Good afternoon! Today is the team's final day of media availability before Sunday's game. Be sure to get caught up on all the latest news in the Thursday, November 19th edition of The Read-Option ...
Sanchez Ready If Starting Time Is Now – Dave Spadaro
"Mark Sanchez knows the drill. He is on call at all times. So with the Eagles' quarterback situation still uncertain for Sunday against Tampa Bay, Sanchez is taking the reps at training, preparing to be the starter.
Doesn't mean he's the guy. The Eagles haven't ruled out Sam Bradford, who missed a second straight day of training as he recovers from a concussion and shoulder injury. We might know on Thursday. We might have to wait until Friday. It's unlikely it will be a gameday decision, but you never know. Once Bradford passes the concussion protocol, the conversation will be had about his ability to play through a left shoulder injury suffered against Miami. Then we'll know.
In the meantime, it's Mark Sanchez Time and this is exactly why the Eagles signed him to a tidy two-year contract in the offseason. Sanchez is a seasoned veteran who has won in the NFL. We know all about him, having seen Sanchez play for half of the 2014 campaign with Nick Foles sidelined after suffering a fractured clavicle.
There is a lot of good in Sanchez' game: He's smart, he can move, he has a command of the offense and his teammates like and trust him. There is also the concern with Sanchez about giving the football away, and his late-game interception on Sunday against Miami was a prime example. Sanchez made the decision to throw the football to wide receiver Miles Austin on a rollout to the left side that was intercepted in the end zone. It was a risk that, in the end, wasn't worth taking.
He has answered the question many times: Why throw it? What can you do to minimize the mistakes, the giveaways, the bumps that have been so harmful?
'You've just got to be smart with the ball and understand the situation and what we need at the time,' Sanchez said. 'We'll do a good job pushing the pace and then analyzing where we're at and what we're going to accomplish on that specific play.'"
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Which team will take the NFC East division? ...
Take a look inside Green Exposure: Week 14 as the Eagles are hard at work preparing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. View the full gallery here...
LB Kiko Alonso, LB Emmanuel Acho, LB Deontae Skinner
LB Brandon Graham
DE Travis Raciti
LB Emmanuel Acho
LB Najee Goode
DB Eric Rowe, CB E.J. Biggers, S Ed Reynolds
WR Freddie Martino
LB Marcus Smith, TE Brent Celek
LB Kiko Alonso
CB Nolan Carroll, S Malcolm Jenkins
LB Bryan Braman, TE Brent Celek
S Chris Maragos
Ryans Shares Special Bond With Winston – Max Rappaport
"Growing up in the sleepy town of Bessemer, Alabama, Jameis Winston used to spend his Saturdays watching the Crimson Tide play. Living less than an hour away from Tuscaloosa, 'Bama football was everything to his family and friends.
But on Sundays, allegiances were split.
The nearest team, the Titans, is located 200 miles north in Nashville, Tennessee. A fan of Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, and of Randall Cunningham before that, he adopted the Eagles as his team in the early 2000s, and until being drafted by Tampa Bay with the first overall pick in April he kept close tabs on the team.
In addition to nourishing his longtime fandom, watching the Eagles the past four years has given him a chance to keep up with longtime friend and fellow Bessemerian DeMeco Ryans.
'Growing up, he was everyone's role model, from not only the athletic standpoint, (but) from the academic standpoint (as well), and how he carried himself as a man,' said Winston of the veteran linebacker. 'He's been in the NFL for a long time now, and he still finds a way to reach back to his hometown and help one of his hometown brothers out.
'He always kept me up, and it just meant a lot (coming) from him, any little advice he has, because he has his business together.'
Ryans talks to Winston regularly to offer advice about football, life and everything in between. He first met the rookie quarterback while still a student at Jess Lanier High School. Winston was 10 years younger than Ryans, but would often show up to practices with his uncle, who was a coach on the school's staff."
360: First Look At Tampa
Other Views
The Five Toughest Guys I've Ever Blocked – Jonathan Ogden
"I don't have massive respect for Clyde because he's the biggest guy I ever faced or the fastest. Clyde has a spot on this list because he fundamentally changed the way I approach the game of football.
I'd always gotten by on my physical talents, but Clyde was the first guy who forced me to become a film room junkie. When I played against him early in my career, he knew exactly how I liked to punch, and could just grab my hands, cross them up and then walk me back to the quarterback. He did that to me a few times while playing for different teams, and I was kind of helpless against it for a while. Clyde didn't possess any otherworldly abilities that I hadn't seen before — he was just a crafty veteran who knew how to give me the business. He was just sneaky. I'd be blocking him fine all game, feel good about myself, and then he'd wait for his opening and expose me.
