Sunday Practice Wrap + Cary Williams
Posted: August 11th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 64 Comments »Since the Eagles played on Friday night, practice today was not in pads. You normally wait until the third day after a game to practice in pads. During the season, games are on Sunday, meetings are on Monday and Tuesdays are the players day off. Wednesday is when business gets back to usual.
While it was a practice with limited contact, our heroic beat writers still went and took notes. We’ll start with the most beloved of hacks, Dr. James Bama. Here’s some of what he had to say.
• Greg Salas had a ball pop out of his hands on a high pass, David Sims failed to bring in what should have been a pick, and Salas was able to make the grab just before the ball hit the ground. Incredible concentration by Salas. It will be a crime against nature if Salas doesn’t make the team.
• Clay Harbor had a strong game against the Pats on Friday. That did not carry over to today. Three drops, by my count.
• Brent Celek’s awful training camp continues. Another drop today. Celek leads the team by a mile in drops throughout camp.
A crime against nature? Only Jimmy would use a phrase like that in regard to a roster battle. Just how does he think Chip Kelly and Howie Roseman decide who makes the team? On second thought, I don’t want to know. I really, really don’t want to know.
It is interesting to hear how bad he thinks Celek has been. Drops have been an issue for Brent all summer. No one disputes that. Referring to him as having an “awful camp” is strong language, but I appreciate the honesty. Jimmy goes every day. He’s watched these guys. That isn’t a casual comment. And it is easy to love a guy like Celek, who has been such a solid player and likable guy for several years. Being critical of players like that isn’t fun. Picking on rookies, total underachievers or overpaid jerks is easy.
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* The first-team offensive line today (left to right) was: Allen Barbre, Evan Mathis, Jason Kelce,Danny Watkins, Todd Herremans.
Lane Johnson missed practice to be with his new baby boy, who was just born. Herremans slid from right guard to right tackle, and Watkins filled in at RG. Barbre continues to fill in for Peters at LT.
I would prefer a healthy O-line working together and building continuity, but there is something to be said for all the cross-training that is taking place. I think last year’s injuries and this summer’s issues have improved the depth of the line. I’m comfortable with Lane Johnson starting at LT or RT. I’m not going to panic if Todd Herremans is at RG or RT. I’m probably in the minority, but I think I’d be okay with Danny Watkins at RG.
And I have to say that I don’t get all the anti-Dallas Reynolds comments from people. The guy stunk early on last year when he first got on the field. He got better as the season progressed and he got a better feel for things. The one issue that came up at times was erratic shotgun snaps. We’ve seen lots of players deal with that over the years. It just becomes a mental thing and players have to try and “snap” their way out of it. Some do, some don’t. The current staff seems to really want Julian Vandervelde as the backup C, but I think Reynolds clearly outplayed him. They may disagree. I think they’d be dead wrong, but my vote doesn’t count.
Another couple of items from Sheil.
Kenny Phillips left practice with a quad strain.
With Dorenbos sidelined, the team also signed long-snapper James Winchester.
Should we just shoot Kenny Phillips and get it over with? Is it possible to give someone a leg transplant? Nate Allen has a pair of pretty healthy legs.
We had to add a LS. Celek did a solid job, but you need someone who can get the job done on place-kicks. Alex Henery needs his game reps. He and holder Donnie Jones need a few live kicks to make sure their chemistry is good.
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The big on-field news of the day is that Clay Harbor got some reps at WR. The Eagles are light there. They need help and have open roster spots, but they just don’t like the guys that are available. If they see decent WRs getting cut, they’ll grab one.
Harbor knows the slot position because the TEs play that role as well as the WRs. Harbor played some WR in college and has the speed to be okay out there, at least for practice and preseason games.
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The big news of the day is some comments made by Cary Williams.
“It was nothing like this [in Baltimore], I’ll tell you that,” said Williams. “Different organization, different team, different coach, different colors. I can’t expect this team to be the same as Baltimore was.”
“Our philosophy was to stop the run, be stout upfront, hit people in the mouth, be aggressive, throw the first punch. That was what we were always taught. In the case with the Patriots practice, I felt the same way.”
