traded to the Jets and now I just heard that he failed his physical there. So I'm not too sure what to make of that. If we see that Correll Buckhalter isn't going to be able to play then a move should be made to trade for a HB but if he can play, then I'd love to have Fraley for depth. It's kind of sad but it's just the way that football works, if the guy behind you is better then you then he will get the start, no matter how long you've had the job.

Trot's Clone

I never expect rookie linebackers to make an impact on a team because linebacker is such a complex position to learn in the NFL especially in Jim Johnsons scheme. But someone who has emerged that I wasn't expect has been Omar Gaither, 5th round pick, from Tennessee. If you look at my posts from after the draft I thought that Omar would be nice depth behind Trotter because we've had a lot of trouble with that before. When Trot was thrown out of the Atlanta game, Week 1 of last year, Mike Labinjo was thrown into the fire and needless to say he's not here anymore. So we've haven't had any depth behind such an important position on this team, our MLB is the QB of our defense. With such a solid starter in front of Gaither he's not going to even make a push to start but he will have a tremendous impact on special teams and in case Trotter goes down we would be comfortable having him fill in. Jim Johnson said he is learning the WILL and SAM linebacker spots too just because they want him to be versatile but I don't think he'll actually play either position.

The thing that makes me think of Gaither as a clone of Trotter is just the physical intensity that he plays with. This kid could easily be mistaken for Jeremiah in the way that he is constantly talking the whole time during practice, getting the defense pumped up, and creating great competition between the offense and defense. He's really fun to watch and though he is smaller for a LB he is smart and many times will just throw his body anywhere to make a tackle. Omar still has a long way to go in his progression but he is going to make the team providing us with good depth and an investment into the future of our LB's.

Dawk is here to stay

A big deal was made through the beginning of camp about whether or not the Eagles would resign Brian Dawkins after this year is over. Thank god, they got the deal out of the way and gave him a 2 year contract extention, keeping him here for the next 3 seasons. I'm not too sure whether Dawk will retire after that we will see when the time comes but for now this at least gets the deal off of everyones minds and no one has to answer questions about it anymore. There is no better player on this team then Brian Dawkins and just having him out on the field gives the defense that much more confidence in themselves.

Pro Bowl Defensive Line

Yes I know it is ridiculous to say that our defensive line is fit for the Pro-Bowl considering they haven't even played a whole half together yet but I just know our line is extremely good. Between Darren Howard, Jevon Kearse, Trent Cole, Jerome McDougle, and Juqua Thomas at DE we have so many different combinations to get to the QB. We've talked before about moving Howard into play DT on 3rd downs and bringing Trent Cole in and we've seen it been used successfully in a preseason game already. The thing is, who do you double team on the line? When are starters are out there you will see Jevon Kearse, Mike Patterson, Darwin Walker, and Darren Howard. A good point that I heard Merrill Reese make is that almost all of those guys were 1st round draft picks. The only person that wasn't a 1st round pick was Darren Howard and he went 1st overall in the 2nd round, that's one selection away from being a 1st round pick. These guys are the cream of the crop and even if they don't stay healthy all year we have tremendous depth at both positions. In our DT rotation is going to be 1st round pick Broderick Bunkley, Sam Rayburn, and possibly LaJuan Ramsey who played behind Mike Patterson at USC. Then at DE we have Trent Cole, Juqua Thomas, and 1st round pick Jerome McDougle once he is healthy in a few weeks. I mean as long as we stay as healthy as possible this line looks amazing. It is the best line we've seen since 1991 and it is perfect that this season, the same year that Reggie was inducted into the Hall of Fame, the year that we played in the Hall of Fame game to honor him, that we have a defensive line that Reggie would be proud of.


3 to go

There are 3 more preseason games left before the regular season gets under way. Starting with this Thursday against the Ravens. I'm excited about this game because it's going to be the best team we've faced in preseason yet. They have a strong defense that is going to test our offense along with some good offensive tools which will let us learn more about our defense. Most importantly though I can't wait to see Buckhalter out on that field.

Final Camp Notes 8/15

Today was the final day of camp that is open to the public. Tomorrow morning there is a mock game that is closed to the public but for the most part everything is shutting down at Lehigh University.

• There is a lot of Super Bowl talk from guys like Donovan and Dawk, which I expect from this team. Donovan said this team is a Super Bowl team which just gives the rest of the guys in the locker room more confidence in their own abilities.
• As much as people have emphasized how tough Andy's camp was this year Dawkins said that his first camps when Andy came here were even tougher.
  
• When asked what one thing the team could take away from this training camp Brian Dawkins said the team chemistry. Everyone is thinking about the same goals, it is the atmosphere that training camp is suppoused to be about.
  
• Then Dawk said that Donovan has been one of the main components of the good chemsitry as well as being one of the people who has benefited most from it. By having a good time, keeping it together, and having everyone push eachother.
  
• It looks like Correll Buckhalter is going to play against the Ravens, he will unless otherwise noted by Andy. Buck has been running with the first team these past couple of days since Westbrook hasn't been practicing.
  

Westbrook's Foot Will Take Time

The highest profile injury on the team so far this preseason has been Brian Westbrook's sprained foot. It has recieved a lot of attention because the biggest question a lot of people have about Westbrook is his ability to play a whole season without getting injured.

Brian Westbrook is our best offensive weapon that Donovan has to utilize and I think he's going to have a great year. A lot of people have forgotten about the pure running skills that Westbrook has, his Barry Sanders like jukes that can break defenders ankles. It's understandable that people have forgotten because he wasn't given the ability to run like that last year because of our skewed run/pass ratio. But from what we've seen so far in the preseason our running backs are going to get a lot more touches this year.

Then aside from Westbrooks running skills he is one of the most versatile running backs in the NFL right now. He creates so many favorable mismatches when he lines up wide, in the slot, or catches passes from out of the backfield. You have to look at Westbrook in comparison to a guy like Troy Polamalu safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Every single time the offense lines up they have to look around to see where Polamalu is. This man can be used as a safety, corner, linebacker, he's all over the field. If they don't identify where Troy is, he's going to make a play. Brian Westbrook is the same way in the respect that if a defense doesn't identify where he is on every snap he's going to create a mismatch and make a play because there is not a single linebacker in the NFL that can cover him.

Right now I think that Andy is just taking every precautionary measure with Brian's foot. There is no reason why he needs to play another preseason game. Everyone knows what Brian can do and he showed that he is completly recovered from last year on the handful of touches he saw against the Raiders. I think that within the next couple of weeks Brian will start practicing again but we're not going to see him play in a game again until our opener against Houston.

When I was watching Sunday Night Football last night, the Redskins vs. the Bengals, in Washingtons opening series Clinton Portis dislocated his shoulder when he went to tackle a defender that intercepted a Mark Brunell pass. That must kill Redskins fans that not only did he suffer a pretty serious injury in preseason but it happened while he was tackling a defender.

After the injury happened the entire broadcast seemed to revolve around Portis updates and when the game was over they were able to talk to him on the sideline. He seemed extremely bitter because I'm sure he was in tremendous pain and he realized that he just faced a setback in a meaningless game. He went on to say later that night about how the preseason is too long and it only gets starters like him injured, he was definitly angry.

That just puts into perspective what a real injury is because he is going to face a pretty big battle get come back healthy for the first regular season game. Right now they don't really know what the situation is he just is going to need to keep rehabbing but they think he won't need surgery. So after I saw that there is no reason why Westbrook needs to play another preseason game this year.

Not only does he risk injury but as John Madden pointed out last night, the running backs get the most beat up throughout the year. They don't need to start getting hurt in August.

McDougle Faces Setback

Jerome McDougle doesn't seem to ever have any luck when it comes to injuries. Right now his injury isn't too serious, but I'm sure it's extremely painful. He broke two ribs in practice and it's going to take him some time to recover.

This is obviously the least serious of the injuries that have hampered his career. He has had ankle, knee, and hip injuries, aside from being shot last year in the abdomen. So he has faced much bigger obstacles then just having a few broken ribs but it is still frustrating.

I'm frustrated as a fan because I really was hoping to see a lot of him during this preseason. He seemed to really start to get in a rhythm last game against the Browns where he had a sack and a few tackles. The more time he gets playing in preseason the easier it will be for him to get on the field during the regular season.

From a broader perspective at least we aren't relying upon Jerome for our defensive line to have success this season. I have full confidence that he is going to be back, I actually think he will be ready for the first regular season game. But this would have been a much bigger deal if we had the situation we had last year.

Going into last season our defensive line was relying upon Jevon Kearse, ND Kalu, and Jerome McDougle at DE. We ended up having a horrible D line last year and that was because Jerome got shot, taking him out for the whole season, and that left us with ND Kalu opposite of Jevon. I don't even have to go into detail about how ND didn't play well, it's obvious he had a bad year considering he's in Houston right now, not Philadelphia. Even in locker room interview towards the end of the season Kalu admitted that he didn't think he would be back and he was correct in his assessment.

But this year we're not relying on Jerome for our D line to have a great year. The guys we are expecting to help us do that are Jevon Kearse and Darren Howard at DE. Having McDougle there will be a plus because we will be able to rotate him in with Trent Cole and Juqua Thomas. So we are not desparate to get Jerome back but I really think that he is going to have a good year so I want him back as soon as possible.

Basically what I'm saying is of course this injury is a set back just because Jerome needs all the reps he can get right now since he's been hurt so much. But I think that this injury won't take him too long to recover from. When he comes back, he will do a great job in helping this team but he has the time he needs to completly recover.

Camp Notes 8/14

The players are being pushed harder in this training camp then they ever have before. Only 2 more days at Lehigh University and I'm sure the players will be more then happy to leave. This has been the longest training camp and had the most hitting then I have ever seen. We've been pretty lucky so far avoiding serious injuries we've had just a lot of guys that have been day to day. Today though we have a player with an injury that will keep him out 3 weeks:

• Calvin Armstrong did not practice but is getting close with MCL sprain, Adrien Clarke is out with his back, Jerome McDougle broke 2 ribs can take some time up to 3 weeks plus, Greg Richmond has a herniated disk and there is a good chance he will have surgery on that the next few days, Darwin Walker is recovering from fractured rib, Westbrook is getting better the swelling is getting out of the foot but it will take some time and he won't play Thursday, Scott Young has a strained hamstring and didn't practice either.
  
• JR Reed suffered a hip contussion today and Matt Schobel got the wind knocked out of him and has some soreness in his chest
• Greg Richmonds injury is kind of a freak thing because it's in the same area as the disk he had surgery on last year, Andy wasn't sure if it is the exact same disk
  
• Andy thinks that McDougle will rebound from the rib injury
• Jeremy Bloom got into some action today, depending on how he does in the next couple days "we'll see" if he plays on Thursday
• Brian Westbrook definitly won't be ready this week and it'll be a struggle to see him in the following game
  
• Todd Pinkston is close right now to be in the live action stuff, he is pushing hard and he might actually play on Thursday.
  

Camp Notes 8/13

We only have 3 more days of training camp before everyone leaves Lehigh. It's been a great camp up to this point avoiding the major injuries to key players. This team has been through a lot so far and there is a huge hill still to climb.

• Injuries: Justin Jenkins AC joint contusion, Calvin Armstrong ACL sprain, Adrien Clarke back spasms, Greg Richmond back spasms, Darwin Walker rib,Brian Westbrook foot sprain and Scott Young hamstring.
• Sheldon Brown didn't practice today with a lower back sprain. Jamaal Jackson was back at practice today after missing yesterday with an ankle injury. Yesterday Jerome McDougle left practice early with a rib injury, he came out today but left early again. Then Max Jean-Guilles left early with cramps.
  
• Jeremy Bloom looked better at todays practice then he did yesterday, faster and quicker. It's going to take time to see if he can play on Thursday and that will obviously be up to the trainers.
  
• John Harbaugh said that Jason Short, Shawn Barber, and Dhani Jones all are doing a good job in their roles on special teams
  
• Correll Buckhalter went with the live practice today and did well. Marty said that there are a few more real rough days of training camp and after they get through those days and process the film the coaches will be able to decide what he can do, if anything, in Thursdays game.
• Ryan Moats was in live drills today as well and seems to be cutting well despite the knee injury.
  
• Bruce Perry seems to be fully back and cleared to go. He needs to focus on "taking care of the football" code for: DONT FUMBLE.
  

Camp Notes 8/12

With only 4 practices left the Eagles embark on their last week of training camp. After the Ravens game it will just be a regular practice schedule from then on.