Clyde taught me how important it is to vary your movements and strategies in the NFL. Once you perform one move during a game, that's on tape for every coach and player in the league to dissect, and figure out how to counter. Once I started hitting the film room, I got better at knowing the different ways I can attack a pass rusher. Instead of just blocking them the same way, I began planning out well ahead of time where the most effective place was to punch them would be when I came off the line. I looked at their go-to move and their counter to that. I tried to find their tell.
Clyde ended up trying the move where he crossed up my hands up later in my career and it didn't work. Not this time, buddy. By then the student had become the master."
There's No Quit In Eagles' DeMeco Ryans – David Murphy, Daily News
No matter the injury, Ryans continues to battle back and make a difference for the Eagles ...
"It was a little over a year ago that Ryans planted on the turf at NRG Stadium after intercepting a pass from Texans quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and felt his Achilles' tendon ripple up through his right calf. The injury not only sent shock waves through a team that was sitting at 6-2, but it called into question the football future of a player who has served as the figurehead of the defensive turnaround the Eagles have spent the last four seasons attempting to orchestrate. Ryans had already torn his left Achilles', forcing him to miss the last 10 games of the 2010 season before an underwhelming 2011 campaign that prompted Houston to trade him away for draft picks in the third and fourth round.
At 30 years old, and facing major surgery for the second time in four years, it was fair to wonder how much the Eagles could expect from their middle linebacker. In the offseason, they acquired Kiko Alonso from the Bills for All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy, re-signed Brandon Graham to a healthy contract extension, and drafted Texas linebacker Jordan Hicks in the third round. Along with the presence of Mychal Kendricks and Connor Barwin, the team seemed to have an abundance of talent for a finite number of snaps.
Through it all, Ryans said he did not doubt he would remain an important component of Davis' scheme, and the coaching staff echoed the confidence. When you watched him throughout training camp, you couldn't help but wonder how well that confidence was placed. But as you watched him working with the trainers on the sidelines, backpedaling with resistance bands and diligently working on the strength and range of motion in his injured leg, you also realized that if anybody could get where a starting linebacker needed to be, it was this guy.
Well, look who's here."
Dorenbos Know The Pressure Is On – Les Bowen, Daily News
*The long-snapper is prepared to come out on Sunday and show that he can help this team succeed ...*
"'Of course,' Jon Dorenbos said after Wednesday's practice, when asked if he'll be under more pressure than normal this week. 'But you know what? I like that. It motivates me. That kind of forces me to kind of fine-tune some things. I'm loving the challenge . . . I take a lot of pride in this team. I take a lot of pride in this organization. I've been here for 10 years. And I take a lot of pride in my work (off-the-field) for the ownership, because of the opportunities that they've given me for a decade.''
Dorenbos, an accomplished magician, makes a lot of community appearances for the Eagles, and no doubt they appreciate it. But the bottom line is snapping the ball.
'I don't have a doubt in my ability. I don't have a doubt in the things I'm going to do to get my game where it needs to be,' Dorenbos said. 'I can't wait.'"
The Read-Option: Toughest Defensive Ends
XXX
Sanchez Ready If Starting Time Is Now – Dave Spadaro
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"Mark Sanchez knows the drill. He is on call at all times. So with the Eagles' quarterback situation still uncertain for Sunday against Tampa Bay, Sanchez is taking the reps at training, preparing to be the starter.
Doesn't mean he's the guy. The Eagles haven't ruled out Sam Bradford, who missed a second straight day of training as he recovers from a concussion and shoulder injury. We might know on Thursday. We might have to wait until Friday. It's unlikely it will be a gameday decision, but you never know. Once Bradford passes the concussion protocol, the conversation will be had about his ability to play through a left shoulder injury suffered against Miami. Then we'll know.
In the meantime, it's Mark Sanchez Time and this is exactly why the Eagles signed him to a tidy two-year contract in the offseason. Sanchez is a seasoned veteran who has won in the NFL. We know all about him, having seen Sanchez play for half of the 2014 campaign with Nick Foles sidelined after suffering a fractured clavicle.
There is a lot of good in Sanchez' game: He's smart, he can move, he has a command of the offense and his teammates like and trust him. There is also the concern with Sanchez about giving the football away, and his late-game interception on Sunday against Miami was a prime example. Sanchez made the decision to throw the football to wide receiver Miles Austin on a rollout to the left side that was intercepted in the end zone. It was a risk that, in the end, wasn't worth taking.
He has answered the question many times: Why throw it? What can you do to minimize the mistakes, the giveaways, the bumps that have been so harmful?
'You've just got to be smart with the ball and understand the situation and what we need at the time,' Sanchez said. 'We'll do a good job pushing the pace and then analyzing where we're at and what we're going to accomplish on that specific play.'"
In addition to nourishing his longtime fandom, watching the Eagles the past four years has given him a chance to keep up with longtime friend and fellow Bessemerian DeMeco Ryans.
Jalen Hurts: 'The work comes first'
The quarterback embraces the offseason of change from the leadership in the locker room to the X's and O's on the field.