“They came in here talking. They had a lot of jokes and kikis, and laughs, and a lot of dirty plays that were going on. There was a reason behind [why I got in a fight], a reason behind the madness, but at the end of the day I still have to do things the way coach wants me to do them, and I understand that, but it definitely would have been a different situation if it was in Baltimore. It wouldn’t have been a fun practice for the Patriots, I’ll tell you that.”
Williams also talked about the toughness of the Eagles defense. “I think Brian Dawkins alluded to it a couple times when I spoke to him,” Williams said. “He was talking about ‘Bring that fear back here.’ Right now I don’t know if there’s anybody out there in the league that fears this defense, especially after last week.”
“I don’t want to be a doormat, and that’s just how I feel about the situation.”
We’ve got a few things to discuss here.
First, shut your mouth until you’re on the field. Simple as that. He skipped most of the spring. He’s been hurt most of the summer. Practice for a whole week. Play in a game. Then talk about what’s going on.
Next, the Patriots came in here and made some jokes and had some laughs? I’m sure they did. They’re the big dogs and we’re the keystone cops right now. Cary…this ain’t Baltimore. We didn’t win the Super Bowl last year. We didn’t almost make it the year before. You came to a 4-12 team that is trying to re-tool on the fly.
I’m all for team pride and having a chip on your shoulder, but to act as if we needed to fight the Patriots in practice is just silly. The Pats and Ravens had a heated rivalry. The Pats and Eagles don’t. The teams meet each summer, but only play a real game every four years. There is nothing special about the Pats and Eagles.
As for toughening up the defense…I’m all for that, but it takes time. The Eagles have played one whole preseason game under Bill Davis. I can’t believe he hasn’t totally fixed the defense. What a jerk!!! This group should be Gang Green, Pt. 2 already. What’s wrong with Davis? You’d think his “top” CB was hurt and not much help or something like that.
Davis and Kelly want the D to be tougher. They are adding bigger, stronger players. There will be more of a focus on run defense. It takes time. Cary joined the Ravens when they were already a defensive machine. You don’t just click your heels and have a tough D. It takes years to build something like that.
And let’s go beyond that. The Ravens had a big, tough defense for the past decade. When did they win the Super Bowl? When the QB got the right coach and the offense clicked. The Ravens won that game because Flacco and Boldin were great, not because of Ray Lewis or Ed Reed or a bunch of defensive rhetoric.
The Eagles need an identity on defense, but that is way, way, way, way behind finding a franchise QB. The days of a defense carrying a team to a title are long gone. You can argue whether that’s good or bad. Could make for interesting discussion. Point is, you need the right offense to win in today’s NFL.
We love to reminisce about Buddy and the great Eagles defenses he had. Those guys were tough. They played with attitude. And they lost in the play0ffs. They gave up 20, 21, 20, 20 and 34 points in playoff games from 1988-1992.
Jim Johnson’s defense held Tampa to just 3 points in the first playoff game of the Andy Reid era. Then they gave up 20, 9, 19 and 6.
Which 5-game stretch is better? Which team was more fierce and had more attitude?
Attitude is overrated. Play hard. Be mean. But running your mouth and telling the world how tough you are isn’t as important as playing smart, disciplined football. If you can do both, that’s great. That’s usually when you have a special group. And the Eagles won’t be having a special defense for at least a couple of years. And that is the optimistic view.
So Cary…shut up about Baltimore.
Shouldn’t you be picking out sconces or china patterns or tea sets anyway?
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Laying the boom, Tommy! I like it. Totally Agree with you.
“The guy stunk early on last year when he first got on the field.” and you dont get why people dont have confidence in Dallas? seems like you do.
I don’t understand why people judge him on the Arizona game when he was awful and dismiss later games when he played well.
New players are supposed to have issues when they first get on the field.
because they rememebr him playing awful, no one notices an OL playing just “well”… unless he is really good.
That’s why I spend thousands of words writing about O-linemen every year. Fans need to know when they do well.