• The big news of the day is Todd Pinkston and Jeremy Bloom were back on the practice field but neither of them participated in live contact drills
  
• Injuries didn't practice: Calvin Armstrong MCL sprain is making progress, Adrien Clarke back spasms, Jamaal Jackson ankle sprain, Justin Jenkins AC shoulder joint contusion, Greg Richmond back spasms, Darwin Walker fractured rib (carlidge as opposed to bone), Westbrook foot sprain is getting better "day to day" most likely will not be back this week, Scott Young hamstring strain
• Bruce Perry was back returning kicks today
  
• Jerome McDougle left practice early today with a rib injury and Jevon Kearse tweaked his knee during practice
  
• Correll Buckhalter, Jason Davis, and Ryan Moats all were back on the practice field
  
• Mike Bartrum hasn't missed any practice time but he missed the game against the Ravens due to a viral infection that caused him to have chest pains. He was back at practice today.
  
• Buck is expected to play against the Ravens, has to see how Todd does over the week
• Trying to gradually bring Pinkston back without any setbacks
• Jason Avant has been getting some work in the slot, that might be a role that he fills this year depending on the comeback of Pinkston and how well Gaffney plays. Andy Reid said that Gaffney is now getting more familiar with the offense, he is working very hard and getting a little better feel.
  
• Greg Lewis only played 4 snaps against the Browns because Andy knows what he can do and has confidence in him
  

2nd Game at 2nd Glance

When I got home from the Browns game last night I wrote a general review of how I felt the team performed. Now after rewatching the game on TV I have a lot of notes to add to what I saw, somethings that I didn't catch watching the game live and some things I forgot to talk about.

Second Glance:

• William Thomas had such a rough night, not only did he have a few penalties but he let up at least 2 sacks. One specific sack where I think it was Josh Parry was suppoused to block for a little bit and then go out on a pass route, he did just that, and I'm sure that after Parry left Thomas was suppoused to get his man but he never did leaving him wide open for a hit on Garcia. Thomas has had a tough start this season being pretty inconsistent in camp, coming in and out, I hope this was just simply a bad game for him and not a sign of things to come. At least we have good depth behind him in Winston Justice who had a solid night.
  
• I have a much better feeling about Bunkley after watching the game again. I said that some people with high expectations of him last night would have been dissapointed in his performance, I have no idea what I was talking about. He made a lot more plays then I gave him credit for and I think he played for 2 series. There was one case where he was so close to having a sack and then another where LaJuan Ramsey got the QB rush but Bunkley was right there with his hand in the QBs face preventing a pass.
  
• For some reason I was confused about McCants TD's I got his receptions confused. I thought that his slant in the redzone was the one that scored him the touchdown but it wasn't that was the one that set up the Thomas Tapeh TD. The great one was the bomb he caught along the left sideline from Garcia, that was beautifully place, I guess writing at 2 AM has some disadvantages because I seemed to forget that.
  
• I forgot to talk about the fact that Darren Howard, Hank Fraley, and Steven Spach all filled in for the ill Mike Bartrum. At the game I was confused on why Bartrum wasn't out there because I didn't have the internet down the beach and so hadn't hurt that he was ill.
  
• Garcia's attitude on the field is so different then Donovan's not in a bad way, just a different outlook. If Donovan makes a mistake a lot of times you will see him do his best to shake it off real quickly but Garcia gets really frustrated. He takes it a lot more personally and you could see him cursing at himself a few times. I think that also shows how when Donovan seems to get rushed in the pocket he has more confidence in himself to get the ball to where he needs to go, where sometimes Garcia will panic.
  
• I didn't give enough credit to the running backs performance last night. I think I was just really frustrated not seeing Westbrook out there considering how great he looked against Oakland. But Tapeh did what was asked of him when called upon along with Marty Johnson and Jason Davis both did their best to just pound the ball away. They kept the ball in our possession and ran time out on the clock as they kept just pounding right up the gut. I don't want this to be our running attack all year obviously but it worked out for us last night since it was our only real option with the injuries.
  
• Last season I thought that Trent Cole and Juqua Thomas didn't get enough credit for their 3rd down package. A lot of times on 3rd down you would see both of those guys out there and though they weren't sacking QBs all over the place they applied a really consistent pressure to the QB. I saw that again tonight when both of them were out there, I really like JT and think he is very valuable to our depth.
  
• When the Browns punted it to our 1 yard line Garcia didn't go down and score but he did a great job of ensuring much better field position. If he had gone 3 and out right there we would have set the Browns up in great position to score unless Dirk Johnson had an absoloutly amazing punt. But he led the team 37 yards, most on a nice catch by Matt Schobel, to give the defense a little more room to work.
  
• Speaking of Dirk Johnson he looks great coming off of last years sports hernia. Despite having to deal with some bad snaps from the absence of Bartrum he produced some great numbers.
  
• Then a pass that could have probably scored us a TD killed me when I saw it again, Jason Avant was open, had a good 1 1/2 steps on his defender but Garcia over threw it. That is just a little example of Garcia still being anxious right now. He is getting better and better by working his way onto the team but that was a missed opportunity that would have made me really frustrated if it had been a real game.
  

Receivers Are Shaping Up

Before training camp started I went through and profiled each position on the team. Since then we've had a lot of questions answered so I figured I'll talk a little bit about how our WRs look at the moment.

The biggest headlines have been about Hank Baskett. With 3 NFL catches so far he is turning heads while he is on the field. Hopefully in the Ravens game next week we get to see even more of him because I've loved everything about him to this point. His best catch so far is definitly the 33 yard diving catch he made which eventually set us up for a field goal. The thing is that it's not like that was just a freak occurance from Baskett, I've seen him make catch after catch like that in training camp so I only expect to see more. This kid is bigger then the ever popular, T.O., and can jump higher but yet goes completly undrafted. Not to say that you draft a WR just because of their physical appearance but seeing something like that just makes it extremely confused but extremely happy that he wasn't draft, because if he was we wouldn't have gotten him.

Right now Baskett has been starting during the preseason and if the season started tomorrow he would start against the Texans. He has done nothing to prove otherwise and especially with no Todd Pinkston, Baskett's chances are great.

That leads me to another subject which I have been worried about, the health of Todd Pinkston. Up until this point I really didn't think too much about it just because it was being talked about as a day to day thing but the thing is he hasn't participated in a successful training camp practice yet because of those achilles. I have no idea whether he is going to come back and I'm not sure if our trainers even know. Even with the emergence of Baskett due to Pinkston's situation I still would love to have him here. I've said before that the only time I would think we have to go out and acquire a free agent WR would be if Pinkston can't play. Now that Baskett has been performing well to this point I start to not think that as much but you have to keep in perspective his situation.

The only thing I know to this point is what the Eagles have said and that is that he will be back eventually. So I just will have to base my thoughts off of that and try to believe them but I think it's starting to look very dark for Pinkston especially considering we only have 5 more training camp days left (4 open to the public and 1 closed.)

Someone who has been generally quiet up to this point has been Reggie Brown. He's had a great camp so far and I know he can be our #1 WR but in these past 2 games he hasn't seen a lot of passes thrown his way. Obviously keep in mind that he hasn't played a lot considering he got in 1 series against the Raiders and 2 series against the Browns. He had a nice sideline catch against the Raiders and then last night the only time his name was heard was when he was flagged two times on one play for offensive pass intereference and an illegal block above the waist. I'm expecting the starters to play more against the Ravens which will give Reggie more opportunities to make some catches.

Another WR that had a good night against the Browns was Darnerian McCants. McCants was brought in midseason after he was cut from the Redskins and we needed so depth at WR. He didn't make an impact on offense, barely ever seeing the ball thrown his way but the way he kept himself around was by special teams. Something that was interesting about that was it was rumored during his time in Washington that he refused to play special teams, which he denied and not he makes our roster by doing just that. Against the Raiders he made some plays with the special teams unit and then last night he had a nice touchdown catch from Jeff Garcia along with another reception. McCants has been emerging more and more as a deep threat which his ability to catch the long ball as I saw him do numerous times throughout camp. It is good to have a big physical veteran like him on the team when we have a lot of younger inexperienced players.

The rest of the depth chart is clouded at the moment with the only other real stand out being number 81 Jason Avant. Something Dave Spadaro mentioned was the fact that he has really been developing over the past couple of weeks from constantly having to answer questions simply about his jersey number to now being asked about the plays he's making on the field. Avant also had a nice 22 yard reception last night which will give him the chance to see even more playing time as the weeks go on.

The rest of our WRs haven't done anything to make themselves stand out from the crowd no one knows much about Mike Gasperson, Bill Sampy, Carl Ford, Jeremy Bloom or Derrick Fenner because they haven't stood out in camp and given great shots to contribute in a game. For guys like Bloom and Fenner they have been slowed by injuries but still I don't think they would be contributing much if they were healthy.

My dissapointment so far at WR is definitly Jabar Gaffney. He is someone I really talked up going into camp because I heard in the mini-camps about his crisp route running and unbelivable hands. This is just another example of a player not performing well in training camp so they don't see time in a game. I thought Gaffney's lack of production in Houston was due to the horrible offense he played on, maybe they weren't completly to blame. I'm definitly not writing this guy off after 2 preseason games but he needs to step up because I thought he was guaranteed a starting spot going into camp but Hank Baskett has definitly shown him up. As for Greg Lewis, he's in a similiar situation to Gaffney, you have to perform well during practice to even get a chance to do something in a game.

Team Notes 8/11

No training camp practice today as players are resting up from last nights game.

• It turns out that the reason Mike Bartrum felt ill Wed. night was because he has a viral infection which caused him to have chest pains. I'm not sure how long this will keep him out but he is returning to Lehigh tonight.
  
• Reno said that he after that first series and he shook off the hit he took he wanted to get back in the game. He felt that he was ready to get back in but the trainers were taking precautionary measures by not letting him play again. He said that he'll definitly be back on Saturday for the practice.
  
• Donovan McNabb and Hank Baskett definitly have developed great trust between the two of them. Hank talked about how the more they are playing together not Donovan trusts that if he throws the ball up to Hank he can jump up and grab it. It takes time for them to get their timing down together and they see to be developing that very quickly.
  
• It's really funny to see how far things have come with the Eagles from a buisness perspective. When my parents had season tickets in the 80's and early 90's the Vet was a completly different place then what the Linc is today. Even just small things like today in the mail I recieved a "Guest Playbook" and letter from the franchise which profiled all of the stadiums conduct policies and rules. It even included a telephone number you can call from you cellphone during a game if their is a fan bothering you. I know I would never do that but it's just crazy how much more of an entire experience Eagles games are now then they were 10 years ago.
• Broderick Bunkley described putting on that Eagles helmet for his first game as "the greatest feeling in the world" which just puts into perspective that these guys work their entire lives for an opportunity like they are facing right now. Bunkley has a lot more chances then a guy like Scott Ware because of where Bunkley was drafted, but overall they all have to play to the teams expectations or they won't last long. During Bunkleys very short tenure here so far I belive that he has played to expectations and there is plenty of time for him to exceed those expectations.
  

Around The NFL

With the first real week of the preseason starting up yesterday there are a lot more games being played tonight. For the preseason you can't just go down a list of who won that day and who lost and determine how teams will play during the regular season, it just doesn't work like that. When the Eagles play I always watch the whole game because I have so many questions I need answered from even our 3rd and 4th string guys. But tonight there are a few games that I just want to catch the 1st quarter of, just to get a feel for how the starters are performing so far this year.

I really want to watch the Giants vs. Ravens game because not only do I want to see how an NFC East team is fareing so far but it'll be interesting to see how they play against the Ravens considering we will be playing the Ravens next week. I want to see how Eli Manning looks so far because their season ended on an extremely ugly, and fun for me to watch, note when they got shut out in Eli's first playoff game.

The NFC East has gotten stronger but I think we have gotten stronger as well. The best team in our division, excluding us, if definitly the New York Giants. As much credit as people are giving the Redskins for all of their offseason acquisitions, you don't win Super Bowls through free agency you win it through the draft and they didn't even have a 1st round pick. Then the Cowboys are just destined to fall flat on their faces. They might have T.O. but with a statue of a QB in Drew Bledsoe and a very questionable offensive line they are going to have a nightmare facing our amazing defensive line.

The Giants though have the 2nd best QB in the division who have tremendous potential but a lot of pressure on his shoulders considering not only is his last name Manning but he's playing in New York. Then they have a solid running game as long as Tiki Barber stays healthy along with great recieving threats in Burress, Toomer, and Shockey. I still think though that their best asset is their defensive line with the combination of Osi and Strahan. Everyone is talking about the Cowboys and how we need to be afraid of them, that's not the case. The team we are going to have the real dog fights with this year is going to be the Giants but I still think we are a better team.

So I want to see how the Giants are going to come out this year, we started off strong, I want to see their mentality at this point in the season.

Other then that game though tonight nothing really peaks my interest in a way that could affect our team. If some other games are one I will watch them just out of curiousity but the only one I'm really interested in seeing tonight is the Giants game.

