Yeah, But…

Posted: August 23rd, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Yeah, But…

The Eagles didn’t practice on Saturday, but they did have a tough, physical practice on Friday. And the defensive line was dominant. That was very encouraging since the DL didn’t even have all their key players. This is a deep, talented group and they made play after play on Friday.

The bad news…they did all that against the Eagles offensive line.

The problem with Training Camp is that there aren’t any bad guys. This is Eagle vs Eagle. As a coach or scout or fan, you don’t want any group dominating another one. You would rather the two sides be fairly evenly matched, with one having a slight advantage.

Should we be concerned about the Eagles OL? I don’t think so right now, but we don’t want that performance to become a trend.

The offense was missing the top two RBs, the top two TEs and at least one key receiver. The line had some shuffling, with Jason Peters coming off and on the field a couple of times. It wasn’t ideal circumstances. Still, the DL shouldn’t have been that dominant.

TC practices aren’t static. One player or one group can have a strong day. The other player or other group gets fired up by that and responds with a better showing the next time out. Good teams are competitive. The players bring the best out in each other.

Jeff Stoutland will let his blockers know they had a bad day. Admit it. Deal with it. Learn from it. He will push them to be a lot better in Sunday’s practice. Stoutland and his veteran players have a lot of pride. I would expect them to play much better.

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Nate Sudfeld had his best practice on Friday. Some people were starting to think Jalen Hurts might push for the backup QB job. Hurts has made some plays and shown really good ability. Sudfeld had been quiet to start camp. Not bad…just quiet. He played well on Friday. I think the Eagles value his experience in the scheme and will keep him the number two QB for now.

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Sweat has flashed in camp each of the past two years. That talent shows up at times during the season, but not consistently.

I would love for 2020 to be a breakout season for him. I’m just a bit skeptical.

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J.J. Arcega-Whiteside had his best day on Friday. He made some tough catches and looked good. The next step for him is to do what Doug Pederson calls “stacking practices”. Have two in a row. Then a third. And so on.

Don’t get satisfied with a good day. Build on that until playing at that level become habit. Encouraging to see JJAW showing progress. He could be a good role player for this offense.

His potential certainly goes beyond that, but after the 2019 showing…let’s start with being a role player and we’ll build from there.

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One guy who hasn’t impressed so far is Jordan Mailata. He was better in preseason games than practices so not having them this year will hurt him. He really needs the light to go on in TC. The size is there. The athleticism is there. The potential is there. Something isn’t clicking.

The lack of a true football background might be too much to overcome.

*****

Not ideal for a pass catcher. The good news is that he’s got time to heal.

We know what Goedert can do. Just get him healthy for the regular season.

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Tucker was really struggling so this is no surprise. Fulgham gives the team another receiver with some size.

With Fulgham’s size and skill set, he reminds me of JJAW. Let’s hope Fulgham’s first year in Philly goes better.

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