The glory of it all! Eagles football in action, if only for the weekend. Helmets and shorts, no tackling. A morning practice outside and the afternoon practice in the bubble. The final pass of the day was an A.J. Feeley bomb down the right sideline intended for Brandon Gibson, intercepted nicely by cornerback Courtney Robinson. Between the start and the finish of the day, well, I know what you want. You want to know who stood out and what I saw. Without further ado ...
- Interesting non-commital from head coach Andy Reid regarding the right offensive tackle position. With Stacy Andrews recovering from his knee surgery -- and doing well -- and with Todd Herrremans out after having his knee cleaned up, the Eagles shuffled things around on the offensive line. Mike McGlynn played left guard and Shawn Andrews played right tackle, with Nick Cole at right guard. Stacy Andrews, it has been largely assumed, would play right tackle. I still think he will, but it certainly is not a slam dunk. Shawn Andrews would love to slide out there, too, and after watching his tremendous footwork and technique, I think Shawn Andrews could star at right tackle. It's nice to have options.
- Anyway, Andrews was very positive after the second practice about how he felt and about how excited he is to be here after last season's tough experience. And when asked how he thought things would work out and where he would play this season, Andrews said, "I think there is a very good chance, if I keep improving, which I will -- the big key factor is staying healthy -- that I'll be at tackle." Things that make you go hmmm ...
- One player who stood out was rookie tight end Cornelius Ingram. He caught all but one pass thrown his way in the two practices and really went out and plucked the throws. He seemed to use his body well and he showed plenty of speed and quickness to get open. "Man, that cat can catch the ball," said former Eagle and current FOX Philadelphia (and WIP Sportsradio host) Hugh Douglas after watching Ingram catch a Kevin Kolb bullet in the afternoon. "That pass had some stank on it. He's going to be a big help. I can see that already." We shall see, but there is no doubt that Ingram had a good first day. He has some natural pass-catching skills that stand out immediately.
- Quintin Demps started at free safety and Quintin Mikell started at strong safety. Rashad Baker played with the second team at free safety, along with Sean Jones at strong safety. Jones made a nice pass breakup over the middle in the afternoon session. Macho Harris was the third-team free safety in the afternoon.
- Victor Abiamiri and Juqua Parker split first-team reps at left defensive end.
- Kolb threw the ball extremely well. Donovan McNabb looked outstanding and A.J. Feeley looked good. And, let's be honest: There is no pass rush. They should all look good, and they did.
- Strong first day for No. 1 pick Jeremy Maclin, who shows excellent sharpness in his route running and strong, confident hands. He reaches out and catches everything.
- Shady McCoy weighed in at 211 pounds on Friday. "Things are coming along real well. Fast tempo, but I like that," said McCoy, who looked outstanding in practice. "You have to get in your playbook a lot. That's the biggest difference. This is all football."
- Jason Peters is a beast. Great body, terrific feet. He looks like he has it all. Of course, this is me talking after seeing him for one whole day of non-tackling practice. Not that I'm leaping to conclusions or anything ...
- Macho Harris had a welcome-to-the-NFL moment in the afternoon practice when he lined up across from DeSean Jackson and Jackson blew right past Harris with an inside move and was ggggggoooonne for a long touchdown catch and run.
- Play of the day came in the bubble when McNabb threw a strike to Reggie Brown on a "go" route to beat cornerback Asante Samuel. Now, Samuel and McNabb and the offense engage in good-natured woofing throughout every practice, and after this play wide receivers coach David Culley ran down the field and laughingly taunted Samuel. Good fun for all. That's the kind of chemistry that is being built here. Samuel, by the way, also had an interception and a TD return of a McNabb pass, so I guess they were kind of even in the end.
- It's very difficult to make any kind of observations about the defense in this camp. If you can't hit, you can't very well play defense. So, we'll wait until later to discuss much. There were some good battles when the receivers went up against the secondary in the afternoon, and Mikell made a nice breakup of a pass for Ingram.
- Maclin will benefit by Curtis' absence as he will get more reps. The Eagles moved Maclin to both sides of the formation in the two practices.
- Leonard Weaver has excellent hands and is going to be an option in the passing game and, really, in the running game. He is so athletic for a big guy.
