Apparently, it's raining in Bethlehem
I'm not sure why yesterday's blog post didn't show up, but it's there now.
Anyway, I'm not actually at training camp today. It's one of my mandated days off, probably the last one I will actually take. It turns out to be a good day to be off, since the Eagles were rained off the practice field this morning, only to reconvene indoors. Donovan McNabb was the only player who didn't practice, and that was for the ever-present precautionary reasons. I guess it would be immensely stupid to let your franchise quarterback get hurt in less-than-ideal practice conditions, especially when the veterans aren't even here. After all, how important is it really that No. 5 have special chemistry with Micheal Gasperson or Zac Collie. In the event those receivers beat the odds and make the team, he'll only see the field one or two plays a game.
So while it may seem like Andy Reid is babying McNabb, it would really be silly for him to do anything else.
Yesterday Donovan looked fine. So did Kolb, the other focus of attention. Most of the wide receivers had their moments, including MHS grad Dereck Faulkner. Mr. Sound and Fury. Revolution No. 9. It seemed like he was primarily working the left side of the field, and my untrained eyes saw few mistakes. Collie and J.J. Outlaw both made some nice catches, but the highlight belonged to Jeremy Bloom, who has looked terrific at wide receiver. He caught a beautiful deep throw from Kolb, and he has tracked down virtually everything else. As Andy said in his press conference today, however, nothing really counts until he and everybody else gets hit a little bit. A football season is a war of attrition already, so it makes sense to put these guys under serious stress now, when it doesn't matter at all.
I didn't get over to watch the defensive drills much, but when they came to the main practice field for 7-on-7s, it was clear that the battle between Dustin Fox and C.J. Gaddis will be one of the best of camp. Gaddis probably has better coverage ability, having played a lot of corner at Clemson. But conversely, Fox may be a lot more honed in on the dafety position specifically. As I mentioned in the paper today, Fox had Bloom all lined up for an enormous hit Monday afternoon, after Bloom caught a short pass over the middle. Of course he pulled up and didn't deliver it, but I flashed back to the play in the first Dallas game last year, when Michael Lewis was loaded up to annihilate T.O., except that Owens dropped the pass.
Gaddis and Fox are both going for that fourth safety position behind the ageless Brian Dawkins, the enigmatic Sean Considine and the underappreciated Quintin Mikell. The second-place finished in that position battle will likelyt either be Goconged (placed on IR with an injury) or go to the practice squad if the Eagles think he can clear waivers.
Some folks really expect Mikell to push Considine for that starting job, but the Eagles coaching staff can be stubborn. Remember the Matt McCoy experiment? Considine has added like 20 pounds of muscle. At 212, he's the second-biggest safety in camp behind Chris Smith, the undrafted free agent from Florida International better known as the dud who sparked the brawl with Miami last year. If Considine keeps that bulk on he may be able to step up and stuff the run like a strong safety needs to. He's definitely one to keep an eye on, especially as the season goes on.
Today is the last day the veterans will have no presence at camp at all. They are all due to report tomorrow, then take the field for the first time Tuesday and don the pads on Wednesday. Tuesday is closed to fans. As it's the first time the entire team is on the field together, it's kind of a sacred moment. I'm not certain that's why it's closed to fans, but it's my best guess. Besides, there's only one practice that day, with two-a-days resuming on Wednesday. That's the day that folks have been pointing to as the moment things really begin, so it's also the day when all the radio stations and so forth are doing their shows live from Lehigh. I imagine it will be a media zoo on Wednesday, which is amazing since the first day of hitting was the day I covered back in 2000, and every day has been a bigger deal than that one was, hoopla-wise. It just shows how far the Eagles and media have both come in that short time.
I'll be back at it bright and early tomorrow morning. Check in at the C-P website aound lunchtime for a mid-day update, and I'll post here sometime between the forst and second practices.
Anyway, I'm not actually at training camp today. It's one of my mandated days off, probably the last one I will actually take. It turns out to be a good day to be off, since the Eagles were rained off the practice field this morning, only to reconvene indoors. Donovan McNabb was the only player who didn't practice, and that was for the ever-present precautionary reasons. I guess it would be immensely stupid to let your franchise quarterback get hurt in less-than-ideal practice conditions, especially when the veterans aren't even here. After all, how important is it really that No. 5 have special chemistry with Micheal Gasperson or Zac Collie. In the event those receivers beat the odds and make the team, he'll only see the field one or two plays a game.
So while it may seem like Andy Reid is babying McNabb, it would really be silly for him to do anything else.
Yesterday Donovan looked fine. So did Kolb, the other focus of attention. Most of the wide receivers had their moments, including MHS grad Dereck Faulkner. Mr. Sound and Fury. Revolution No. 9. It seemed like he was primarily working the left side of the field, and my untrained eyes saw few mistakes. Collie and J.J. Outlaw both made some nice catches, but the highlight belonged to Jeremy Bloom, who has looked terrific at wide receiver. He caught a beautiful deep throw from Kolb, and he has tracked down virtually everything else. As Andy said in his press conference today, however, nothing really counts until he and everybody else gets hit a little bit. A football season is a war of attrition already, so it makes sense to put these guys under serious stress now, when it doesn't matter at all.
I didn't get over to watch the defensive drills much, but when they came to the main practice field for 7-on-7s, it was clear that the battle between Dustin Fox and C.J. Gaddis will be one of the best of camp. Gaddis probably has better coverage ability, having played a lot of corner at Clemson. But conversely, Fox may be a lot more honed in on the dafety position specifically. As I mentioned in the paper today, Fox had Bloom all lined up for an enormous hit Monday afternoon, after Bloom caught a short pass over the middle. Of course he pulled up and didn't deliver it, but I flashed back to the play in the first Dallas game last year, when Michael Lewis was loaded up to annihilate T.O., except that Owens dropped the pass.
Gaddis and Fox are both going for that fourth safety position behind the ageless Brian Dawkins, the enigmatic Sean Considine and the underappreciated Quintin Mikell. The second-place finished in that position battle will likelyt either be Goconged (placed on IR with an injury) or go to the practice squad if the Eagles think he can clear waivers.
Some folks really expect Mikell to push Considine for that starting job, but the Eagles coaching staff can be stubborn. Remember the Matt McCoy experiment? Considine has added like 20 pounds of muscle. At 212, he's the second-biggest safety in camp behind Chris Smith, the undrafted free agent from Florida International better known as the dud who sparked the brawl with Miami last year. If Considine keeps that bulk on he may be able to step up and stuff the run like a strong safety needs to. He's definitely one to keep an eye on, especially as the season goes on.
Today is the last day the veterans will have no presence at camp at all. They are all due to report tomorrow, then take the field for the first time Tuesday and don the pads on Wednesday. Tuesday is closed to fans. As it's the first time the entire team is on the field together, it's kind of a sacred moment. I'm not certain that's why it's closed to fans, but it's my best guess. Besides, there's only one practice that day, with two-a-days resuming on Wednesday. That's the day that folks have been pointing to as the moment things really begin, so it's also the day when all the radio stations and so forth are doing their shows live from Lehigh. I imagine it will be a media zoo on Wednesday, which is amazing since the first day of hitting was the day I covered back in 2000, and every day has been a bigger deal than that one was, hoopla-wise. It just shows how far the Eagles and media have both come in that short time.
I'll be back at it bright and early tomorrow morning. Check in at the C-P website aound lunchtime for a mid-day update, and I'll post here sometime between the forst and second practices.
Labels: training camp
posted by SMc. at 4:33 PM
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