Tommy Lawlor – on a mission to civilize. Well, more on a mission to educate, but that doesn’t pull off the reference as well. Keep on fighting the good fight Tommy, I for one am a vastly better educated fan for following your work. Can’t wait for the next H2H show when that hack Jimmy Bama finally deigns to make time to record!
Did you hear Chip on the press coverage talking about Lane? He said he didn’t stand out as a rookie. Meaning he didn’t do any glaringly bad things, meaning he didn’t notice him. Which was really good.
So a head coach who doesn’t notice a guy even after reviewing game tape, us casual observers who watch once and get distracted by sack dances, commentator comments, cheerleaders and keeping the funions restocked. Things like who didn’t stand out often gets overlooked.
He said lane was the most consistent in that he was spot on with all his assignments, no mental errors
You don’t understand why people focus on the early season games and dismiss the end if year games when they played better? Hello….Cary Williams!!!!
cant stand sconces
Problem is that Williams is almost guaranteed to make these kind of ill-advised comments again this year especially after an ugly loss where the defense gives up their share of points. This isn’t something that is a ‘1 and done’
You have to wonder if Roseman gave that enough thought and overlooked a lot of Williams’ negatives because of his perceived physical nature & the need to find another starter at CB.
Just to play devil’s advocate, is there a universe where Cary’s comments are a good thing? Maybe he’s not the right guy to say it (hasn’t been on the team long, hasn’t played much yet as Tommy pointed out), but one of the major issues last year was that players didn’t hold each other accountable. I know Cary is taking it to the extreme, but it’s kind of refreshing to hear a player tell others that they need to toughen up. Fighting on the field isn’t the way to get it done, and he was wrong for doing that, but I like the change of pace from not enough pride to too much.
As I pointed out, if Cary said them after he’d practiced for a while and played in a game, it would make a lot of difference.
at which point he would be well ensconced.
Give this dog a biscuit.
Another issue is he did this publicly. Address your teammates behind closed doors. If Cary gets frustrated and commits a crucial personal foul at the end of a close game this year do you expect Kendricks/Cox/Ryans/Soap to come out and say “That dude is terrible, I don’t know how they do it down in Baltimore but we’d prefer you not cost us games with your terrible play”? No you’d expect them to pull him aside and like a man discuss their problems with his performance like men. Not like whiny babies to the press.
Saying this publicaly can be a motivational tool…we really have to see how the players respond to this
Good point. Very curious why he’d say it to the press. Is “big mouth” the true reason? GEagle’s theory is interesting but I’m not sure I buy it.
It’s not my theory…I don’t know what Cary’s motivation is…I just mean that Historically pushing other players buttons in the media has been a big motivational tool for coaches and players…The great Phil Jackson and Parcell believe in throwing players under the bus and using the media to send players messages…I don’t know what Cary’s motivation is, but lighting a fire under his team mates is plausible
but that brings us back to the question of whether Cary is respected enough in the locker room to be able to call people out to the media and have it be motivational and not just make people hate him. its certainly possible Cary thinks he has that respect already, but from the outside it seems unlikely.
That is definitely the big question….but after watching the worst defense I have ever seen, I would hope when a Super Bowl champ talks, the guys listen!!!
As usual another great article Tommy! I guess I am one of the minority in that I don’t mind the comments that Sconces made as much as when he made them.
Tommy good write up! Williams shouldnt air it out in public as he did.. I prefer to tell the boys to their face in practice that they playing soft and need to drink some concrete to harden up! lol Let your play do the talking on the field
From the short time we’ve gotten to know him, Cary Williams seems to confuse misplaced and unwarranted hostility with “toughness.” He also seems to have a weird persecution complex, whether it’s him and his sconces versus the fans and the media or him and his defense against the rest of the league. I totally agree with Tommy, toughness and attitude are incredibly overrated. Does Cary think by fighting largely unheralded rookie WR Aaron Dobson in a joint practice he’s going to create league-wide fear of the Eagles defense, thus rendering opposing offenses so petrified while playing them that they’ll become ripe for domination? Nobody is scared of any defense in the NFL anymore, no matter how imposing they are, because no defense is truly dominant, nor can they be physically intimidating, because the rules put a lot of limits on that kind of play.
