Philadelphia Eagles News

Practice Blog: July 31

Jul 31, 2009 at 03:34 AM

It's here ... the long-awaited day featuring the full team in pads with live hitting periods. We'll have you covered with all the highlights from both the morning and afternoon sessions.

7:45 AM -On our way over to the practice field. Some things we'll we watching for: Will Stacy Andrews and Cornelius Ingram participate in the live periods? How will rookie running back LeSean McCoy hold up when the hitting starts? We will have the updates coming quickly once the practice gets underway. (BK)
7:49 AM - Well, it's finally here, the day everyone has been waiting for when we finally get to watch some real football. It looks like the most anxious guys to get down to business are Reggie Brown, Dan Klecko, Ken Parrish, and David Akers, as they were the first ones on the field this morning. (BW)
8:05 AM - As the crowd flows into the stands here at Lehigh, the Eagles fans gave a rousing ovation to the players when the began lining up to begin special teams work on kickoffs - everyone's chomping at the bit. Also, no sight of any of the players who missed yesterday's practice as of yet. (BW)
8:18 AM - As the players begin individual warmups by position, it looks like everyone is out on the field except for Jason Peters, Shawn Andrews, and Jon Dorenbos. Andrews and Peters are both currently listed on the PUP list. The other injured players from yesterday, Macho Harris, Asante Samuel, and Trevor Laws, are all stretching with Brian Westbrook and Victor Abiamiri. (BW)
8:26 AM- Jason Peters just walked onto the field to join in with the guy not practicing in pads. Meanwhile, during the kickoff drills the players who were getting reps as the returner were Lorenzo Booker, Danny Amendola, and Brandon Gibson - no Quintin Demps. (BW)
8:44 AM - A couple of observations as the offense and defense both run through plays separately. On the offensive field, the first-team O-line is Herremans (LT), Cole (LG), Jackson (C), St. Andrews (RG), Justice (RT). One thing to watch will be how much time Stacy Andrews gets when going live against a defender. On the defensive field, Macho Harris left the guys he was stretching with in order to look on from the side with the coaches and get a feel for the defense, as he is trying to acclimate himself into two positions here with the Eagles. (BW)
9:33 AM - A lot to fill you in on as the team is currently going through an 11-on-11 "thud" drill, meaning they play until first contact, but there's no tackling. In terms of depth chart information, the most interesting news is that LeSean McCoy was getting the reps as the first-team running back, and Lorenzo Booker was working with the second team. Also, Stacy Andrews was only participating in a few plays, avoiding contact for the most part. Kevin Curtis sat out the drill completely, as there was no reason to rush him into contact. The rest of the offensive first team was as follows: McNabb (QB), Weaver (FB), McCoy (RB), Jackson (WR), Brown/Baskett (WR), Avant (Slot WR), Herremans (LT), Cole/Jean-Gilles (LG), Jackson (C), Andrews/Cole (RG), Justice (RT), Celek (TE). The first team also ran some two TE sets in which Cornelius Ingram was the second tight end. As for the first team defense, it lined up as like this: Cole (RE), Bunkley (RDT), Patterson (LDT), Parker (LE), Gocong (SLB), Bradley (MLB), Jordan (WLB), Brown (RCB), Hobbs (LCB), Hanson (Nickel CB), Mikell (SS), Demps (FS). (BW)
9:38 AM - As for the action on the field, there were a couple highlights. On the very first play, Quintin Mikell made a very nice play on the ball to almost grab an interception. He had the ball caught until he collided in mid-air with an oncoming Chris Gocong. Both players got up fine and participated in the rest of the drill. LeSean McCoy had one nice run on a handoff to the left side, getting past a couple defenders. When the second team offense took the field, Reggie Brown had a big play on a double reverse, getting the handoff from Hank Baskett. Lorenzo Booker looked good catching two passes out of the backfield. Donovan McNabb had a nice 15-yard completion down the middle of the field to Brent Celek, and Jason Avant made a nice catch going down to the ground on a low throw. Sheldon Brown and Joselio Hanson both looked very good in coverage. The second team depth chart looked like this during the drills: Kolb (QB), Eckel (FB), Booker (RB), Dunlap (LT), Tupou (LG), McGlynn* (corrected from earlier post) (C), Gibson (RG), Patrick (RT), Ingram (TE), Baskett (WR), Brown (WR) (Amendola and McBride also worked in with the second team), Howard (RE), Klecko (RDT), Je. Jackson (LDT), Clemons (LE), Gaither (WLB), Mays (MLB), Daniels (SLB), Hanson (LCB), Ikegwuonu (RCB), Jones (SS), Baker (FS)
9:50 AM - The third team lineups: Feeley (QB), Mailei (FB), Buckley (RB), Dunlap (LT), Tupou (LG), Reynolds (C), Fanaika (RG), Patrick (RT), Bright/Schobel (TE), Gibson (WR), Robinson/Thigpen (WR), Smith (RE), Klecko (RDT), Jackson (LDT), Daniels (LE), Fokou (WLB), Hughes (MLB), White (SLB), Williams (RCB), C. Robinson (LCB), Langford (FS), Parker (SS). Perhaps the most interesting note there is Tank Daniels continuing to get some reps at defensive end. In other news, Jon Dorenbos has made it onto the field to work with the specialists. (BW)