Around the NFL Notes:

• Daunte Culpepper will start tomorrow after his knee injury last season and Ben Roethlisberger will start as well after his motorcycle accident
• Maurice Clarett has been all over the news, it's a crazy story to see how he has dropped from the very top to as low as you can go, my question is the same as everyone elses, where was he headed and what would he have done if the police had not caught him?
• I'm not about to compare Lendale White to Maurice Clarett but it's just interesting to see a little similarity in the two of them. After all Clarett when through he goes to his combine and performs poorly. Lendale gets weighed at his Pro day and his stock steadily drops as he is definitly overweight. After being drafted by the Titans now he has gotten in a pretty big fight at training camp, there is a difference between a little scuffle and a complete form of disrespect when Lendale spit in another players face. That is not the way he's going to earn any respect from the veteran teammates.
  
• A new commissioner has been selected, Roger Goodell, which I think really isn't going to hit me until Paul Tagliabue doesn't walk up to announce the first overall pick at next years draft. Every draft that I've ever watched has had Tagliabue considering he started the year I was born, 1989. Right now I just hope that Goodell doesn't mess anything up, everything is pretty much great in the league. His main focus is probably going to be spend on expanding the NFL more to other countries similiar to our NFL Europe situation. But, Goodell shouldn't be too much different from Paul because Paul pretty much taught him everything he knows.
  
• Just keeping my eyes open for our Week 1 game against the Texans, their HB Domanick Davis is still having soreness in his knee, that will be interseting to watch as preseason progresses. Can you imagine how their fans are going to react if he doesn't end up being able to play this year considering they passed on Reggie Bush?
• There was a big article in the Daily News yesterday regarding T.O.'s house having trouble selling, mainly because it is grossly overpriced. I thought it was funny but his real estate agent probably couldn't have been happier because the entire back cover was just a picture of the house, great free advertisement. The only thing is the whole article outlines how T.O. overpaid for the house and now he is asking for way more then it is worth.
  

The Underdogs

There is no need for me to review the history of this team under Andy Reid, everyone knows it. Four consecutive NFC Championship games and 1 Super Bowl loss, that is how the media generalizes the past 5 great years in Philadelphia. I don't look at it that way though, I see it as more then that. I know there are fans that say that every season where we don't win a Super Bowl is a failure since we have no rings, but I'm not one of them. I think that even once we get that ring the next season people are going to be begging for more because our arch rival already has five of them.

You can't look at this team in that context, there is a lot more to it. When I see this team there are so many great moments that have occured that never ended up giving us a Super Bowl win, but provided me with memories I will never forget. My favorites of course are 4th and 26, Brian Dawkins's devastating hit on Alge Crumpler in the NFC Championship game, Brian Westbrook returning a punt for a TD at the very end of a Giants game, and even when Quintin Mikell blocked the Chargers field goal last season and Matt Ware returned it for a touchdown.

Despite all of those great moments, all of the wins over the past 7 years, and even having a QB with the highest winning percentage among active QBs, we are the underdogs.

Underdogs has not been a name associated with this team that much over the past 5 years. The more prominent times I remember hearing that word is when we were underdogs in the 2001 NFC Champ game and then in the 2004 Super Bowl. But even those situations were different because by the time we reached those games we had already been so successful throughout the regular season and playoffs.

This year we are ranked all over the place as being the last to finish in the NFC East. Our fall from the top last year has made skeptics think that we won't be back for another 10 years.

A lot of the naysayers come from Philadelphia, a lot of the information that fuels that fire though is from the national media.

After all of that you would think that I'm mad about this, not at all. I'm loving it.

I mean last year we came into the season with a giant target on our backs. Every single team that played us had the determination to beat "the team that was in the Super Bowl last year." Each team we played had the extra motivation to play with that much more heart, while we were going through drama in our locker room that had torn apart the heart of our own team.

What a difference a year makes. From the circus of last years training camp with headlines revolving around a diva WR to headlines now revolving around an undrafted rookie free agent WR who has so much to prove.

There is something special about this team and I think we can do it.

Despite the fact that I am worried about the injuries to our running backs and hoping that Westbrook comes back quickly which I believe he will. Despite every sports tv show telling me that the NFC East is too good for us this season. I just think this team has great talent along with that "it" factor.

Of course how do I know anything? This could just be that preseason optimism speaking, the reality that right now everyone is undefeated. I mean I thought that last years team was unstoppable but it only took a helmet to Donovans chest to change all of that. There was a lot more tied up in last seasons failure than just Donovans injury but I think if he was healthy, things would have been a lot different.

That is why I see this Eagles team, one that no one thinks can do it, has the ability to do it.

I'm not basing this off of the fact that we won a preseason game against the Browns tonight, that has nothing to do with this.

I just know the talent on this team inside and out and I know we are going to surprise people.

I used to let what the media said get to me, but now I'm taking Brian Dawkins's approach which is "I could care less." It doesn't matter what anyone else says because it is about the guys on this team who I have complete confidence in. It takes character guys to build a great team and that is something we have a ton of. It takes great talent and depth to keep going through the playoffs, we have it. The only thing left we need is luck. Everyone knows it takes a little bit of luck to keep on going, you just need the ball to bounce your way more times then it bounces away. With no championship since 1960 I think it's time for us to get a little bit of that luck, we only need a little bit, we can do the rest.

Update On Question

A few posts ago there was a question about whether I had seen Thomas Tapeh running as a halfback in I Form or Singleback formations during training camp. I answered that question at the time but just have a little update since Tapeh ended up seeing some time as a halfback against the Browns.

Due to all of the running back injuries to Bruce Perry, Westbrook, Moats, Buckhalter, and even Reno Mahe getting a concussion during the Browns game, the half backs looked a little different tonight. There were three names out there that a lot of people probably weren't accustomed to and they were Jason Davis, Thomas Tapeh, and Marty Johnson.

Especially with the question that was asked to me about Tapeh I paid a lot of attention to him. He actually dissapointed me when he got the ball and Jason Davis ended up seeing a lot more touches then I thought he would. Tapeh did end up scoring a touchdown to cap off a Jeff Garcia drive but he just hasn't showed me enough yet.

With the injuries as of late he might get another chance to play halfback next week against the Ravens, if he does I hope he takes advantage of that chance more then he did tonight.

Right now though I think he is just better suited as a fullback, as time goes on he might develop to be more versatile in our running game.

Post Game Notes

After a preseason win over the Browns there are a few things to update on. Also, there won't be practice again until on Saturday.

• Matt Ware who was listed as a game time decision didn't end up playing due to a back injury
• Andy said there was a false rumor that Mike Bartrum had suffered a heart attack and that was the reason that he didn't play. He seemed pretty angry telling the press that "some of you guys better get your facts straight before you start pulling triggers." That is completly understandable for him to have a reaction like that, it would be horrible for people in Bartrums family to hear that he suffered a heart attack when he really didn't.
  
• During the game Reno Mahe got a concussion, Justin Jenkins had an ac contussion, and Bartrum had an illness
• There is a pretty good chance that Buckhalter and Moats will both be back next week
• Bunkley seems to be looking forward to the fact that he has a full week of practice ahead because he knows that since he had a limited amount of practice he recieved a limited amount of game time. I think he sees the opening with Darwin Walkers injury and he should take advantage of that opportunity.
  
• I thought it was great to hear Donovan say that Hank Baskett also is contributing well by being a good run blocker
• Donovan talked about the fact that he wants to get Reggie Brown more involved, which is true because we haven't seen much from him this offseason, he had one catch against Oakland and didn't get any looks tonight
• Brian Dawkins is so excited with having such a strong defensive line ahead of him. He is especially anticipating the 3rd down package which consists of having Kearse and Cole at DE with Patterson and Howard at DT. He said that the whole secondary is looking forward to having a lot of fun this year with that big front four getting to the QB.
  

2nd Preseason Game vs. Browns

Alright since I wasn't here for the past few days I wasn't able to post any information about who would and wouldn't be playing so I'll just run through that now.

Prior to the game Andy said that these guys wouldn't play due to injuries: Jeremy Bloom hamstring, Matt Ware, Ryan Moast strained knee ligament, Quintin Mikell eye, Correll Buckhalter knee, Bruce Perry concussion, Brian Westbrook sprained foot, Greg Richmond, Chris Gocong, G 71 Scott Young, Todd Pinkston achilles, Mike Bartrum ill, and Darwin Walker rib fracture.

The biggest part that I'm sure I don't need to point out is that we have 4 of our 5 running backs hurt right now, leaving only Reno Mahe left to fill the void. So that also meant we would utilize FB's Jason Davis and Thomas Tapeh along with the new HB that we signed after he was cut from the Bronco's recently, Marty Johnson.

Right there you see that we had a long injury list going into the game. My theory still is though that if this was the regular season a lot of those guys would be out there. No saying they're pulling a T.O. and using an injury as an excuse not to play, but because the coaches don't want them to get injured even further. Normally in the regular season though everyone is playing hurt you just don't want to get injured, well a lot of these guys like Richmond, Bartrum, Young, Gocong, I believe are just a little banged up right now.

Then the big headline of this game was the fact that Broderick Bunkley would be seeing some time. Andy said it wouldn't be much but it seems like it would be a good way to get him integrated more quickly. It just made me nervous because I would think not playing for so long then coming into an NFL game might put him at risk for an injury.

Eagles: 20 Browns : 7

Now about the game, tonight was a really nice night in South Philly, perfect for a preseason game. There was a pretty good crowd out, I was surprised, but of course a lot of people left at half time. By the end of the game there wasn't many people there, but still more then there was at the end of our 42-0 loss to the Seahawks last season. So I guess you can say things are looking up.

Offense:

It didn't take too long before I started to get frustrated while the offense was on the field. When they first came out they were putting together a nice drive and moving down the field. It was a perfect example of the west coast offense for the first couple of plays. Then was the break out play, a beautiful pass to Hank Baskett that he stretched out and caught that brought us right in position to score. Right there though was when things started to go a little bit downhill. With the lack of a running game especially at first with Reno Mahe having to be our starting running back, we weren't able to get in the endzone. I'm positive that if we had Westbrook things would have been different but on 2 unsuccessful runs and then a scrambling pass, we had to settle for a field goal.

If this was the regular season I would have been frustrated but it wouldn't have been that big a deal with me because I can shake those things off pretty quickly. It was just that I knew we were going to have a very limited time to watch Donovan and the first team offense and I wanted him to score a touchdown while he was on the field. So from a football standpoint it was frustrating but we showed our ability to drive down the field and we could have done it again, but in the preseason there just wasn't another chance to do that.

With the settling for a field goal aside, Donovan did have success out there. He completed 7 of 9 for 78 yards, it was a good showing with the highlight being the 33 yarder to Baskett. He was given a good amount of time to throw and the only time that I saw him scramble and start to run was in the redzone on that 3rd down but he ended up pulling back and throwing incomplete to Reno Mahe. Then our other QB, Jeff Garcia had a much better showing then the Raiders game. He started off slow but worked his way up and ended up putting together a good drive that ended with a great touchdown pass to Darnerian McCants. Then eventually followed that up with a drive that led to a Thomas Tapeh touchdown. As for Timmy Chang he did end up playing the fourth quarter it was just they barely gave him the opportunity to throw. I'm not sure if it was just because they wanted to keep running the clock down or if they were afraid he would turn the ball over. He only had 2 attempts completing one of them for a grand total of 2 yards.

It seems like just about everyone got in on the passing game really emphasizing the spread the ball philosophy we seem to have going. The stand outs were definitly Hank Baskett, Darnieran McCants, and L.J. Smith each with 2 catches for 20+ yards. I still just can't believe how much Baskett success during training camp has transfered over to the playing field. I'm not going to lie, I loved this guy going into and during camp but I never expected him to actually run with the 1st team offense and perform well in games, he has surprised a lot of people, especially Brad Childress who never even game him a shot.

The main focus of the night though was on the running backs who were lacking 4 of the 5 players leaving Reno Mahe to carry the whole load. That didn't last too long though as he proved that he isn't a starting running back for a reason. Reno's situation is somewhat similiar to Greg Lewis's of a year ago. Greg has done a good job at just laying low and playing in the slot, putting him time in on special teams, and not having to stand out too much. But when last year's debacle him and he was thrust into a starting reciever position, it just didn't work out. Reno is the same in the sense that he is not worthless just because he's not starting material but he's definitly not able to start. So after Reno was given his shot the more successful guys of the night were Marty Johnson and Jason Davis. Neither of them really stood out but they wasted time on the clock and kept the ball in our hands until eventually Thomas Tapeh pounded the ball into the endzone. Nothing exciting, at all, but they did what they were told.