Thanks for pointing out the bit about teams normally waiting to practice in pads until the third day after a game. I saw Ray Didinger on TV tonight decrying the fact that they were in pads today. He made it sound like a big deal but I’m glad to hear it’s not.
The whole “we got our asses kicked so now I’m gonna turn around and have you practice to death immediately afterwards” is an outdated and terrible philosophy. The body simply hasn’t had enough time to recover from the added stresses, bumps, bruises, tweaks, that games bring. If you had a full tilt practice within 48 hours of a game the number of soft tissue and joint injuries would significantly increase.
Cary wants to be a defensive leader I this clubhouse? – terrific. He wants to see a hard nose culture that is respected throughout the league – great. Just lead by example on the field – between the whistles. Do your job the right way, shut down receivers, force offensive coordinators to game plan around you before yapping. More bulldog less chihuahua.
Cary was just in a bad mood because he realized that his sconces didn’t match his drapes. What a wasted day of shopping.
The horror! The horror!
i can’t tell if this is a joke about a woman’s hair color or not.
Look, it’s easy to criticize him for his comments, but do you guys know how he avoided getting ejected in the Super Bowl, even after punching a referee? Toughness, PURE AND UNADULTERATED TOUGHNESS! The referee knew that he and his teammates were so tough that if he even dared think about tossing Williams, he would be in for a world of hurt, because of how tough they were, dammit!
Now this is funny. Kudos, sir.
Something that has yet to be mentioned about Shepard, he was one of the gunners, with Boykin, on the punt that was downed at the 1 yard line. As it was Donnie Jones that made that punt, then I presume that Shepard is 1st team ST coverage. That is quite impressive for a guy who has what seems like a pretty serious relationship with JUGS the Machine. He is making an impression in more than one area of the team and for guys at the bottom of the roster, that counts.
hopefully ST becomes more of a priority this year. reports so far seem to indicate it is in camp, but we still don’t know how it will play out as far as the final roster.
hopefully Shepard has shown enough on ST & WR to warrant a roster spot. and if he keeps up that ST play, he might work his way to dressing each week.
Meh. I mean this is what you expect with Carey Williams. He is going to jaw all game long. He is going to scuffle. The only difference is that last year even in losing efforts he still ran his mouth about how good the team was. I mean that’s fine with me. I just figured it would be fine with everyone else who liked the addition. I mean seriously if he didn’t have something to say I would have been shocked. The only difference is no one ever really asked him his opinion in Baltimore. Now the media gathers around him.
Anyone who watched Baltimore last year knows that their defense wasn’t just average it was actually pretty bad. The friggin Eagles had a good offensive game against them. They were gouged by the run and pass at different times. The thing is they played with immense pride and swagger. Even as would put out losing efforts they were punishing opposing players. I’d like to think this helps at the end of the game when its 21-28 4th and goal. If he needs to bark before during and after the game to maybe get that PBU I am fine with it.
This defense isn’t going to be good, but neither was Baltimore’s. Clearly that can work out. I am personally going to let the guy who played a big role on the superbowl team, that I look at as similar in terms of capabilities to this one, work on his philosophy.
My guy hates to lose, and so do I. I can’t fault him there. I’m certainly not going to take anything he says to heart. Remember Manny being Manny (Ramierez)? Carey being Carey.
I agree – they knew who he was when they signed him.
I think attitude and swagger are a couple of things that have been missing from the defense the past few years, so I am actually pretty happy that he said what he said. The only issue I have, as Tommy mentioned, is that his timing leaves a lot to be desired. A guy who has spent most of camp in the training room talking about “toughness” is a bit ironic. Might have been better to wait until he actually did something in a game as opposed to getting thrown out of practice for one of those “football fights” (you know – where 2 guys in helmets and pads push each other and throw punches).
But as long as they didn’t interview him while he was eating lunch in his car I’m OK with it.
shut up and play cornerback.
