Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Angry Birds

Posted August 22nd, 2023 | Comments Off on Angry Birds

The Eagles had a joint practice with the Colts on Tuesday. The Eagles were clearly the better team, but Indy didn’t back down. They were feisty and physical. The Eagles got ticked and that led to a melee that ended practice.

I’m more interested in the football than the fight. Football players getting angry is hardly breaking news.

Here are the links to practice notes.

Jimmy Bama

ZachBo

Fran/Chris

Jeff McLane

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We still don’t know what’s going to happen at safety. Reed Blankenship is locked in at one spot. Terrell Edmunds, K’Von Wallace, Sydney Brown and Justin Evans are battling for the other spot. Wallace is the only one not getting reps with the starters. Brown seems to be the guy who makes the most splash plays.

Brown covers a lot of ground and closes to the ball better than any of the other DBs. He’s got real pop when he hits. There is a strong argument for him getting the starting nod.

Evans is the mystery man to me. I’m not watching practice so I can only go off what I see in the games. And I’m not impressed. The coaches see something I don’t. Or maybe they are just giving him as many chances as possible to show what he’s got.

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Zach liked what he saw from Jalen Carter.

Another active day for Jalen Carter, who has come on during the past two weeks. He’s in the backfield often and continues to work with the first-team defense. If Carter was hot and cold early in camp, that has clearly changed. The hype is real for him.

McLane was impressed as well.

I’m not sure if Barnett is a good role model for Carter, but I bet the Colts regretted getting him stoked. On the very next play, he tossed offensive lineman Carter O’Donnell to the ground, stood over him and then gestured to the opposing sideline. And then again on the next play, the defensive tackle housed O’Donnell with a power move and glanced toward the Colts.

Carter announced his arrival earlier. He beat a guard with an inside rush and eased up before Richardson for a would-be sack. As the unblocked defender on a zone run, he read Richardson’s keep for what would have likely been a tackle for loss. Even when getting double teamed, he wrestled himself free and chased down the quarterback for a coverage sack.

The hype has been real. Carter will certainly have his ups and downs as a rookie, especially once he faces top interior blockers on a consistent basis, but his rare blend of speed and strength will likely rate him higher than most first-year defensive linemen.

Carter always had talent, but he was inconsistent, as so many rookies are. The jump from college to the NFL is huge. Just being bigger or better isn’t enough anymore. It seems like Carter is figuring things out and is being disruptive on a regular basis. That’s a great sign for the upcoming season.

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Coaches don’t generally like fights. They don’t accomplish anything and eat up valuable practice time. I do think Nick Sirianni liked the fact his team was playing with an edge. Sirianni had a bit of an edge himself.

Here’s Jimmy on the coach.

Sirianni was chippy today as well. On a play in which K’Von Wallace intercepted Richardson, a pair of flags came out for pass interference. Wallace bumped the receiver, but he was making a play on the ball. Personally, I thought they were garbage flags. So did Sirianni. He ran over, picked up both flags, and tossed them back to the officials.

A play or two later, a Colts receiver was flagged for OPI on a long completed pass down the right sideline. Sirianni ran over to the Colts bench and signaled OPI, lol.

The Eagles two biggest issues this year are injuries and complacency. Sirianni is doing everything he can to make sure his team doesn’t get complacent. They had one flat practice against Cleveland and then came out flying the next day. He had them flying around on Tuesday as well. That’s a good sign. The starters are locked in. There won’t be any resting on last year’s laurels.

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Some OL notes from Bo.

Before practice, Sirianni relented that, yes, while he doesn’t have to officially name a starting right guard, we can all see that Cam Jurgens has taken every rep with the ones this summer. The second-team offensive line, from left to right, was Johnson, Sua Opeta, Andrews, Steen and Driscoll, with Brett Toth and Cameron Tom rotating at times with Johnson and Andrews, respectively. Notably, Josh Sills, who was initially inserted as the second-team left guard upon his return from the commissioner’s exempt list, was buried on the depth chart.

I don’t get Sirianni’s reluctance to name Jurgens the RG. I love Nick, but that just seems silly.

Sills dropping to the #3 OL is designed to get his attention. Sills played well in the preseason opener. He had some struggles in last week’s game. The Eagles like Sills and need him for depth, but he’s not so good he can afford bad preseason games. Keep your eye on him on Thursday.

Back to Jurgens. Jimmy had a note on him.

If there was one Eagles player that I thought had a shaky day, it was Cam Jurgens. He got dusted twice in 1-on-1’s by Dayo Odeyingbo and Tyquan Lewis. Odeyingbo also beat Jurgens for a sack during 11-on-11’s. Jurgens has otherwise had a very strong camp while transitioning from C to RG. I do think it’s interesting that Sirianni has not played Jurgens at all in any of the preseason games, whereas other inexperienced starters like Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter played in both games.

Jurgens played a lot last summer, but that was at center. It is fair to question if Jurgens should get some reps in a preseason game as the RG. I guess the argument against that is he’d be playing with backups. I don’t think Sirianni wants his starting OL out there.

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Fran had a good note on Devon Allen.

Devon Allen wins on a really crafty slant route, clubbing cornerback Kevin Tolliver aside and working in for a wide-open catch. We didn’t see that kind of nuance from Allen last year. The second-year receiver came back a couple of minutes later with a great stutter-go move for a touchdown over the top. Allen stood out as a gunner in special teams drills today as well.

Allen was terrific last summer. An injury has limited him this year. Allen knocked the rust off in the Browns game while catching 2 passes. He needs a big game this week and some more strong practices to push for a roster spot. With his speed and STs ability, that is possible. Zech McPhearson has been a key gunner the past two years. His injury could open the door for Allen to push for that role.

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Jimmy had some love for Grant Calcaterra.

The Eagles ran a trick play in which they pitched to Gainwell, who threw threw a left-handed pass deep down the field to Grant Calcaterra, who made a jumping grab. It was a really nice throw!

And

We mentioned Calcaterra above. He had his best practice of camp, making a bunch of catches on the day. His best play of the day was a fingertip catch in traffic over the middle.

I think Calcaterra is a lock to make the team. He is a gifted pass-catcher and solid athlete. He’s improving as a blocker and could be a valuable role player. You can see good talent on this catch and run from last year.

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DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown were great in the practice against the Colts. That’s not a headliner anymore, which is a compliment to just how special those guys are. I can’t wait to see them in action this year.

That Jalen Hurts guy was pretty decent, too.

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Tuesday was the last day for the media to be able to fully cover practice. Great job by all of the Eagles beat reporters again this summer. They keep us informed and entertained. Please make sure you support these guys. Not every team has the kind of coverage we get. Eagles fans are very lucky.

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