Defense:

All of the hype about Broderick Bunkley playing in is first game amounted to nothing for people excited to see him, just dissapointment. He came close to making a sack on one of his first plays but didn't see much time after that. I went into it with a more realistic approach that I really didn't expect him to do anything. It's not that I don't believe in him, I love this guy, but there was no way he was going to produce when he's not even in football shape yet. I think it was a good idea to give him a few reps, I don't think he played very much, just so he could adjust to the speed of the game and get the idea for what is ahead of him. Right now Bunkley has a steep hill to climb but with Darwin Walker being out for I think these next few games, it will give Bunkley more opportunities to show his worth.

As for other guys along the defensive line Darren Howard had a good night along with Jerome McDougle. Now I don't think you only have a good night if you have a sack the way both of these guys did but it just happened to turn out that way tonight. I say that because if someone takes off every play and then produces once for a sack, it's just not worth it in the end. But both of these guys played really hard on the snaps that were given to them and were around the ball a lot tonight. It's good to see Jerome McDougle back, I think he's going to have a good year because he has so many more chances to make big plays with teams paying attention to Howard and Kearse.

Some of the younger guys that really have been stepping up on defense our Omar Gaither, Sean Considine, and Joselio Hanson. Gaither really shows a great deal of potential to be a very good player one day. That situation is going to be interesting as the years go on because right now he is behing Jeremiah Trotter who is very set as this teams MLB. If only this kid could play OLB, then we really would be set. But Gaither had an interception tonight and it was an amazing grab that was actually challenged but the play stood as called. Just that highlight alone of him catching the interception shows you how much heart and intensity he plays with, he made such an effort to scoop up that ball that if he was a millisecond later he probably wouldn't have been able to control it well enough to make the grab. He goes all out on every single play which I think is going to make him a huge standout on our special teams this year.

Then there is Sean Considine and Joselio Hanson. The common thread between all of these guys is if they want to succeed this year they need to do a good job on special teams. All of their positions safety, MLB, and CB have defined starters at the positions so the only way they can stay along is by showing they can make an impact for John Harbaugh. I loved what I saw out of Considine in last preseason and training camp until he was injured and never fully seemed recovered. This preseason playing time he is seeing now is priceless for development as a player. The same goes for Joselio Hanson who seems to just keep making plays all over the field. I thought he had no chance of making this roster, just a typical camp body, but he really has proven me wrong and he is going to give Donald Strickland a run for his money.

Special Teams:

Typically another great day for the kickers on our team but the difference is tonight that included David Akers and E.J. Cochrane. They each knocked in approximately 25 yard field goals and did a tremendous job on the kickoffs. Each guy had 2 unreturnable kickoffs which forced the kick returner to just take a touchback. Then Dirk Johnson had a good night despite the fact that he had to struggle with Darren Howard being the long snapper instead of Mike Bartrum. I said it before about Bartrum, you never will appreciate him until he leaves and tonight was a perfect example of why they do their best to keep Bartrum healthy. Field position is such an integral part of the game and you want to make it easiest on the punter to put the ball in good position, he shouldn't be having to jump up to grab a snap or pick one up off of the ground. Nothing really to report about the KR and PR's just that JR Reed seems completly recovered. He definitly shows that in the hits he has been laying on the field, even the one that reciever a personal foul flag tonight, and by the aggresiveness he plays with on special teams.

Overall:

There were way too many penalties which you can not accept whatsoever. We had 12 penalties for 87 yards, far too much and I know Andy wasn't happy about that. It is something that you expect in a preseason game with a lot of young players but you never accept it. As a fan it gets annoying just because of the constant stoppages then for the team it just waste so many great opportunities.

Catching Up

Ok I have a lot to catch up on over the past 2 days. I went down the beach for a few days and I was dying down there without a comptuer, I had so much I wanted to write about.

So I'll post a review of the Browns game and then some notes about what is going on with team.

Camp Notes 8/8

I already went over some detailed things that I experienced at camp today but here are just a few general news items.

• Broderick Bunkley is here and seemed really happy at his press conference. Of course, considering he missed all of the two a days he's had it easy. But he's here and says that he hasn't talked to Andy yet, he said he's nervous about it, but probably will later on tonight. He seems like a really good guy that just listened to his agent and his agent Gary just didn't do a good job. Bunkley basically signed the same contract that was offered to him 2 weeks ago, rumor is that he was signed because the Eagles threatned to withdrawl the offer, that is the only thing that seems to make sense.
• Previously injured players Chris Gocong with a stinger and Donald Strickland with a knee were both back on the field today
  
• Reggie Brown suffered a calf strain today and Brian Westbrook missed practice with a sprained foot that is not related to his previous Lis Franc injury. I also know that Ryan Moats practiced a little bit today but the same guys like Bloom and Pinkston are still out.
  
• If we decide to kick a field goal in the 2nd half of the Browns game, E.J. Cochrane the backup kicker will do the kicking, that was the plan against the Raiders but he didn't have an opportunity
  
• John Harbaugh wanted to play conservative with that 55 yard field goal against the Raiders and just punt it but Andy decided to kick and as we know, it was good
• Bunkley seems to be coming off of the ball well and it will help the coaches to get some film on him. But he still needs to get into football shape, get used to hitting and running. He came into camp just a few pounds overweight but he was working out, football shape is just different then running sprints.
  
• Jim Johnson said there is a slight chance, game time decision, to see if Bunkley is ready to play against the Browns
• Joselio Hanson will be played more this week as a nickle back. That is a perfect example of someone who stepped up in their limited reps to get the coaches attention and will now get more reps. As well as Torrance Daniels, Juqua Thomas, and Omar Gaither.
  
• Matt McCoy will play at least 30 plays against the Browns.
  
• Shawn Barbers reps will increase as the games go on, he'll be used mostly in the nickle and dime packages.

My Day At Camp 8/8

I went up to camp today for the first time since the first week. It turned out to be a great day, the weather was great especially compared to how it has been up there recently. I'm sure a lot of the players appreciated that since I'm sure they're sore from playing on Sunday. But they don't have much time to recover because today was the only practice open to the public before the Browns game, tomorrow they will have a mock game but it is closed to the public.

Today was the best day I've been up at Lehigh because my Aunt got me VIP passes through her work. It was so awesome, we got to watch the practice from the sideline of the field, literally 5 feet away from the players. When they would walk along the sideline to switch sides of the field they were right in front of me. Then since it was a VIP section Ron Jaworski, Merrill Reese, and some old wrestler from Hogan Knows Best were there. It was so much fun.

Some things that I saw while up at camp today:

• Ryan Moats is back on the field, he had something on his left leg which was probably helping to support that knee. His right leg was normal but there was some kind of tights or sock that covered up his left leg and I figure went around his knee as well. I was shocked to see him out there today because at Andys last press conference he said it will take Moats another week. I think he was just out there because there was no tackling today so it was a nice way to ease back into practice, there's no way he plays on Thursday
• Broderick Bunkley is in buisness. It's hard to see how effective he is because even when you get close the QB in a normal game when you might be able to dive for the sack, you can't hit the QB during camp. But still I saw him run with the 2nd team going up against Jean-Guilles and being double teamed as well. He definitly was getting some pressure, I just didn't see too many reps with him.
  
• Hank Baskett had an amazing day. I mean really, this kid is on fire. Every great catch that was made was basically made by him. He was running with the first team the way he did in the preseason game and I think we'll see a lot more of him in this Browns game as the starters will probably be in for more then just a series.
  
• Correll Buckhalter practiced again, I'm not sure of his status right now. He looked good out there, that's all that I know. But I just wish I would have been able to see him take some hits, I have a feeling he'll see his first game action in the 3rd preseason game against the Ravens.
• I saw the defense run a lot of plays out of the formation that was used last week where we had Jevon Kearse at DE, then Mike Patterson and Darren Howard at DT, and then Trent Cole at DE. That something that was used when Trent Cole got a sack against Aaron Brooks and I think this is going to be something we will see a lot of this year.
  
• While watching the reserve QBs I see that Jeff Garcia's mechanics aren't something he needs to work on. He releases a nice ball, accurate, decent strength. That is why I don't understand how he was so dissapointing against the Raiders. Possibly it was just a mental thing, he was getting too much pressure, I'm not sure but he has to improve.
• Reno Mahe took a lot of reps today with Brian Westbrook and Correll Buckhalter both being out. He was running with the first team offense for the majority of the day. As much as people root against him, he is defying odds so far in this camp. Going into the first week I thought that there was no way he would make this team, but by the way things are shaping up with injuries anything can happen.
  

Around the NFL

Once the season starts up I usually start commenting a little bit on other news that is happening around the league. Nothing too in depth but just some notes about how other teams are doing. With no real Eagles news today since there wasn't a practice I figure I"ll start touching on what else is going on in the NFL, outside of Philadelphia.

• Sean Taylor has been fined for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy because of some altercations that have occured off of the field within the past year. When I was reading through a list of other reasons why he's been fined it said that he was fined $25,000 for missing a mandatory rookie symposium in 2004. That just shows exactly the kind of person he is. He decides that he doesn't need to go to the symposium which is held to teach rookies about some of the off the field obstacles they will have to overcome in the NFL mainly dealing with their new money and fame. It is a tool that is used to try and keep as many guys out of trouble as possible. It's funny that he goes and skips it, and ends up being one of the most fined players in the NFL that seems to have a hard time staying out of trouble.
• Dick Vermeil is going to be a commentator for 4 NFL Network games this year. I know he has done this in the past but I have never seen him be an analyst. I'm really looking forward to those games, just having him there will make me want to watch them.
  
• As much as it has been talked about it still is crazy to think how many starting QBs are coming off of major injuries this year between Daunte Culpepper, Carson Palmer, and Drew Brees. New information is saying that Culpepper might play in the Dolphins first preseason game whereas Carson Palmer said that it isn't a guarantee he will play in their first regular season game. When you think about recovery time though that makes sense considering Carson was hurt in the playoffs whereas Daunte got injured in I think October.
• After watching the Sunday Night Football game yesterday I saw a little ad for their website so I wanted to check it out. This is by far one of the coolest websites I have ever seen you have to check it out: www.snfonnbc.com it has awesome video highlights. Then it has an interactive schedule where it shows each game they will broadcast, you can click on a game and it will show you a little clip about what to expect from the game alongwith a lot of the matchups and a poll regarding who you think will win. The Sunday Night Football schedule is amazing, Sunday night is now the new Monday Night, I have no idea how NBC worked this out so well. Our only game on NBC this year is @ Dallas on Christmas day.
  

More T.O.

I of course am so sick of all of the talk about Terrell Owens. It's not going to end anytime soon so I don't let it bother me but of course it starts to get hard to ignore. I really don't like commenting on him, even if you look back at posts from the beginning of last season I did my best to try and ignore what was going on, it just didn't work. But I just have to comment on how ironic a few recent quotes I read from T.O. are.

There is an article on NFL.com profiling the fact that T.O. has missed 5 practices so far with a hamstring injury. Then it goes on to say that he probably won't play in their preseason opener, but do you know how they got the information? T.O. himself of course. I'm getting deja vu because didn't he do the exact same thing last year? When he missed some training camp days because of an injury it was T.O. who was giving the updates on his status, not the coaches or trainers. He has to take everything into his own hands.

Now that might not seem like a big deal but last year after T.O. talked to the media about the extent of his injury some questions about what he said were brought up to Andy and Andy basically responded by saying that all of that was news to him. Coaches don't want a player going out and diagnosing themselves and giving that information to the media.

In training camp, unlike the regular season, coaches aren't required to give information on the status of injured players. So just like you saw earlier this year with Bill Belichick not giving a straight answer to anyone on why Tom Brady missed some early training camp practices, coaches don't always want to tell everyone exactly what is going on. But leave it up to T.O. to go ahead and spread the word on his injury.

My point in all of this is just that he hasn't changed, he's not going to change. Parcells is known as a coach that doesn't want to see guys in the training room, they should be on the field battling through injuries. I just find it hard to believe that he is comfortable right now with the fact that T.O. is telling the media he doubt's he will play against Seattle when Parcells is the coach, it is his job to report that kind of information. But I'm sure Parcells will do everything in his power to ignore the situation and just get him on the field to score touchdowns. That is something I know T.O. will do, we can't deny his talent, but you can't shut him up either.

Running Backs Question

While at camp, did you see Thomas Tapeh at half-back at all whether in a single back set or in the I?

The times when I saw Tapeh being used frequently as a HB was just during the first part of camp where there were only rookies and selected veterans and that was because we had no one else in that camp to be a HB. Then during the first couple days of regular camp Tapeh had a hyper extended knee at first and then his hamstring was flaring up so he was banged up a little bit and missed some good reps. More recently though I really haven't seen him being used as a HB at camp. Occasionally I've seen him in singleback sets but it really seems to have been just because of a lack of depth since we've had Ryan Moats out for awhile now, Buck was in and out at the beginning, Westbrook missed a few days recently, and now Bruce Perry has a concussion.