Before we string Cary up, I would like to see the effects this has on the defense. Players are going to get asked about it, and they have to take the field in 4 days, so Im reserving the right to judge after I watch Thursday’s defense…
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Didingers seems to think there is a possibility that Celek gets cut and we keep Harbor,Casey and Ertz….any thoughts on how likely this is?
I fully understand Tommy’s views on this situation and Cary Williams in the specific context of the player and time of year, but I want a violent football team. I want players who will lay out Victor Cruz and Salsa dance in his face. I want guys who will fight you on the field, in the locker room, and in the parking lot (to paraphrase the announcer from THE U who was talking about why THE U was fighting Florida International) I want other teams to know that anything beyond forfeiting a game vs. the Eagles will leave them black and blue and bloody no matter the score. In short, I want to see 31 other teams have post traumatic stress disorder diagnoses from playing the Eagles. I cannot be the only person here who was high fiving friends around the TV when Dawk terminated Ike Hilliard in a mid-air death smash.
I cannot fault Tommy’s discussion on the context of the Williams situation, but I’ll take it over what we’ve dealt with here for the past few seasons on D.
Yesterday Glen Macnow tweeted out that Dorenbros was knocked out of the game by a cheap shot away from the play. Maybe that doesn’t happen if the loser on the Pats who pulled that stunk was scared that he was going to get jumped or his knees were going to be marked for death.
I’m with you…when the games matter Cary will be out there…When you are a defending superbowl champion coming int a 4-12 team, You Have Every Right To Talk!!!….where we just so filled with leaders that Cary shouldn’t be stepping on anyone’s toes? So because he is injured, he can’t try and rally the troops?
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Good for you Cary, ATleast I can count on your for some fire!!!
I was watching some pre-season games of other NFL teams and as much as it hurts to say but the Giants always seem to draft the right defense players. Damontre Moore was very impressive in his debut for NY. Why cannot we hit the jackpot with DE’s or LB’s?!
Moore played against 2nd and 3rd stringers. You dont remember future HOF Philip Hunt last pre season?
and if we are on that, what about Logan, Square, Curry, McCoy, Acho or Knott?
Also dont ever say Giants and good LBs as long as Coughlin is coach. He ignores LBs more than AR did (and they got terrible players at LB and DL might be the only good part of that defense)
Amen on the Giants. Lucky helmet catch in from 07 season and blind / foolish Chung from 11 season elevated the Giants to something other than lucky.
I was not referring great LB play to the Giants. The above reference was more in relation to our mediocre drafting of LB’s in the past.
However there’s no denying in the Giants ability (call it lucky hand if you like) of drafting premiere Linemen with players like Tuck and JPP leading by example.
JPP was a one year wonder who is now in doubt for his career due to a balky back.
Lol. JPP >>> Graham.
Based on 1 really good season? Graham is a better pass rusher than JPP and JPP is the better run defender. I think in todays NFL I take the pass rusher.
Remember you cant only look at pure sacks. Also have to look at snaps. Graham had almost as many sacks as JPP last year in half the snaps (blame Washburn for his love for Tapp+Babin)
To quote CK: “Bigger guys beat up smaller guys”. I am pretty sure the current coaching staff would prefer JPP to BG if they had the choice.
I doubt it if the smaller guy is the better player. I mean Kelly seems to love Boykin and is starting him over the much larger Marsh.
I really do hope you are not comparing Marsh with JPP. Marsh is trash and will most likely not make the roster this year.
“The above reference was more in relation to our mediocre drafting of LB’s in the past.” Well it is tough to draft good LBs when you never use a high draft pick on one.
Also while Tuck and JPP have, I rather hit on a DL like Cole that was much more consistent and great over a longer period.
“Well it is tough to draft good LBs when you never use a high draft pick on one.”
I would consider the 2nd round as a high draft pick, or have you forgotten about the amazing McCoys (Matt that is!), Darlings, Cavers or Gardners???
