Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Let’s Go Camping!

Posted July 25th, 2023 | Comments Off on Let’s Go Camping!

The Super Bowl is a distant memory. Free agency came and went. The draft as well. OTAs are long forgotten. It is late July and that means one thing…Training Camp is here. The Eagles will spend the next five weeks practicing so that players can improve and so the organization can figure out who the best 53 players are.

The old days of brutal camps are over. Check out this comment from Bill Belichick to really appreciate how things have changed.

“My first year in the league we went to training camp July 5, first regular season game was September 24. We had six preseason games and three preseason scrimmages. So of course it’s different. With the Giants we had fifty-some practices before our first game. Padded practices. It is what it is. Things have changed so we change…”

His career began in the mid-70’s so that’s a whole different world. Here is a good story from Jason Kelce that helps you understand how things were under Andy Reid.

https://twitter.com/newheightshow/status/1684015264457957376

Now compare that stuff to this nugget from Jimmy Bama.

The Eagles only have 9 scheduled training camp practices (plus 5 walkthroughs), then likely 2 joint practices with the Browns and one with the Colts. That’s only a dozen practices during training camp, which would be the lightest camp I have ever covered. I assume there will be no more quibbling with Nick Sirianni’s and the front office’s cautious approach to camp, given the team’s low number of injuries the last two seasons, not to mention a pair of Week 1 wins.

It would be easy to rip Sirianni and the Eagles if the team was struggling, getting banged up or not physical. None of those areas are issues. The Eagles were the best team in the NFC last year. They stayed incredibly healthy. And they are one of the most physical teams in the league. Whatever Sirianni is doing, it is working.

You should read all of Jimmy’s piece to get his TC preview (or in case you have insomnia…zing!).

I’m curious to see where the team is overall. I’ve followed two post-Super Bowl teams. The 2005 Eagles did not have a normal camp because of the TO situation. Things were just insane. It was impossible for the players and coaches to have a cohesive camp with so much divisive drama. That was a bizarre summer and an even weirder season.

The 2018 team didn’t have anything to that extent, but Carson Wentz’s injury made things awkward. Nick Foles was the starting QB, but he knew that was only until Wentz got healthy. That created a bit of an odd dynamic. Other injuries started to pile up and that simply meant too many good players were missing. Everyone was excited to see what the team could do since they were coming off such a special season, but you started to think the magic of 2017 might not be happening again.

There are no controversies heading into this TC. There are no crazy injury situations. The Eagles have arguably the best roster in the league and enough coaching talent to get the most out of the players.

The big question right now is how they’ll respond to the success of last year, as well as the Super Bowl loss. The team has to put all of that in their rearview mirror. Zach Berman wrote an excellent piece on Sirianni trying to learn from last year while also focusing on this year.

“Our goal every day isn’t to come in here to chase the Super Bowl,” Sirianni said. “You hope it gets to that, but it’s to look at the daily increments, right? And how we get better, how we get better, how we get better. … You got to be really good to win. You got to be really good to get to the playoffs even, right? Then you’re gonna have some luck involved in it. So are we doing the things that we can control every single day to put ourselves in position to go win another?”

Live in the moment. Focus on what’s in front of you, not what’s behind you.

Knowing that is easy. Getting players and coaches to buy in is tougher. One thing that will help is that the Eagles will have young players taking over key roles. Nakobe Dean was a backup last year. He’s going to be hungry and driven this year. There will be a new RG, either Cam Jurgens or Tyler Steen. Both players will have a lot to prove. There are new RBs who will have a chip on their shoulder. There are plenty of young DL who will be hungry.

Most importantly, Jalen Hurts is the QB of this team. He is one of the most driven players I’ve ever seen. Getting so close will only make him hungrier. He will be a man on a mission and will be the kind of leader this team needs to stay focused.

While it feels like the team has the right mix of players to make another deep run, history shows that teams can struggle to make it back. Heck, just repeating as NFC East champs is hard. The last team to do that was the 2004 Eagles. If things go right one year, there is a legit chance they’ll go wrong the next year. This could be injuries, lucky bounces, close calls by the officials and any number of miscellaneous factors. And we know the Eagles will be targeted this year. Everyone will want to take out a Super Bowl team from last year.

I’m excited to see what this team can do. Sirianni has been masterful at pushing the right buttons to keep his team focused and motivated. This will be his biggest challenge so far. If the Eagles are going to go on a special run in the next few years, they need Sirianni to show he’s not just a builder, but is the kind of coach who can keep a team playing at a high level.

*****

Get ready for a summer of roster turnover. Guys will get hurt. Some fringe guys will struggle and get replaced.

The bottom of the roster will change a few times.

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