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Practice Notes: Carson Wentz Carves Up Dolphins With Surgical Precision

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It's the final set of practice notes for this year's Training Camp. The Eagles have a walk-through on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's preseason battle with the Miami Dolphins. Next week, the Eagles start to operate in regular-season mode ahead of the preseason finale against the New York Jets. On Tuesday, the Eagles hosted the Dolphins once again. Here are our observations starting off with Fran Duffy analyzing the offense.

1. The offense got together with Miami's defense on the far side of the field for 7-on-7 action, and quarterback Carson Wentz started off with a beautiful throw to tight end Zach Ertz down the seam for a leaping grab and a touchdown. Later in the period, with the ball located near midfield, Wentz hit wide receiver Nelson Agholor over the middle of the field on a throw that forced Agholor to reach out and pull the throw in from the edge of his catch radius. - Fran Duffy

2. Wentz looked sharp in that period, and that continued into the next session, a "two-minute drill" period against the Dolphins. Wentz was surgical in that period, completing passes to Agholor, Ertz, Agholor, and Ertz in consecutive throws. Two plays later, he hit wide receiver Alshon Jeffery on a hitch route before hitting a quick throw to Ertz over the middle. After an incompletion in the red zone, the team finished the drive with a field goal attempt in what was a successful offensive possession. - FD

3. The tight ends were very active in the next session. Tight end Brent Celek caught the first pass of the period. A few plays later, tight end Trey Burton made maybe the catch of the day on a tipped throw at the line of scrimmage. The veteran tight end ran a stick route to the outside and showed the concentration to finish at the catch point for the reception on the run. A few plays later, Burton caught a shallow crossing route from quarterback Matt McGloin for a big gain on the catch-and-run. - FD

4. In the next period, Wendell Smallwood took the first snap on a handoff for a solid gain before taking a short pass and turning it into a huge gain on the next play. You got to see Smallwood's versatility on the play as well as his speed in the open field. - FD

5. The teams ended practice with a long period that saw a handful of snaps for the first-, second-, and third-team units on both sides. Wide receiver Torrey Smith caught a touchdown down the seam to highlight the action from the starters on offense. Mack Hollins, working with the second unit, nearly pulled in an acrobatic one-handed grab in the end zone over a Miami defender that caused quite the controversy along the sideline (apparently many Dolphins didn't think he got both feet in bounds to complete the catch). The third-team offense featured a heavy dose of rookie running back Donnel Pumphrey, who caught three passes and took one handoff in the period, showing some wiggle and the ability to make people miss out in space in the process. - FD

Training Camp is officially complete for the Eagles! Check out these photos from today's joint practice with the Miami Dolphins...

6. Some notable names were missing from Tuesday's practice. Defensive end Brandon Graham has an elbow injury, and linebacker Jordan Hicks has a quad injury. Chris Long took the first-team reps at left defensive end. Derek Barnett saw some time with the first-team unit on the right side late in practice. Najee Goode was the primary first-team linebacker for Hicks in both base and subpackages. Head coach Doug Pederson said that both Graham and Hicks are day to day.* - Chris McPherson*

7. Here are the highlights from the 7-on-7 drills. In one series, the defense had three straight pass breakups. Two of them were by cornerbacks Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills, and both of those pass attempts should have been picked off. The third was by safety Corey Graham. Safety Terrence Brooks had a nice pass breakup on an attempt to tight end Anthony Fasano on a corner route. Cornerback Mitchell White had one as well on a pass in the back corner of the end zone. Safety Rodney McLeod showcased his range on a pass intended for wide receiver Kenny Stills down the left sideline. He collided with cornerback C.J. Smith on the play, otherwise, he could have had the interception. The best play, though, came from cornerback Jaylen Watkins, who had a nice interception in the end zone on a pass intended for tight end Thomas Duarte down the right sideline. - CM

8. From the team periods, I thought defensive end Steven Means was the best player on the Eagles' defense. He used a swim move to get in the backfield for a "tackle for loss" on one snap. Later, Means "stopped" running back Damien Williams for a loss on a run play in the backfield. - CM

9. Here are some notes from when Barnett got first-team reps: He lined up for one rep in a two-point stance and didn't show that he was going to rush the quarterback. Instead, he dropped back into coverage. I, personally, thought he could have disguised it better. On the next play, he "stopped" running back Jay Ajayi for a loss in the backfield. A couple of plays later, Barnett lined up at left defensive tackle and Fletcher Cox settled in at right defensive end. Before the snap, the two switched back to their normal positions. - CM

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