I’m probably in the minority here, but I kinda like Cary’s attitude and his little tiff with Chip. Hopefully it doesn’t blow up into a distraction, but it’s good to see guys who think differently.
i’m on the fence about it. i do like the idea of someone on the D openly saying that they are not good enough. its a push to get everyone to play better. we need someone like that on the D. you can argue that maybe its better to have that kind of talk kept within the lockerroom, but thats a different story.
that said, the best way to lead is to lead by example and Cary isn’t doing much of that when he’s not playing/practicing.
The guy has a lingering Hamstring injury…and he remains injured because he continue To come back and try to practice too soon….Sit him the hell down til next week, so we can get this straightened out…I don’t need to see Cary play in the preseason, I need this hamstring injury to disappear before we get to Washington
The only reason it would be a huge distraction if our joke of a local media makes it a distraction…and I’m not about to Chastize players because our media acts like a bunch of fools who don’t know how to act. They have a fanbase that worships the Eagles, and would click on every eagles headline we see, yet they want to create drama? The Jaguars Media Has to create Drama, not the Philadelphia Media!!
“Nate Allen has a pair of pretty healthy legs.” — That is some funny sh1t right there. I’ve seen the movie Re-Animator. Want me to take care of this? We can call him — Kenny Allen or Nate Philips.
Another great article. It’s refreshing to read articles where everything is roses. Interesting view on the WR’s. Do you think we’re in that bad of shape at WR? Sounds like we have “ok” players.
I’ve been down on Celek as well. His play last year slipped. I still have that vision of him completely missing a block inside the 10 last year and that defender blowing up Shady for a fumble.
I’m pretty sure Cary will cost us a crucial 1st down or 2 this year…
I think they’re giving Valdervelde a shot because he’s 3 years younger than Reynolds and far more athletic, he’s a better fit as the replacement for Kelce IF he can master the C position. Reynolds would be better suited to a man blocking system, he’s not an awful athlete, but he doesn’t have second level feet. They know what they have in Reynolds, they’ve giving Vandervelde a chance to beat him out.
Tennant seems to be out of the C competition and is being asked to show if he’s versatile enough to deserve a roster spot by playing serviceable guard.
Barbre is 29, lacks the length for LT, and to me should have been seen as a potential late bloomer at OG. However, if he can fill in at OT, like Tennant, versatility is his ticket to a roster spot.
Menkin is my biggest disappointment, you expect young players, especially small college players, to make a big jump in their second year. Like Carrier, he has hardly skipped, much less leaped.
Tobin seemed to have held his own, not sure why they’re not giving him more reps, 23 years old, good size and athleticism for OT.
Bamiro and Parcell are PS candidates, doubtful anyone will claim them.
Wang is wong.
Kelly better get healthy, he had a roster spot locked up, but either he gets on the field before the end of camp or he had better qualify for an IR berth.
“Wang is wong”.
Lol, did you mean Wang is gone, or Wang is wrong?!
How much Wang could a Wang chuck, chuck, if a Wang chuck, could chuck, Wang?
I wouldn’t care if Jake Knott made these statements….We haven’t had a tough defense in god knows how long, I welcome any and every defender to try and instil some toughness in this Unit….I think the defending Super Bowl champ has every right to speak up to the worst defense in the NFL last year!!….The Message was a good one, he is just misguided in his approach…I honestly don’t get how every single person that Heard what Cary had to say didn’t stand up and Cheer!
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Maybe Cary is just all too caught up in the Ray Lewis Under Armor commercial where Ray yells “We must protect this House!”. But, hey as Tommy & commenters have already stated, this isn’t Baltimore, this isn’t a street fight, it’s professional football. I’m all for toughness, but not with a mentality that we’re going to retaliate by resorting to fisticuffs. Also agree that if you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve gotta walk the walk. So far, Cary has not done a thing to prove himself a leader at all, let alone a leader & spokesman of this defense.
Just a side note, I now live in the Baltimore area (yes, I still & will always bleed green). Ray Lewis is thought of as a god down here, Ed Reed a demigod & Williams is mostly remembered for 3rd down & that’s not b/c he was shut down on 3rd down either.
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Well done ! Drinking water might have been more useful, but hey …