Philadelphia Eagles News

Practice Blog: August 4

Aug 04, 2009 at 04:04 AM

Here's a look at what took place during Tuesday's practices at Lehigh University. The updates were provided by Bob Kent (BK), Chris McPherson (CM) and Bo Wulf (BW).

8:06 AM -With practice about to get underway, it doesn't look like Jeremy Maclin has arrived in time to take part in his first training camp workout. The players are in full pads, so it looks like we will see some live hitting today. In fact, head coach Andy Reid has just pulled up to the practice fields. (CM)
8:15 AM -Matt Schobel has joined the usual group of Macho Harris, Trevor Laws, and Victor Abiamiri stretching and rehabbing on the field. In other news, once the Eagles sign Jeremy Maclin, the team will be forced to make a roster move to get the roster down to 80. We'll keep you posted. (BW)
8:35 AM -Asante Samuel is in pads and appears to be a full participant in today's practice. In other observations, an unsuspecting Chris McPherson failed to keep his head on a swivel and was the victim of an expert pants'ing from veteran Darren Howard. (BW)
8:45 AM -Left tackle Jason Peters is not on the field for practice this morning. No word on his status. We'll keep you posted. (BW)
9:11 AM - From the group install drills, there wasn't too much to report. The only defensive alignment that intrigued me was seeing Trent Cole drop back in coverage on a zone blitz. In the team blitz drill, where the defense gave the offense different looks at numerous blitz packages, quarterback Donovan McNabb opened by headbutting his teammates in the huddle. On the first rep, Quintin Demps came in on a blitz and McNabb was able to get the pass off to Kevin Curtis, who ran a slant, but the pass was high. On the next rep, Akeem Jordan blitzed the 'B' gap and LeSean McCoy made a nice pickup. McNabb completed the pass to DeSean Jackson the left side. The pass protection for the first-team offense during this drill was good. I can't write the same for the second-team offense. On the first rep, Kevin Kolb's protection broke down on the right side of the line. He was rushed out of the pocket on just about every rep. Chris Gocong forced Kolb out wide to the right on a blitz. Gocong was working in with the second-team nickel package. Willie Williams was working in with the No. 2 defense at left defensive tackle. (CM)
9:20 AM- Eagles Team Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie is in the thouse for practice this morning. Here are some notes from the 9-on-7 drills that the team just ran: Joe Mays was still running with the No. 1 defense, and Chris Gocong spent a lot of time lining up as a fifth defensive lineman ... the o-line was, from left to right, Herremans, Cole, Jackson, Andrews (with Jean-Gilles rotating in), Justice ... Andy Reid barked at running back LeSean McCoy to "finish the play" ... Brent Celek looked good as a run blocker ... during the No. 2 offense and defense matchup, Omar Gaither was upset with Chris Patrick for what he considered to be a hold. (BW)
9:43 AM - Jeremy Maclin update ... He is taking a flight from St. Louis, Mo. He has to take a physical when he gets to Lehigh and is expected to hold a press conference after the afternoon special teams practice. That means he will most likely not be participating in the special teams practice. (CM)
9:50 AM - Eldra Buckley is a tough, hard-nosed runner. He is someone who had a lot to prove after the Organized Team Activities, but what he does real well is run in-between the tackles. At the end of a live drill focused on third-and-short situations, Buckley plowed ahead nicely up the middle for the first down ... In the goal line drill, the defense ousted the first-team offense. On first down, LeSean McCoy was brought down short of the touchdown. On second down, Sean Jones and Quintin Demps stuffed McCoy. The one play that the first-team offense converted, a touchdown from Donovan McNabb to Cornelius Ingra, was negated by a "sack." ... The second-team offense came on strong in the end. On Kevin Kolb's first rep in this drill, he rolled to this right, looked in the end zone and his pass was tipped into the air by linebacker Akeem Jordan and Sheldon Brown nearly had the interception. I thought he did, but the refs along the sideline said that he trapped the ball ... On second down, Lorenzo Booker bounced to the right side took look for a seam, but he was brought down just short ... Finally, on the next rep, Kolb felt the pressure but was able to get it off to Booker on the right side of the field for the touchdown ... On the final rep of the drill, Kyle Eckel plowed his way for the easy touchdown. (CM)