Thomas Tapeh definitly has a running backs mind in a full backs body. He is someone that you would see run a lot more then Josh Parry if he made the team. The question I have had lately is if we don't use your fullback because we haven't had a good one since Jon Ritchie left or if the coaches just don't emphasize that position. Going into camp I thought there was going to be a really good battle between Parry and Tapeh but up until this point Tapeh hasn't shown me much. I think he's still working into things after coming off of that really ugly hip injury. I know his hip isn't bothering him but he is just so inexperienced and has barely played throughout his career so far. I expected him to be much farther along then he is right now, I thought if anything his hip would hold him back but it seems to me he's healthy he just hasn't gotten into a rhythm yet.

On paper it sounds great to me to be able to use Tapeh as a HB in some situations but so far he hasn't been given many chances to prove he can do that. Just because right now due to the performances I've seen so far, Josh Parry has the starting FB job. But there are still 4 more preseason games to be played and a lot of practices before the season starts, so only time will tell what happens. Right now for Tapeh's chances to make this team I just think it's a numbers game. He's going to need to get more reps and the only way he can do that is to grab the coaches attentions on the few reps that he does get. He plays in practice but he was barely used at all last night, maybe we'll see more of him during these next preseason games. But with the recent injury to Bruce Perry, Ryan Moats still having about a week of rehabbing to go, and Buck still not fully back, Tapeh could see more of those reps that he needs.

I'm really pulling for Tapeh because if he makes the team over Josh Parry he provides a lot more running options for our FB and I've been very dissapointed with Parry over the past 2 seasons.

Team Notes 8/7

There is no practice today because we of the Raiders game last night, the next practice will be held tomorrow and that will be the only practice before our next preseason game against the Browns.

Notes:

• Injuries: Bruce Perry had a concussion, at first he had some tingling and loss of feeling in his arms and legs but it came back, Scott Young has a hamstring strain has an MRI tomorrow, Calvin Armstrong has an MCL sprain has an MRI tomorrow, Carl Ford hurt his ribs, Pat McCoy had a concussion, Greg Richmond had backpain
• Andy is limiting Shawn Barber's reps this preseason so it's giving Matt McCoy a lot of time to play, he played 3 quarters yesterday
• The back up O-line has to do a better job of protecting Garcia, Detmer, and Chang. But the first team did a great job of protecting Donovan, that makes sense though because it takes time for an offensive line to gel. Well the 2nd and 3rd string O-linemen don't get a lot of time to work together, it's a lot of different players just thrown together.
  
• It might be another week before Ryan Moats gets back on the field
• The team announced Dawkin's contract extension this weekend on purpose, they think he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame
• We are getting so thin at HB. Westbrook was fine today but was out a couple of days with the flu, Buck is getting back but not ready to play yet, Moats has the knee sprain, Bruce Perry with the concussion, the only HB that hasn't been banged up yet is Reno Mahe.
  

1st Preseason - Raiders vs. Eagles

Raiders: 16 Eagles: 10

Tonight was a great night despite the fact that we lost, which you don't here often. I say that because in preseason games as long as you avoid injuries to major players and see great execution by your starters, good things are in the future.

Offense: When our first team offense was on the field everything went perfectly. Donovan came out with complete confidence, not missing a throw by going 3 for 3 for a total of 29 yards. He looked completly comfortable back there and had the time to go through his checks and make the right throw. He completed a pass to Reggie Brown, Hank Baskett, and Brian Westbrook. We would have seen many more completions but he only played for 1 series.

My favorite part of the offensive night though was our running game. We ran it well and ran it often. We came out running with Brian Westbrook for a first down and that trend kept on going. He ended up running 6 times for 32 yards and even scored our lone touchdown of the night. The offensive line looked great not only in their pass protection but it is obvious that our huge O-linemen loved the fact that they had a lot of opportunities to run block. As the games go on we will see more and more from our starting offense but the little taste of what we saw tonight was amazing. They were in perfect sync with eachother but we still have a lot more to see.

As for some of the younger offensive players, Reno Mahe had a good night. He saw the ball a lot more then I thought he was going to. Reno accounted for 53 total yards, 31 recieving and 22 running. He made a few really good plays and he definitly outplayed someone who he is battling with for a job, Bruce Perry. Reno and Bruce are both guys that will earn their roster spots on special teams but can make a contribution in the running game. Leading up to the 4th quarter Perry wasn't having a good night. Not only was he having trouble just running but he ended up fumbling the ball twice. Then things got scary for a little bit when he went down with a helmet to the side of his head. It took some time as he was secured and carried out on a stretcher to be taken to the local hospital. First word out is that it is just a concussion that made him go numb in his arms and legs temporarily but that didn't last long. Hopefully under further inspection that is the only thing that is wrong. But Perry definitly did not have a good night which is sad for a guy that has worked so hard up to this point.

No WRs really stood out tonight. I mean Reggie Brown and Hank Baskett both had nice catches when the 1st team was on the field but after Donovan and those guys left the other WRs didn't seem to do much. I was pretty dissapointed by Jeff Garcia tonight going 50% in the passing game, I thought he would play better then he did. Numerous times I saw him taking the snap and just immediately checking down to the HBs and throwing it to those guys. He didn't take the time he needs to drop back and go through his progressions. That is just a case of him coming onto a new team and not being completly comfortable yet. Hopefully that seems to work itself out as the preseason games go on. After Jeff played for most of the 1st half, Timmy Chang and Koy Detmer both game on, neither being productive. Jeff and Timmy each threw interceptions and that is just something that we can't have happen. Our back up QBs had disgusting amounts of turnovers last season so it just scares me when our current back ups turn it over.

Jamaal Jackson looked great at center and this only solidifies that he is the starter this year. What made it even more evident was that when Calvin Armstrong went down with an injury Hank Fraley came on the field to play guard for a little bit. I had never even thought about him being able to be a back up guard. If he does end up trying to stay around and be a back up center it would only help him to have the versatility of being able to play guard as well.

Defense:

Our defensive line did everything I thought they would and they looked great. The front four is so strong between Jevon, Patterson, Walker, and Howard. We are going to be very hard to stop up front this year. Having such a great front 4 just gives us so many more opportunities to bring guys on blitzes and not be afraid that our secondary will be hung out to dry because we know our guys can get to the QB. One of the most telling signs of our defense to come was on a 3rd down when Darren Howard shifted to the inside at DT and Trent Cole was brought in at DE and Trent ended sacking Aaron Brooks. I think we are going to see a lot of that this year, having Jevon Kearse and Darren Howard both move around the line a lot. Forcing offenses to have to figure out exactly where they are when they line up to snap the ball.

Matt McCoy played a lot tonight, he was in for just about the whole game. He was the only defensive starters on the field towards the end of the game but it's because he needs to see as much playing time as he can. He was in on a few plays and after getting a penalty called on him for a late hit on the QB out of bounds he made up for it with a sack. But still he needs to be more disciplined to not commit stupid penalties like that. You can tell though just by the way that he carries himself on the field that he has so much more confidence then last year. He's not second guessing his decisions and he seemd to be around the ball a lot.

I was impressed with Omar Gaither and how he has emerged through this camp and in tonights game. He led the team in tackles with 6 which has a lot to do with the fact that he played for much longer then Trotter and Dhani Jones. But Jones seemed pretty nonexistent throughout the night. He really didn't get to play a lot considering our first team wasn't on the field for long so I can't wait to see him when the starting defense starts playing longer as the preseason games go on.

Then for the secondary someone that I was surprised to come out and make a few plays was Joselio Hanson. I haven't talked about him at all because I've just considering him a camp body up until this point. The situation is just so thick at CB that there is such a slim chance he will make the roster. A lot of his interception credit though should go to Matt Ware at safety because Ware ran across the field and swatted the ball down hitting it right into Hanson's hands. But he stepped up to make an interception and that is something he needs to do to get noticed in this big crowd of CB's.

The other guy that came up with an interception was Rod Hood. That didn't surprise me I mean he is definitly a starting caliber corner in the NFL. I think we are really lucky to have him because I thought this offseason he would refuse to sign his 1 year contract at an attempt to go on and start for another team. Hood is just such a great player for us and I hope he stays around for awhile.

Special Teams:

Last year during the preseason our special teams unit came out looking really bad and that never seemed to improve. Tonight was different though as David Akers nailed a beautiful 55 yard field goal that perfectly split the uprights. Then Dirk Johnson had a nice punt within the 10 yard line, so both of those guys definitly seemed to be recovered from last seasons injuries.

The kickoff and punt returns were decent but no one really stood out between JR, Dexter, and Bruce Perry. I was just happy that there weren't any huge mistakes in either of those categories.

Our coverage on kicks and punts though was pretty good. Jason Short had a really nice hit to start the game off and so I hope that shows he's going to be a big part of our special teams this year. Then Darnerian McCants made a great tackle on a punt return which proved exactly why he remains on this team after last season. He barely saw any passes thrown to him in all that went on last year but he earned a spot on special teams.

We saw:

• JR Reed is completly healthy and back as he took and dished out some big hits tonight
• Our running game is definitly going to be emphasized a lot more this year
• We don't need to worry about Donovan, he is one of the best QBs in this league, he has everything under control
  
• The defensive line is very strong and quick and will lead the defense this year with a lot of versatility between Jevon Kearse and Darren Howard being moved around a lot
  
• The massive offensive line gave Donovan tons of time to throw tonight and opened huge holes for Westbrook to run through, it doesn't get better then that
  
• Overall though we have to remember that the Oakland Raiders were a very bad team last year and will be a very bad team again this year. But that doesn't deny the great things that our starters did on the field.
  

Conclusion:

There is still so much more to see with this team but I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders just by seeing Donovan in a game for the first time in such a long time. The question posed earlier about how he will handle the offense was quickly answered. We came out running the ball but when it was time for him to pass he made a perfectly timed 3rd down pass to Hank Baskett, right in his gut. Then he later connected with Reggie for a beautiful sideline pass. I can tell already that he is going to spread the ball around and get every single player involved. His confidence is at an all time high the pressure of this offseason doesn't seem to have affected him. I can't wait to see him play more on Thursday.

Hopefully Bruce Perry's injury is not too serious and it is just a concussion like previously reported. Football aside, just for his own life, whenever a player has to be put on a back board and driven off of the field, it's a very scary thing.

Dawkins Signs Contract Extension

Today the Eagles announced that Brian Dawkins signed a 2 year contract extention. So that mean's he'll be here this year, next year, and the following year before we have to talk about a contract again.

It's a great move by the team to secure an amazing player and huge part of our team for a few more seasons.

I knew a deal would get done but the best part of it happening now is that he won't have to answer any more questions about it. As much as Dawkins has said that he never would have let contract negotiations get in the way of his playing ability you still think it might have subconsciously affected him. He's a strong guy, he probably wouldn't have let it bother him but now it's all about football.

I believe this means that he will retire as an Eagle. By the time this contract is up he will be in his 13th year but the man is such a powerhouse who knows how long he can play for.

Things I Want To See Tonight

With the first of 5 preseason games starting in a few hours I'm excited because I have a lot of quesitons that need to be answered. I'm not going to get any solid answers for a long time but what I see tonight will give me an idea of how each position is working out. So here are just a few key points that I'm going to keep my eye on.

• Hank Baskett Hank Baskett Hank Baskett, I'm excited about this guy. It should be fun to watch him out there, I hope he doesn't dissapoint me.
• I have no idea how much playing time our LB's are going to see. I don't want to see Trotter out there for too long because I consider him on Donovan's level and I don't want to risk him getting injured. But there are huge question marks between Dhani Jones and Matt McCoy for both our outside LBs. I really want to see how Matt McCoy is progressing because the talk I've heard about him has been great but that's all just talk up to this point.
  
• I can't wait to see Correll Buckhalter on that field. I'm not positive he's playing because I missed Andy's press conference yesterday but I know that he did travel with the team. I'm figuring that he'll at least see a few snaps. I'm definitly going to be holding my breath everytime he touches the ball though, I can't imagine how he's feeling today.
  
• I also want to see someone who we saw a little bit of at the end of last season, Bruce Perry. He has been up and down throughout training camp. He came into this camp bigger then he was last year which helped a lot because he was able to pack more bulk onto his frame since he likes to run between the tackles and be a hard nose kind of guy. A lot of people want us to bring in a "big back" I just think having Bruce Perry will do the job
• How does Donovan control the offense? I was asked that question during camp but I don't think I can give a real answer until I see him in a game. He won't play a lot tonight but just by seeing how he carries himself out there I think will determine some things.
  
