Sam Bradford is not ashamed to admit his excitement for Monday night at 7:10 p.m. when the Eagles kickoff against the Atlanta Falcons for the regular season debut.
"You know, I said it the other day and I think that more than any other season opener, I'm probably more excited than ever just to be get back on the field. It's something that I've been waiting a long time for. I didn't get to do it last year so it's been a while and I'm looking forward to it," Bradford said after practice on Friday.
However, Bradford does not feel any added pressure or weight aside from his usual game-day nerves.
"I think there are always jitters," he said. "I think, even when I was playing before I got injured, there's jitters every week. I think that's what makes this game fun. I think it's part of the process, I think it's natural to have those."
The Eagles' offense has shown a lot of upside throughout practices and the preseason, and Bradford is extremely comfortable with the guys protecting him in the front.
"I feel great with them. You guys talk like I didn't get any work with them," he said. "We had five weeks of practice and we're out here for two hours a day.I got a ton of snaps with those guys so I feel really good with both the receivers and the line."
In terms of the Falcons, Bradford and his teammates have watched tapes and picked out the strengths and weaknesses of the team as a whole to prepare. He knows what they need to do to be ready for Monday night.
"I think, the first game of the year, it's always a little bit trickier, not exactly quite sure what you're going to get from the opposing defense, obviously," Bradford said. "We've looked at their preseason and some of the things we've showed. I said the other day, it's not overly complicated but what they do, they're really good at. You know, when you don't play a ton of different coverages, you get a bunch of reps at them and you get really good. I think they're very sound in what they do, they're very disciplined. It's going to be a big task for us, just staying disciplined."
Bradford, who missed most of the 2013 season and the entire 2014 because of knee injuries, spent the past year rehabilitating his knee to be able to play football again, and he's not worried about or focused on his knee during games.
"I think there are so many other things that I'm thinking about, it's really hard to think about my knee. I talked about that being kind of one of those hurdles that we got over in the offseason," Bradford said.
Bradford completed all 10 of his passes for 121 yards and capped all three of his drives with touchdown throws in the third preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. But now, he's ready for the bright lights of Monday Night Football.
"Obviously, it was good to get out there against Green Bay. I don't know what the total number of snaps we got was but it was good to get out there and kind of just get a feel for a game again and hopefully, it pays off," he said.