10:08 AM - Complete notes from the O-line, D-line 1-on-1 drills ... Juqua Parker got the best of Winston Justice in their two matchups, swimming past Justice beautifully on the first rep ... Justice recovered later in the drill by stalemating Chris Gocong, after which the two got into a brief shoving match because Justice briefly grabbed Gocong's facemask... Mike Patterson did good work against Stacy Andrews, effectively going 2-1-1 by using his impressive shiftiness for a man his s ize ... Jamaal Jackson did an excellent job against Brodrick Bunkley negating the push from the defensive tackle ... Darren Howard swam past Todd Herremans nicely in their only matchup ... Trent Cole bull rushed right through King Dunlap on the first rep, but Dunlap rebounded with a solid effort stonewalling Bryan Smith twice... Dallas Reynolds was also able to put on a good performance against Brodrick Bunkley ... Josh Gaines showed a solid swim move to get past Stacy Andrews ... Max Jean-Gilles was impressive in brick walling Dan Klecko, although he was then forced to hold Jervonte Jackson on the next rep ... Chris Patrick showed strong hands by pushing down a slipping Chris Clemons ... Paul Fanaika had an impressive outing, handling Josh Gaines and then drawing with Willie Williams ... Mike McGlynn stuffed Jervonte Jackson, but then got a little overanxious going after Trent Cole who easily swam past him ... Nick Cole was able to force Trent Cole to the outside and then topped Darren Howard on the end's first effort, only to get pushed back eventually ... Mike Gibson had a good run, beating both Parker and Gaines ... Mike McGlynn stuffed Klecko twice ... Gocong pushed Patrick back with strong legs ... Fenuki Tupou did a nice job on Williams, and then held off Jackson's initial effort only to eventually get beat. (BW)
10:35 AM - From the "Riverside" live drills ... The pass protection for Donovan McNabb was outstanding. On one rep in particular, McNabb was six seconds in the pocket before he unleashed a deep bomb down the middle to Kevin Curtis who caught the ball perfectly in stride beating Rashad Baker for a 70-yard score ... LeSean McCoy showed good burst on a run up the middle before Darren Howard made a nice tackle ... Asante Samuel showed no ill effects of his injury after tackling Reggie Brown. Brown caught a ball from Kevin Kolb off of a slant pattern. ... Akeem Jordan made a diving tip on a pass from Kolb intended for Hank Baskett ... The defense did a nice job snuffing out a reverse attempt to Brandon Gibson. Gibson made up for it with a nice grab off of a bullet from A.J. Feeley. Gibson got some extra yards after Courtney Robinson and Reshard Langford couldn't make the initial tackle ... Ahh, we attended a football practice and a fight broke out. It was tough to see exactly who the main pugilists were, but it looked like Winston Justice and Omar Gaither were two of them ... Lorenzo Booker made a nice cut after getting into the open field through a hole on the right side of the line ... A.J. Feeley got the crowd excited with a scramble up the middle for a big gain. I wonder if he would have done the same if the defense could have tackled him. Special teams drills are taking place now. Practice should be wrapping up shortly. Marty Mornhinweg speaks to the media after practice. We'll see if Maclin arrives and gets everything taken care of so he can take part in the special teams practice. (CM)
2:02 PM - As Special Teams practice begins, there's not yet any sign of Jeremy Maclin, although he is scheduled to speak to the media at the conclusion of the practice, likely around 2:45. However, newcomers Matt Wilhelm (linebacker) and Jason Babin (defensive end) are on the field in uniform and participatin in practice. In other encouraging news, Macho Harris is a full participant in this afternoon's practice after not having practice since the rookie and selected veterans portion of training camp because of a high ankle sprain. (BW)

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