10:16 AM - Some notes from the wide receiver one-on-one drills ... Dimitri Patterson had a nice breakup on a pass intended for DeSean Jackson. Patterson recovered nicely after Jackson got the initial jump ... Sheldon Brown broke up a pass intended for Kevin Curtis, who did not partake in the team drills. No word yet why ... Asante Samuel and Jason Peters did some rehab on the field and then signed autographs for fans ... The fans, who are loud and proud on this cloudy day, gave Brian Westbrook a huge ovation when he came on the sideline to watch his teammates for the team portion of practice. (BK)
10:25 AM -Some highlights from the thud drill ... Quintin Mikell nearly intercepted a Donovan McNabb pass, but Chris Gocong leveled Mikell after he got his paws on the ball ... Stacy Andrews did line up for some of the first-team reps but not all. Nick Cole went in when Andrews came out. Todd Herremans was at left tackle, Max Jean-Gilles at left guard, Jamaal Jackson at center and Winston Justice at right tackle. ... McNabb laid out a nice deep bomb down the right sideline for DeSean Jackson, but he couldn't come up with the pass ... Darren Howard did a nice job shedding Kyle Eckel to get in the backfield on a double reverse to Reggie Brown ... Trae Williams nearly made a nice diving interception off of a deflected pass ... Joselio Hanson had perfectly tight coverage on a pass from McNabb to Jason Avant, who was lined up in the slot ...Bryan Smith made a nice move to get inside on the defensive end ... Dan Klecko was getting good push inside to collapse the pocket ... A look at the primary blockers on the first-team field goal unit: Matt Schobel, Winston Justice, Todd Herremans, Nick Cole, Max Jean-Gilles, Brent Celek, Stacy Andrews ... At the end of the field goal drill, the Eagles did a "clock is ticking, but we have no timeouts" field goal drill and it was perfectly executed ... Watched Cornelius Ingram block, he gives good effort, has the strength and stays low. After one rep, Schobel pulled him aside and said to widen his base. (CM)
10:34 AM- Highlights from the just completed full contact 11-on-11: The drill started with the No. 2 offense vs. the No. 1 defense ... Lorenzo Booker had a couple solid runs, one in particular for about 15 yards down the left side on a hole opened up by Dunlap and Tupou ... 25-yard completion from Kevin Kolb to Reggie Brown on a well set-up flea flicker ... Sheldon Brown made a nice form tackle on Booker in the open field ... on one play LeSean McCoy was split wide with Booker in the backfield ... Cole and Gocong sniffed out a Booker run and stopped it just past the line of scrimmage ... Dan Klecko got a few reps with the No. 1 D spelling Bunkley ... No. 1 offense vs. No. 2 defense: LeSean McCoy had a nice run around the left side for about 6 yards ... Rashad Baker made a great play coming over to lay a big hit on Hank Baskett along the sideline and knock the ball loose after Baskett had made a nice play going up to get the ball over Jack Ikeguwuonu ... Baskett later beat Ikegwuonu again down the left seam for a long 40-yard reception ... Brent Celek made a huge play for about 35-40 yards after beating Tank Daniels over the middle to find some open room ... McCoy was stopped about 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage after doing a little too much dancing ... In the No. 3 offense vs. No. 3 defense: Eldra Buckley was the star, dashing for about 50 yards around right tackle, although he ended up losing his helmet twice during the session. (BW)
10:43 AM - Andy Reid is about to give his press conference, stay tuned for the injury information. (BW)
10:59 AM - Quick word on the injury situation from coach Reid: Samuel, Peters, Harris, and Shawn Andrews are all feeling better than yesterday but there's no reason to rush into anything right now he said. Same goes for Laws, Abiamiri, and Westbrook, although Reid said Westbrook feels great and is "chomping at the bit" to get out and practice. The one new piece of injury news is that Kevin Curtis left practice after suffering a thigh contusion when he collided with Quintin Demps in one-on-one drills, his status will be monitored. Reid said the injury had nothing to do with Curtis' rehab from a sports hernia injury. Coach Reid also said there is no new information on the Jeremy Maclin contract talks. (BW)
3:22 PM- The team is practicing indoors this afternoon thanks to some adverse weather conditions. For the most part, the offensive and defensive units are just running through the playbook. There's no sign of Kevin Curtis, so he's still taking some time off as a result of the thigh contusion he suffered this morning. The one interesting thing I noticed was an offensive package in which LeSean McCoy and Lorenzo Booker were lining up in the backfield together, perhaps a prelude to a backfield that could include McCoy and Brian Westbrook together at some point. (BW)
3:55 PM- Not much to report from today's afternoon session as the players were mostly going half speed. Brandon Gibson continued to work in the with No. 2 offense. When practice was over, Cornelius Ingram and Jason Avant stayed late to work on catching footballs and were later joined by Reshard Langford. (BW)

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