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Eagles Put Their 9-2 Joint Practice Record on the Line Against Cleveland Browns
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BIG day in South Philly as the Cleveland Browns are in town to take on the Philadelphia Eagles in a joint practice. As you know, the Eagles won the 2021 joint practice championship and parlayed that into 2023 and 2025 Super Bowl appearances:
Trying to track the history here, let’s pick it up in the 2023 offseason. The Eagles were 6-2 in joint practices at that point, according to Eliot Shorr-Parks. Covering joint practice for the beats has to be like a Buddhist monk reaching nirvana. You’ve reached the pinnacle in mind, body, spirit, and camp observations.
But anyway, 2023 – the Eagles had a joint practice with the Colts, which was scrapped when a huge brawl broke out. That was when Jason Kelce cleaned Zaire Franklin’s clock after the beats reported a late hit on Kenny Gainwell. There was also a joint practice with the Browns, who accused the Birds of cheap shots. That was Joel Bitonio going public about the chippiness and saying he didn’t appreciate the Eagles approach. Wah wah, etc. We’ll say it’s a 7-2-1 record, with a victory over the Browns and the Colts session going down as a draw, or maybe a “no contest” since it just ended abruptly.
Last year, they had the joint practice with the Pats in New England. Considering that the Pats totally stunk last season, it’s safe to assume the Eagles won that session. So we’ll say they improved to 8-2-1 all-time in joint practice sessions during the Nick Sirianni era. We’ll await confirmation from ESP on the official record.
EDIT – he says 9-2:
9-2 it is.
On a more serious note, these joint practice sessions have taken the place of preseason football. They are more important. The preseason games are mostly useless because the coaches believe their players get the proper run from these scrimmages instead. They get more reps and better reps from simulated game situations, and that gives them all they need to evaluate their team. We’ve already cut the preseason down to three games anyway, right?
Preseason = useless, mostly. Joint practices = the present, and the future.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com