Getting Worms: Your Morning Eagles Training Camp Reader
This is why you always wear a helmet on the field. Philly.com:
Eagles kicker Caleb Sturgis suffered a concussion before Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers when a punt hit him in the head during pregame warm-ups. He was not wearing a helmet. Sturgis missed the game, giving Cody Parkey all of the kicking duties.
Offensively the game was uninspiring. Philly.com:
All kidding aside, the receivers didn’t deserve sole blame for how dreadful Doug Pederson’s offense looked in the Eagles’ 17-0 preseason victory over the Steelers. The makeshift line was out of sorts, with rookie Isaac Seumalo at left guard and Allen Barbre at right tackle as the unit prepares for the inevitable loss of Lane Johnson. Running back Ryan Mathews struggled to find consistent holes, and whenever quarterback Sam Bradford and the offense seemed to be moving in the right direction, there was a setback — a sack or penalty. Even the tight ends – the offense’s best unit – contributed to the malaise. A Zach Ertz pass-interference penalty negated a third-down conversion. The Eagles managed a first down on the next play when receiver Nelson Agholor skied for 22-yard grab. But Agholor, true to his nature, dropped the next pass.
Momentum is the offense’s issue. Philly Voice:
The defense can’t be expected to create that many turnovers and continually give the offense such short fields with which to work. And no, I’m not faulting the offense for taking advantage of these situations — their ability to score in the red zone has been a pleasant surprise. Rather, it’s their inability to sustain any momentum and put together an extended drive that’s been most troubling. But given how stagnant the Eagles offense looked over the last three quarters against the Bucs, that alone was a big improvement after a slow start in Pittsburgh. “We really rebounded and put a nice drive together to score the three points right before the half,” Pederson said after the game. “And again, part of that drive, even the drive before that, we were moving and a couple of penalties caused us to stop that drive. But I was pleased with how the offense was able to move the ball there in the second quarter.”
They couldn’t resist shooting themselves in the foot. CSN:
Bradford and company were supposed to play the first quarter and then just a little bit into the second, but thanks to a quick three-and-out and a long Steelers drive, had just four snaps in the first quarter. The first-team offense ended up getting the entire first half and didn’t leave Pittsburgh with much to show for it (see 10 observations). The first group got six first downs for 122 yards. Bradford completed 14 of 19 passes for 115 yards and a passer rating of 88.7, but his unit really never got going. Ryan Mathews had just five carries for 18 yards. The Eagles’ best drive of the first half went just 38 yards. The unit also had a couple bad penalties, including an OPI on Zach Ertz and a hold on Isaac Seumalo, to negate what would have been big plays.
It’s kind of a mish-mashed mess. CSN:
Since the starters aren’t expected to play in the preseason finale against the Jets on Sept. 1, the first offense has one more chance to come up with some sort of cohesion, some sort of consistency, before opening day against the Browns. That’s a week from Saturday in Indy vs. the Colts. The first offense played just three snaps against Tampa last week, which is the same as not playing at all, and against the Steelers, the unit managed three points and 122 yards in a half against a combination of the Steelers’ first- and second-team defenses. That’s five series and an average of 25 yards per drive. You can’t single out anybody. They’ve all been ineffective. The quarterback, the running back, the receivers, the tight ends, the offensive line. Right now, this is an ineffective offense lacking consistency, explosion and playmaking, and it doesn’t have much time to fix it.
It was all very “vanilla” on purpose. CSN:
“I think we were pretty vanilla tonight,” Bradford said. “I think they were pretty vanilla on defense too when we were in there. But, yeah, we really didn’t do a whole lot that was very fancy tonight.” Bradford said needing to go vanilla in this game wasn’t tough for him. He wanted to see communication at the line of scrimmage and tempo in and out of the huddle. He thought both were good. “With that being said, you would like to score more points than we did tonight,” the quarterback admitted.
And there wasn’t much excitement to begin with. Philly.com:
With Carson Wentz sitting out with a rib fracture, the focus was on starting quarterback Sam Bradford and his offensive line, suddenly threatened by the looming suspension of right tackle Lane Johnson. The conclusion there was “meh.” Not having Wentz to spice up the evening brought home how much this training camp and preseason have been about the second player taken in the draft, and how bland and tasteless the regular season might become if the rookie is buried on the bench, as currently is the plan of Eagles coach Doug Pederson. The biggest development of the night might have been the first-half knee injury suffered by rookie middle linebacker Joe Walker, who was having a strong camp. More to the point, Walker and vet Najee Goode are the team’s only backup linebackers of note. A source close to the situation said the injury is serious. This will revive the long-running rumors about the Birds’ interest in free agent LB Stephen Tulloch. There have been talks there, but a source said nothing was immiment – before Walker went down.
But the defense embarrassed the Stellers’ backup skill players. Philly.com:
he turnover fun continued Thursday night in the Eagles’ 17-0 win over the Steelers. Yes, that was Landry Jones at quarterback in the first half and not Ben Roethlisberger. And yes, All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell also had the evening off. But the preseason is for building confidence, and Schwartz’s defense added a few more bricks of it against the Steelers, intercepting four Jones passes in the first half. Cornerbacks Nolan Carroll and Aaron Grymes and safeties Jaylen Watkins and Malcolm Jenkins all had picks. Last season, the Eagles’ defense had only three interceptions in the final eight games. In their first two preseason games, they already have seven. It means nothing, and it means everything.
The balance between offense and defense wasn’t there. Philly.com:
“It’s hard to really gauge everything off the preseason . . . but to have seven [interceptions] in two games is obviously a good start,” Jenkins said. “There’s a lot of other things we need to improve on and work on, but that’s one of the positives when we evaluate where we’re at at this point.” Even though the defense forced those four first-half turnovers, the Eagles had only 10 points to show for it. Sam Bradford went 14 of 19 for 115 yards while playing the whole first half, but the offense didn’t threaten to score. The Eagles sent punter Donnie Jones onto the field four times, and penalties put the Eagles in some tough third-down situations.
Dorial Green-Beckham made his Eagles debut last night. PhillyMag:
For his first play, Green-Beckham was inserted at the end of a drive in the third quarter once the Eagles reached the 5-yard line, when Chase Daniel under-threw a fade pass to him. In the fourth quarter, Green-Beckham dropped a pass from McLeod Bethel-Thompson, one play after Green-Beckham ran wide open unnoticed by his quarterback. “Being in this offense, I could catch a lot of balls and score a lot of touchdowns. Being able to have my teammates have my back, and just being there to fight for those guys,” Green-Beckham said. “This is a fresh start; a new start. New teammates, a family, a great family atmosphere. I feel like this is a brand new start.”
Nolan Carrol had a great night. Philly Voice:
Do the Eagles have a stud lockdown corner who is going to make the Pro Bowl? No, probably not. But they do have two professional corners, and legitimate starters in Leodis McKelvin and Nolan Carroll, as well as quality depth behind them. Carroll had a great night, as he was targeted (by my count) three times, resulting in a pick six, a pass breakup, and an offensive pass interference call.