• Is our defensive line as absoloutly amazing as I think it is? It probably will take some time for everything to gel together but from what I saw in camp our D-Line is the best it has been since 1991. I love our defense so much and I hope I'm not wrong in my thinking. Even after we rest our starters like Jevon and Darren Howard, we still will have great players in there since we have so much depth.
  
• This goes hand in hand with the above question, has our D-Line been amazing in camp or has our O-Line just been terrible. The battle has gone back and forth between the offense and defense but the defensive line one the battle at the line of scrimmage numerous times. Hopefully we find out that our huge O-Line is going to start building a chemistry between them through these preseason games. We have a couple new faces between Jamaal Jackson and Todd Herremans, not even talking about the depth like Max Jean-Guilles. Our line is enormous.
  
• Guys are going to want to do well tonight because if they perform well the coaches are going to want to see more of them. That way they will see more reps in the upcoming preseason games and even in practice. These nights are huge for the rookies because we need them to get off to a good start.
  

Baskett Is Given His First Shot

Tonight when the first team offense is on the field Hank Baskett will be lined up across from Reggie Brown at WR. Hank is someone who I have kept my eye on throughout the whole camp and he has risen his stock day by day. So far though his success has been seen in training camp, we haven't seen him play in a game yet. You don't make a team because you're great at practice, you have to be great during games. Now is Hank's opportunity to show that he can make this team.

With the injuries to Jeremy Bloom, Todd Pinkston, and Jason Avant since the beginning of camp, Hank has seen a lot more reps then anyone expected him to. He really came in just as an undrafted rookie free agent that was acquired in a trade with the Vikings for Billy McMullen. It isn't time to jump to any conclusions considering tonight will be his first NFL game but I am so surprised by the hard work he has shown. There are so many WRs on this team between Greg Lewis, Bill Sampy, Darnerian McCants,Mike Gasperson, and the list goes on, all of those guys had the chance to step up when we had 3 WRs sitting out at the beginning of camp. Jeff Garcia said it best during the mini-camps, we have a big group of young unproven WRs that all look the same until one of them uses their unique talents to rise to the top. So far Hank Baskett has been that stand out guy.

By taking advantage of the opportunities that have been presented to him Hank has not earned himself a start in our first preseason game. Knowing that Todd Pinkston isn't healthy enough to play I thought Andy would have Reggie Brown and Jabar Gaffney start at 1 and 2 and put Baskett in the slot. I was surprised when Andy said that it would be Reggie and Hank with Gaffney in the slot. I like that a lot better just because in previous years we have had Greg Lewis as our slot WR. He was very successful in that role in the 2005 season because he had favorable matchups. I look at Jabar as having the same kind of body type that Lewis has. I mean Jabar is a little bit bigger and not as skinny as Greg and he has much better hands, you will rarely see Jabar drop a pass. So I think he will work perfectly in the slot and I expect him to be there once we start regular season games.

Now with Baskett lined up across from Reggie it gives us a lot more options by having such a big physical WR. That is what I love about Baskett, measuring in at 6'4" he's a big guy but what he lacks is timed speed. He's not going to burn a cornerback just from using his speed alone, that is why he wasn't drafted. But he uses his strength and crisp route running to be able to get open. I'm hoping to see a lot of him tonight because I'm sure even after Donovan is taken off the field we will see Baskett play a little longer.

With this game being on national TV and the first game on of the season I'm figuring a good amount of people will be watching. Now is Basketts time to step up and I'm counting on these guys to show people that we don't need to go out and get more WRs. Everyone has been talking up to this point about whether we need to bring in another WR or not, well none of that matters tonight. If those guys want to make the team now is the time to start showing it in games. Yes, they do have 5 games to show it but they need to start early. Instill confidence in the fans that don't believe in our young WR corp and show a national audience that we are not going to have another year like last season. It might just be a preseason game that doesn't matter in the end but the confidence that players gain and the chance we have to see guys proving themselves on the field is worth it.

I can't wait.

Hall of Fame Game Notes

Here just some information regarding some questions that needed to be answered about tomorrows game against the Raiders. I was at my cousins wedding so I missed Andy's press conference and since there was so much going on today with the Hall of Fame the Eagles didn't archive it so I don't have too much info.

• The following guys aren't making the trip due to injuries: Jeremy Bloom strained hamstring, Chris Gocong stinger, Jason Davis hand, Derrick Fenner hamstring, Quintin Mikell (if I remember correctly I think it's some kind of fracture in his face), Ryan Moats knee, Todd Pinkston achilles, and Donald Strickland knee.
  
• No real surprises in the injury report. I was excited about seeing Gocong at least out on special teams but I guess that's not happening. Ryan Moats has been out longer with his knee then I thought he would be. There doesn't seem to be an progress made on Pinkston's achilles, hopefully these next days of rest will help him out but I'm sure he'll be rehabbing the whole time.
  
• Andy said the first team will play the 1st quarter, 2nd team 2nd quarter, 3rd team 3rd quarter, etc. I can't imagine Donovan playing the whole first quarter though, I'm thinking he'll only play a few series.
  
• The starters will see the most amount of time in the next couple of preseason games, barely anytime in the last one against the Jets.
  
• Something that really surprised me, Hank Baskett will be running with the first team tomorrow. That is awesome. This will give him every opportunity to make plays that he needs to make to prove he deserves to be on this team because I really want him to be here come September. So I guess it will be Reggie Brown, Jabar Gaffney, and Hank Baskett since Pinkston is hurt. I can't wait to see Hank in a game.
  
• I am so excited about tomorrow's game, even just the coverage leading up to it is going to be so much great because I feel like it has been years since I've watched us play in a game. It doesn't matter to me that this is preseason because I'm not ready for the regular season to start yet. Right now I have to see how everyone on this team that has looked good in practice is going to look in real game situations. I'm dying to see how a lot of guys coming back from injuries are going to look.
  
• After this game on Sunday the team only has 1 practice before the first home preseason game against the Browns.
  

The Minister of Defense

Normally on a day like today, where we have our first preseason game tomorrow, all of the fans would be rushing through it, just trying to fast foward to tomorrow. Everyone is excited about just watching some football even if the game seems meaningless to a lot of people.

Today was different though because Reggie White was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

These past weeks I really have been thinking about Reggie, a lot. My strongest feeling towards him is that it kills me that I never got to watch him play in Philadelphia. I was 3 years old his last season here, so I don't remember it at all. The only thing that I can base my feelings toward Reggie on are the stories I have heard, the books I have read, and the old games I have watched that he played in.

I don't need to go on and on about how dominating of a football player Reggie was. If you're reading this, I'm sure you know everything about him there is to know. 13 consecutive Pro Bowls, 198 sacks, I mean the list goes on. You also know how great of a player he was off of the field. From his activeness in the church and community along with the undivided love he showed his family.

I've heard numerous times this weekend that Reggie wanted to be remembered not for what he did on the field but what he did off of the field. When I read his autobiography "The Minister of Defense" he wrote about how he would just drive into intercity neighborhoods, unexpectedly, bring a van with huge speakers and just start playing music. He would sit there and along with some of his friends and family he would welcome anyone that wanted to come over and he would reach out to the community through the church. It was never about a photo op for Reggie, it was always something that he honestly wanted to do.

It infuriates thousands of people that Norman Braman never even offered Reggie a contract. I'm sure it hurt his feelings but he learned quickly that the fans supported him. People came out in droves to show their respect for him at the Reggie Rally. He understood that if it was up to us, he would have retired as an Eagle, that team had so much potential to do great things. It is so frustrating for me when I go back and look at the talent that was on those teams to think the Super Bowl dream never came true.

There are only 2 people that have left Philadelphia and gone on to win a Super Bowl somewhere else that I am so proud of. Reggie White and Dick Vermeil. Both people who I have such extreme respect for and I wouldn't have been happy if they never got Super Bowl rings for themselves. I know that Reggie deserved the ring that he earned in Green Bay. If it was his choice I believe he would have done it in Philadelphia, but he was never given the opportunity.

Right before Sara White gave her speech on Reggie's behalf a line of #92 jerseys walked into their seats, all current Eagles players. I saw Donovan, Dawkins, Runyan, Thomas, Kearse, etc. everyone there to pay their respects to such a great man. Then later on that night the whole team got a private tour of the Hall of Fame.

I think this trip couldn't have come at a better time. Of all years for us to play in the Hall of Fame game it is the year that Reggie is inducted and we are coming off of a horrible season. There is so much banking on this year and I really hope that the players experiences this weekend will only inspire them to do that much better this season.

Also I just have to say that when I saw Donovan go up and shake Warren Moon's hand chills ran up my spine. To imagine the amount of doors that Warren opened for guys like Donovan. If only Donovan can be in that same spot one day.

Bunkley's Arrival

Before I wrote that Bunkley will be getting here Saturday after signing his contract.

But now I know he will be arriving Sunday night and will meet with the coaches on Monday and have his first team practice on Tuesday. So I don't think he'll even be in Canton on Sunday and I doubt that he'll play in the 2nd preseason game against the Browns.

First Time Back

Preseason games can be seen as a hassle a lot of times. Fans just want to fast forward to the regular season and veterans don't want to get injured in a meaningless game. I feel like there is way more to a preseason game though then a lot of people account for.

There is the obvious points about letting the coaches get a feel for the players. Their are rookies on this team who we have never seen play in an NFL game. Of course the schemes will be a lot simpler during this preseason game then they are during the regular season but it still gives the coaches much more of a look at who can and can't make the team.

A lot of players are vying for the same spots with our WRs, HBs, D-line, all stacked with depth. Within these next 5 preseason games the coaches have to determine which players not only look great on a practice field, but transfer that over into game day situations. As much as the coaching staff will try and simulate a game in training camp, nothing compares to the actual heat of the moment decisions that each player will have to make.

But there is more to this preseason game especially for our team.

We have some character guys on this team that have overcome some pretty big obstacles to get to where they are today. These guys have been working so hard for months, some even years, to get the opportunity to get back on a football field and prove their talent. Sunday is their day.

JR Reed was drafted in 2004 and had a great rookie season as our kick returner. He showed so much tenacity that everyone was very excited about his future. Until during the offseason a freak accident occured. He was being chased by a dog, he tried to jump a fence, and in the process he had a peroneal nerve injury, actually jeopardizing his chances of ever running again. He was the worse off because he suffered the injury during the offseason and not in team facilities which meant he wasn't allowed to rehab at the Nova Care Complex until the team cleared him. He admits that there were days when he just layed in bed and cried, thinking that everything he had worked so hard for was taken away from him. But he kept rehabbing week after week, month after month, with no shot of playing in the 2005 season. After finally getting cleared by the coaches and front office that he was healthy enough to come back on the team, he started training camp with us. When others had completly written him off, he was rehabbing the entire day, with one goal in mind: to get back on the field. Of course his real goal is to make this team and end up playing in a regular season game but it seems like Sunday is his shot to take those first real hits and prove that he is the player he was in 2004 and will continue to grow.

Then there is Jerome McDougle who had no control over his situation. He was car jacked in Florida a few days before he was set to report to Lehigh for training camp. The teenagers that robbed him shot him in the abdomen and nearly took his life. He started to make a come back during 2005 but due to an infection resulting from the surgery he took big steps backwards. This offseason he worked extremely hard to come out to be what looks like a much better player and person. But we won't know for sure until we see him suit up and get on the field.

Thomas Tapeh had one of the ugliest injuries I've seen in awhile. During our magnificent 2004 season he stepped in during a Rams game when the majority of our starters were resting up for the playoffs. He fell to the ground and dislocated his hip on a meaningless play in a meaningless game. A very serious and I'm sure extremely painful injury that took him all of last season to recover from. Now he is back and despite being slowed by some other injuries during this camp he was been doing his best to push Josh Parry for the starting FB spot. Nobody will win that spot though, no matter how great they practice, until we see what they can do on the field. We've seen Josh Parry for a few years, has he improved? Will Tapeh show that he is actually a better player? We have 5 preseason games to determine just that.

Finally there is a player that is probably one of the most anticipated comebacks because we have seen how great he is when he is healthy and that is Correll Buckhalter. I don't know whether he will play on Sunday because he really has only run in 2 live contract training camp practices. I'm sure every precautionary measure will be taken but we won't know until Andy's press conference on Saturday what the deal is. Buck has fought back year after year to overcome injuries that have held back, what could be, a tremendous player. This team has kept him around for a reason and it is time for him to show us exactly why he deserves to be here. We have a tough group of running backs that are all fighting for a roster spot, it's Bucks turn to show he earns one. Whether it be in this preseason game or one of the 4 after that.

The list goes on and on of players that are coming back from injuries but the above guys have faced the biggest obstacles and found ways to get to this point. Their battles have really only begun as now they need to be successful and actually make the team. But I'm looking forward to seeing all of these guys on the field and I think that having such character players will only inspire everyone else on this team to be that much better.

Bunkley Signs

Finally!!! Broderick Bunkley and the Eagles today agreed on a 6 year contract. The terms were not officially announced but according to Pft.com the deal has a base value of 12.5 million with nearly 10 million in guaranteed cash. They also report that it is a 6 year deal "but that it contains an escalator that would push his final year salary to the franchise tender for defensive tackles in 2011. Bunkley needs to make it to the Pro Bowl three times in five years to trigger the maximum number, with lower triggers resulting in a smaller escalators." That sounds like a great compromise to me but it seems evident that the Eagles ended up getting what they wanted to begin with, 6 years, and Bunkley just missed out on a lot of time.

At this point he has missed 28 practices between the full team and rookie camps. There is a lot for him to make up but we move on now. We have seen both sides of the fence regarding a defensive linemen holding out in Philadelphia and how it affects their career. Most recently we had Corey Simon hold out in 2000 but he came in and had a phenomenal year, the best of his career with 9.5 sacks. But we also have seen Jerome McDougle hold out in 2003 and you can't blame his hold out on the fact that he has had injury problems to this date, but it does show you that he got off to a slow start and never recovered.

Of course I'm not expecting Bunkley to perform at Corey Simon's rookie level, though that would be amazing.

I'm sure there are no hard feelings with this situation, the guys on the team probably could care less, as long as Bunkley doesn't hold us back. The only thing is that going into training camp Bunk had a really good shot at possibly being able to start or being very high in the rotation. Right now, you never know what will happen, but he hasn't even had his conditioning test yet so I don't want to jump to any conclusions. I'm figuring though that he still could have a great impact on this team as the year goes on and he'll work his way into being high in the DT rotation.

My only concern is that he is in shape. We haven't seen him since the mini-camps and OTA's so lets hope he hasn't been sitting at home gaining weight. Like Jerome McDougle said, right now he just needs to make sure he is in shape when he comes into camp. Training camp isn't the time to condition yourself because once your in camp you are getting used to taking hits and learning the system but you should already have good conditioning.

This is great though, I'm very happy Bunkley is here because I think he can be a tremendous player. I still can't believe we ended up drafting him, man we got lucky.

Camp Notes 8/4

With the Raiders came only 2 days away today's practice was a lot easier then the previous ones this week. Everyone practiced in just shorts and shells and today is the last team practice before the game. For normal games you gameplan the whole week for your opponent but Jon Runyan said for preseason games they usually will run a simpler version of the system and just gameplan for a couple of days. I'm very excited for this game though, I am dying to see how guys like Hank Baskett, JR Reed, Jerome McDougle, Matt McCoy, etc. look.

• Injuries: Jeremy Bloom with the hamstring, Derrick Fenner hamstring strain, Ryan Moats with sprained knee, Todd Pinkston with sore achilles (PE.com reported he was on a stationary bike during practice), and Donald Strickland with strained knee.
• So that means that Brian Westbrook is back on the field after being out with the flu, I wonder if we will see him on Sunday, probably for 1 or 2 series.
  
• Also Correll Buckhalter was here for his 2nd consecutive practice after taking contact I'm not sure whether he is going to play on Sunday. We probably won't know for sure until Andy's press conference on Saturday. I'm sure people will ask Marty Mornhinweg about him but he'll leave it up to Andy to answer it.
  
• Marty Mornhinweg said their 2 goals have been to get better every day and to execute in the game and bring what they learn in practice into the game
  
• Marty is expecting to have Todd back at some point, I think that means it shouldn't be too much longer but they are just being cautious with him
• Jim Johnson said it's going to be interesting to see how Matt McCoy plays against Oakland, I completly agree. I'm so excited because he pretty much is our starting WILL LB unless he plays horribly. We really haven't seen him play in a game because last year he barely got any playing time, everyone is saying he's a changed player now, so let's hope the work he did this offseason transfers onto the field.
• Jim Johnson said that they really don't prepare much for a preseason opponent, they will start about the day before. He said for them to get film on the Raiders they had to go back to an Eagles vs. Raiders game in 1994 because that was the last time that Art Shell was a head coach previous to this season . They actually did that, but it's not taken anywhere near as seriously game planning wise as a regular season game is.
  
• Matt Ware has been playing safety will be in the Raiders game. He played a little bit of it at UCLA, he's doing well.
  
• They won't show that much during the Raiders game because first of all they don't want to give too much for the opposition this year to see. Then they want to give the young guys the best chance they have to show their talent and not get bogged down with such a complex version of the system.
  

Camp Notes 8/3

Nothing that different today, just another scorching hot day in the Lehigh Valley. It was a strong practice today and the offense stepped up their game. Things haven't started to wind down heading towards the game and today is the last day of full contact practice before the game.

• Injuries: Jeremy Bloom is making improvement with hamstring not quite ready yet, Jason Davis waiting few days for hand to settle down, Derrick Fenner has hamstring strain has been working out of uniform, Chris Gocong still has stinger and has been getting some work in but has been limited, Ryan Moats has been out here rehabbing, Todd Pinkston is getting better just trying to get tenderness out of achilles, Donald Strickland was rehabbing too, Brian Westbrook has and still has the flu so he's not practicing
  
• Bruce Perry is getting back in there and had a productive day, taking a lot of reps
• Brian Dawkins attributes being the player he is today to watching Reggie White in college and learning how to be such a great dominating player along with being such a spiritual person on and off the field
• It's amazing how humble Dawkins is. The way he said even after 11 years he can't get used to seeing kids running around wearing his jersey, he just sees himself as a normal person.
• I was surprised when David Akers said that he is not at 100% yet. But it doesn't seem to have affected his performance considering he is nailing field goals left and right. His longest today was 58 yards that he hit.
  
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Impact of the Rookie Free Agent

One of the quietest times of the offseason is after the draft and free agency are complete. There really isn't much left to do that fans care about. During this time though some of the most important decisions for our franchise have been made. This is when the players that went undrafted, the undrafted rookie free agents, are given offers from other teams and decide who they will sign with. Some guys that don't get drafted never end up finding a team that wants them, some will sign a rookie free agent contract with a team but get cut during training camp never to play again, while there are others who become great finds for an organization.

For one reason or another a player could go undrafted. Some guys might be rated a first day pick leading up to the draft but just never end up getting drafted. A lot of times that can be because of a poor performance at the scouting combine, or just simply being overlooked as a good player.

Within the past years the Eagles have had some great success in signing these players. I think a lot of times the player will have the talent and physical ability but they just need time to hone their skills and learn before being launched into the NFL. That is why a lot of these guys will end up on practice squads for a year or two so they can slowly get acclimated to the more fast paced game.

But there are other guys who sign as a rookie free agent and prove during their first training camp that teams made a big mistake on passing on them in the draft. A perfect example of that is CB Rod Hood who was undrafted and signed by the Eagles in 2003. He came into his first training camp and surprised people by making the roster despite their being such greats on the team like Bobby Taylor, Troy Vincent, Lito Sheppard, and Sheldon Brown. When asked about that he said that he knew he was good enough to be on the team and he wasn't even playing for a job during that camp. He had complete confidence in his ablities to the point that he was just trying to improve his own camp, he knew he had a roster spot already locked up.

Rod Hood shows the more successful easier road a guy might have as a rookie free agent. The opposite of that would be a guy like Mike Bartrum who bounced from team to team to team before ending up with the Eagles. First he was signed as a rookie by the Chiefs, then he went to the Packers for a year, then the Patriots, and finally the Eagles. He has fought his way through being undrafted, then being cut by several teams, to end up being part of a winning franchise for the past 6 years. His hard work has definitly paid off because he has proved to the Eagles how important of a player he is. No one appreciates Bartrum for his talent at being, I believe, the best long snapper in the NFL, but if we didn't have him then people would notice. The long snapper is just one of those positions that gets no credit and you only will hear his name if he makes a mistake. Bartrum can handle that though, he's not in the NFL for the fame.

Some of our most successful players are guys that weren't even drafted. Players that have been staplepoints on our team for years such as Hank Fraley and David Akers. All of these players have been great while they've been here, it just took them some years to perfect their skills. Hopefully we see Jamaal Jackson, who will be starting this year, have the same kind of success that those guys have had because Jackson was also undrafted and had a hard time jumping between the practice squad and roster for a few years. These guys weren't ready straight out of college the way someone like Donovan, Dawkins, or Trotter were. But through hard work, great teaching, and amazing heart they have come to be some household names in football that people respect.

Then we have undrafted guys who do not start but have jobs on this team for being such great depth and being huge parts of our special teams unit. But if the time came where they had to step up and start because of an injury they could. These are players that if you are an Eagles fan you will know but they don't have the respect around the NFL. Those are guys like Quintin Mikell, who filled in for Brian Dawkins when he was hurt a few years ago and did a good job at it, of course he can't be compared to a Pro-Bowler like Dawk, but he did his job adequately. One of Quintin's best plays and one that I will always remember him for was blocking the field goal in 2005 against the Chargers, it's things like that that make someone a great team player. Then there is Reno Mahe who takes a lot of flak from fans but he is a jack of all trades kind of player that will do whatever is asked of him. He's not a flashy guy that is going to return the punt for a touchdown but he will give his all on every play and secure good field position when he is back returning punts, he did lead the NFL in punt return average last year. Also there is a guy who plays with so much intense emotion and should be great for our special teams unit this year, Jason Short. He is a ball hawk who will be seeing some time at the joker position on defense hopefully but he will get most of his playing time on special teams.

Now there are young players on this team right now that went undrafted but could have an impact as the years go on. Hank Baskett was rated as a 4th round draft pick by most teams and scouting reports but because of a slow 40 time he was overlooked and fell off teams draft boards. Also Jamaal Jackson, Greg Richmond, Josh Parry, and Sam Rayburn all could be successful in the future.

Even a guy like Greg Lewis goes from being a walk on in college, to going undrafted, then he ends up scoring a touchdown in the Super Bowl. It's stories like that which provide a team with great character players. Guys that can come together and form a real team because they have faced real obstacles on their lives. Whether those obstacles be on the field such as fighting injury after injury but coming back strong like Correll Buckhalter, whether it be something like Jon Runyan had to face by going undrafted but eventually become a premier OT in the game, or a more real life situation like Jerome McDougle who battles back from getting shot in the abdomen to not only just live but to still play professional football.

It makes you wonder what about these guys can make them successful and bounce back from basically being told in the draft, no one wants you. These players work their whole live, through high school, into college all focusing on one thing, to play in the NFL. It has to be a huge shot to their ego when they sit through 2 days of the draft and no teams call them. But the great ones will get back up and use it to their advantage. They'll play with a chip on their shoulder knowing in their heart that they are better then a lot of the guys drafted before them and now it's just time for them to prove it. So they might have a much greater up hill battle then guys who were drafted but if they have the skills, coaches will notice, and give them a spot on the team.

Camp Notes 8/2

Last night on Sportsnite, on Comcast Sportsnet, Derrick Gunn showed some clips of a sit down interview he had with Brian Dawkins yesterday. The whole interview will be played tonight at 6:30, if you can check it out you really should. The clips showed a very emotional Brian Dawkins after he was asked about his past 10 years in Philadelphia and how he feels about his career so far. It definitly is an interview you should check out.

Jeffrey Lurie's State of the Eagles Address:

• This team is about toughness, talent, and teamwork
• He's very excited about going to Canton, it's great to play in the Hall of Fame game but it's even better that a great player like Reggie is being inducted
• Emphasized how important character is on a team, made a reference to the Steelers how they went from having just an average season to winning a Super Bowl he said that a lot of that depends upon having character players like Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu
• Jeffrey will always be a risk taker, when he bought the Eagles for the highest price ever for a professional sports franchise, when we went out on a limb building the team around a franchise QB, hiring a coach in Andy Reid that was never a head coach before; the T.O. situation has not changed his mind in taking risks on a team
  
• Would not do the T.O. thing over again if given the opportunity. He said nobody should be able to be so disruptive and cut the energy of a team down the way T.O. did (but he didn't say T.O.'s name)
• It was very hard for him to stay quiet in the media during all of the turmoil last season. You try to exhibit as much professionalism as you can but you don't want to lower yourself to other peoples standards.
  
• Is concerned about having Bunkley not in practice yet. They've always been fair for all of the 1st round draft picks contracts, just slotting between the money everyone else is getting and has no idea what the hold up is. He hopes that Bunkley will personally step up and get in camp soon.
  
• Donovan means everything to us and he right now is the average age of QBs that win a Super Bowl, 29 or 30, he is entering his prime. He said Donovan is continuely building hall of fame contention
• Commented on Brian Dawkins work ethic. The way that even during the 3-13 season he was here, he never gave up, he gives everything on every play.
  
• The rift between Chuck Bednarik and Jeffrey Lurie is over. Chuck has been at training camp a few times so far and their is a renewed relationship between the two.
  
• Jeffrey maintained a great relationship with Reggie White despite the fact that Reggie didn't play for the Eagles when Lurie was the owner. Jeffrey talks about how frustrating it was that he bought the team right after Reggie left, I know if Jeffrey was the owner instead of Norman, Reggie would have retired as an Eagle.
  

The past couple of days the main headline so far has been about the heat wave hitting Lehigh but there is still a lot of football going on:

• Correll Buckhalter is back at practice after one day off. He is participating in the live contact drills. He took some big hits today, one specifically from Lito on a swing pass and I think it was great for him to get those hits out of his way. I won't lie, I'm really nervous about his situation but I would love to see him make this team. It is a big risk but I just think the reward could be so great. I'm dying to see him play in a preseason game but I know I'm going to hold my breath everytime he touches the ball until he gets used to taking those hits.
  
• Jeffrey Lurie had his annual "State of the Eagles" Address this morning, I summarized it up above
  
• Todd Pinkston did not practice again this morning, both achilles tendons are "tender", precuations are being taken
• Jeremy Bloom wasn't at practice today after trying to come back yesterday, again with that hamstring
  
• Brian Westbrook and Shawn Barber both sat out of practice with illnesses
• Trent Cole left practice early due to complications with the heat
• Reno Mahe, Dexter Wynn, and JR Reed will be doing punt returns against Oakland
  
• Bruce Perry, Reno Mahe, JR Reed, and Dexter Wynn will be doing the kick returns against Oakland
• The linemen just get to leave a little bit earlier then everyone else and hit the cold tub right after practice
• Special teams are in a different boat then the offense and defense because John Harbaugh hasn't seen any contact during the returns in practice whereas the defense and offense have being doing contact drills and hitting eachother a lot
  
• David Akers kicks every other day and Dirk Johnson has been doing less punting drills then last year, both of these are attempts to go into the season healthy at K and P because last year Dirk and David both were hurt
  

Some Questions

Feel free to comment on a post and write any questions you don't think I've addressed, here are a few that have been raised:

How's Donovan looking, not just physically, but has he been in control of the offense?
The precense that Donovan has out on the field proves to you from the second you see him that he is an Pro-Bowl NFL QB. From the way he handles the media down to the way he uses his leadership skills. Of course from a playing stand point I think Donovan has had an excellent camp. He has used his legs when he had to and I expect him to use that mentality going into the season. I've seen him take aside players whether they be rookies like Hank Baskett or even veterans such as Brian Westbrook, but he has a great way of communicating with guys to get the best play out of them possible. I'm someone who never thought that his leadership skills should have ever been questioned but those that were questioning him last season should have no doubts in the way he handles this team.
As much as I feel like he really has been in control of this offense from a leadership and playing standpoint I don't think I can get a true feel for him until I see him in a game. We all know that training camp does its best to simulate what a real NFL game is like but nothing compares to the actual reps of going against another team in game time situations. The coaches try and provide different drills to simulate what happens in a game by running 2 minute drills and red zone drills but the big question people have with Donovan this year is how he will be mentally. Is there too much pressure on him? Has last year changed him for the worse? Is he going to try and do everything himself to the point where he gets hurt again? All of those questions about his mental state this year won't be able to be answered until games start up. Of course right now I think he is in a better state of mind then he ever has been but we really don't know anything until our first game, even the Hall of Fame game, that will at least give us an idea.

Does Lito look fine after coming back from his injury?

I haven't noticed a change in Lito at all due to the high ankle sprain that ended his 2005 season early. In fact I feel like 2005 was such a down year for him, even injury aside, just his play in general, but from watching him in camp I really feel like he is back to his 2004 Pro Bowl form. When asked about Litos condition Jim Johnson said that he hasn't seen a change in his running or play. He has been very physical and nothing has slowed him down at all. Where there are other guys still battling last years injuries by having to take some practices off like Pinkston and Buck, Lito doesn't show any signs of this being a problem for him. Expect great things from Lito this year.

Do you see any surprises that could affect any of the position battles or make an impact this season?

A big surprise that I didn't catch early in camp has been FB Jason Davis. He ran through the entire rookie camp practically by himself and saw tons of reps then with Thomas Tapeh going down at the beginning of camp for a few days he saw some time with the full team. His problem occured just recently when a hand injury has hampered his play and now he is taking some time off to have surgery to fix it. That shouldn't take long, I have a feeling they'll just cast it up and he'll play with it. It will be hard for him to make the team though with Josh Parry and Thomas Tapeh both fighting alongside him as well. I think Davis will spend this year on the practice squad but we will see great things from him during preseason and come next training camp if he doesn't go to another team first.

Then there is Hank Baskett who I talked about coming into camp and he really has stepped up. Given the opportunitys with Pinkston, Avant, and Bloom all being injured he really has put himself a step ahead of guys like Sampy, Gasperson, and I even think Greg Lewis too. He is a big physical reciever that wasn't drafted mostly because he ran a slow 40 time at the combine. He is similiar to Avant in the aspect that his timed speed dropped him far in the draft but from watching Baskett I was very surprised with his football speed. By that I mean just because someone is a track star doesn't mean they will be the next Jerry Rice. There are a lot of others aspects that go into it and what Baskett lacks in timed speed he makes up for with physical, jumping up for the ball, great hands and technique. I really think that he is going to surprise a lot of people and make the roster this year but it's going to be a very close situation of trying to figure out which WRs stay. By the end of camp a lot of those decisions will hinge upon whether or not Todd Pinkston is healthy yet.

A dissapointment so far has been TE Matt Schobel. This is a guy that I was really excited about when we brought in and I thought that his main attribute was great hands, I was definitly wrong in that aspect. During the spring mini-camps I heard people rave that he just never drops a ball but he has struggled with that part of his game so far. When he was brought in I thought if you had to worry about anything with him it was his blocking but now it seems to be more then that. I was really depending on Schobel and LJ Smith to be a great TE duo and I was getting flashbacks of Chad Lewis when Schobel played. Despite Chad not being a super star TE he filled a great role in our offense year after year and he was someone who Donovan trusted to catch the ball, I thought that Schobel would play that role as well.

Finally there is LB Chris Gocong. I figured that his transition from DE to LB is going to be one that takes some time and it is taking time. Some people were expecting him to push Dhani Jones a little bit at SAM LB but I think if anyone is on Dhani's heels right now that would be Greg Richmond. Despite even Richmond having a good camp I'm positive that Dhani will get the starting job this year and our what appears to be, amazing defensive line, will definitly help Dhani's game. Gocong is going to be great on special teams this year because he seems to have no fear and such a high motor. But it's going to take some time before he makes an impact at LB, it will be very interesting to see him develop as the year goes on.

Any questions or issues I haven't addressed? Just comment on a post and I'll answer them.

A New WR In The Mix?

I've done everything in my power to not comment on these Jerry Porter or Ashley Lelie rumors that have been floating around Philadelphia. The last time I talked about us possibly getting a WR was around the draft when rumors were flying about Eric Moulds and Javon Walker. Nothing ended up coming of that, but the Eagles did make a push for Walker the deal just didn't work out.

But Adam Schefter on NFL Total Access reported yesterday that "The Eagles could act on Lelie at any moment, though to date, they have not offered enough to the Broncos." The only reason I'm really talking about this is because I think that Adam Schefter is a great reporter and a very credible source. Now I doubt anything will arise from this situation but it just makes sense to take note of it.

I'm not going to act like I really want Lelie because honestly I don't. The situation for me is that I have a problem with a WR who wants out of Denver because he is afraid of competition. There is no other reason why he would want to leave this year after they brought in Javon Walker besides the fact that he doesn't want to have to compete. Denvers depth chart right now appears to me like the #1 and 2 would be Walker and Rod Smith with Lelie being in the slot. The problem Lelie has is that he believes he is a starting WR and should get paid like one. My thing is, if he is one, why can't he just prove it on the field?

Throughout his 4 years in the NFL so far he has not proven that he deserves to be a top WR on a team. I understand that when Javon Walker was signed I'm sure it was a big hit to Lelie's ego but personally, I don't care. I'm sick and tired of WR's egos and that isn't only because of what we had to endure last year. If Ashley Lelie believes he is the best WR on that team then he should have full confidence in his abilities to go out on the field, produce in training camp and preseason, and prove his worth. But he won't. He can talk all he want but the only thing that will earn him money is how he produces on the field and he hasn't produced enough for a #1 job or #1 money.

If the Eagles believe that he can really improve our team and Lelie does end up getting brought here I'll be ok with it because I trust our front office. The more guys that are here trying to make us a better team, the happier I am. I'm just not going to rave on and on about him until he proves to me that he is a great WR.

To be honest with you I'm probably one of 10 people in Philadelphia that believe our WRs are enough for us to win. I say that because of course they could be better, much better, but I don't believe there was anyone available in free agency for a reasonable amount of money that would have improved this offense, Lelie included.

It makes sense that the Eagles are expressing interest in Lelie simply because the man that we expected to stretch the field for us this year, still isn't healthy. I thought Todd Pinkston would be much farther along on his rehab then he currently is and it seems clear to me that he has faced some unexpected, or at least I didn't expect them, complications. Then you even throw in the little hamstring injury Reggie Brown recently got I mean I don't think that it is something to be worried about but I kind of feel like it was a sign because it scared everyone to death when he left practice early. It made me think for the first time how our WRs would be without Reggie, now that is something I don't want to think about. Then you can't forget about the 2 rookie WRs Jason Avant and Jeremy Bloom who have battled injuries so far, are getting back on the field, but are still rehabbing.

So from an injury and depth stand point if we can get Ashley Lelie in here for something reasonable I would be happy because it will improve the team. He would be an adequate addition to the team but he needs to realize that he is not our #1 guy. No matter what, I believe Reggie Brown is the future of this team and he will be our #1.

I understand that there is more competition at WR in Denver between two more proven veterans in Rod Smith and Javon Walker compared to our young group. But Lelie needs to come in here and know that he is fighting for a spot on the team just as much as Hank Baskett is. Nothing will be guaranteed for him so if he is afraid of competition in Denver I don't know what will make him immune to it here. Quite possibly though he might just need a change of scenery.

Camp Notes 8/1

With the heat wave going through Lehigh the morning practice was moved 30 minutes earlier, to start at 8:15, in an effort to beat the heat. These are the real trying days as camp presses on, players are exhausted, and there is only way more to come.

• Injuries: Correll Buckhalter tenderness in knee missed today after getting his first contact yesterday, Darren Howard has swelling in his knee won't be brought back out until that's taken care of, Jason Davis is going to have his hand operated on today (put pins and screws in to hold bone together), Derrick Fenner strained hamstring, Chris Gocong has a stinger (limited contact today), Ryan Moats is making progress but will still take some time, Todd Pinkston still has swelling in achilles and miss practice again, Donald Strickland has a knee sprain
• More on Buck: It doesn't surprise me that he missed todays practice. Yesterday was his first contact practice since last years training camp. So I'm sure he's very sore but I think their main concern is they just don't want to push him too far. He has worked so hard that if he gets hurt because he's trying to come back to quickly, that would be devastating. I think they are working him at a great steady pace right now and I don't expect him to see time in the first preseason game. Considering he's only seen 1 contact practice and we're 4 days away from the game, way too close. He has plenty of time, 5 games to see action in, so it will happen eventually.
  
• Jeremy Bloom is off of the PUP list finally got some practice time with the team. Right now he's being worked in slowly, his reps were very limited but at least he was on the field and in pads. That is one step in the right direction. Update: Jeremy didn't finish the morning practice, on videos he definitly seemed bothered by his hamstring and only participated in one play. He also didn't come back for the afternoon special teams practice. Is he trying to come back too soon?
  
• Jim Johnson thinks that LB Omar Gaither has done a great job at picking up the defense, one of the quickest learners he's seen in years. That is really a compliment also considering that he is learning a very tough position, linebacker.
  
• Tons of liquids, cooling vests, and cooling caps are being used to try and keep the guys safe and not overheat
• There is communication with Bunkley, not personally from Andy, but nothing has happened yet
• When Brian Dawkins was asked about our Oct. 8th meeting with T.O. he said that he'll look at it just like any other NFC East game, we need to win and get one step up in the division. He's right, you can't let the emotion of the game get the best of you. Of course there is going to be a lot of hype tied up in it but the media is creating so much of that, the players don't need to create more.
• The linemen got to leave practice a little bit earlier today just for safety reasons due to the heat
• The players are weighed before and after practice and they have to make sure they drink as much liquid as they lost during practice