ARE YOU NEW HERE? NOT LOGGED IN? PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO REGISTER FOR AN ACCOUNT AND LOGIN TO REMOVE THIS WINDOW
Welcome to PatsFans.com. Do you have an account? If not - please take a moment to register for our forum and experience a much smoother experience with fewer ads, along with no longer having to see this notification window. Also learn about how you can receive a free Patriots T-Shirt from the Patriots Official ProShop by CLICKING HERE. Please enjoy your stay here, and Go Pats!
The presumption that Ellis Hobbs will overtake Sheldon Brown in the aftermath of Brown's unhappiness with his contract and subsequent trade demand seems to be unfounded thus far.
When asked about the corner rotation for Thursday's preseason opener, defensive coordinator Sean McDermott said it would be just like it has been at training camp.
"Sheldon and Asante will start and they will also work themselves in," McDermott said. "Then we’ll go from there.”
McDermott described Hobbs as "absorbing the defense right now."
Interestingly, excellent Boston Globe beat reporter Mike Reiss noted that Hobbs would be the fifth or sixth best corner on the Patriots roster right now.
I did get a chuckle in the comment section where a fan calls out Reiss for his opinion, and then declares that the only CB on the Pats depth chart that would be above Hobbs right now is Darius Butler.
The Eagles have said they're really interested in seeing what tight end Rob Myers can do tomorrow night in the preseason opener against New England, even though Myers went undrafted out of Utah State, even though he wasn't in anybody's training camp when they signed him last weekend.
You can tell the team is ready to leave Lehigh - for the second day in a row, the morning session was less than crisp. Donovan McNabb tried to liven things up by mugging for the crowd, leading cheers and playing air guitar on the sideline. Fans were given schedule refrigerator magnets on Fan Appreciation Day.
Trent Cole is out of the discussion for now, which is just fine - Cole's sprained AC joint should be healed by the time the season starts, a month from tomorrow. The Eagles know what they can expect from him.
New defensive coordinator Sean McDermott needs to find out about his other defensive ends, a process that starts in earnest with tomorrow night's preseason opener at Lincoln Financial Field against the New England Patriots.
"Life's crazy and it's full of opportunities," Nagy was saying yesterday morning, after he pulled on the No. 9 red jersey and practiced as the Eagles' third-string quarterback. He is 31 years old, out of the University of Delaware and the Arena Football League. He had never gotten a sniff in an NFL training camp. He was with the Eagles for his second summer as a coaching intern, preparing for the rest of his life.
And now he was playing, suddenly, because the Eagles needed a quarterback for a short period of time while backup Kevin Kolb recovered from a knee sprain. And now it was past midnight, Monday going into Tuesday, and the playbook was put away. "I was laying in bed, and I just got done, and just laid down and was thinking, and had a smile on my face that this is happening," Nagy said. "That might be all it is. It may be more. I don't know. But how can you not have a smile on your face with this opportunity?"
By the end of the afternoon practice, however, the would-be Eagles quarterback was close-mouthed after the team released a terse statement saying the NFL had rejected his contract. Nagy was back to being a coaching intern.
In a matter of hours, one of the few feel-good stories of a training camp full of lousy ones had regressed into a minor public-relations blunder.
FEATURED ADVERTISEMENT
DONATE TO PATSFANS.COM
RECEIVE A FREE PATS T-SHIRT AND SAVE 15% OFF WHEN YOU BUY FROM THE OFFICIAL PROSHOP!
Free T-Shirt & Save 15% Off!
Like Our Site? Please help support our site and server costs by DONATING TO PATSFANS.COM and receive a FREE PATRIOTS T-SHIRT and SAVE 15% off EVERY purchase you make from PatriotsProShop.com. You'll also receive added benefits to your account including Removing All Ads During Your Experience Here At Our Forum.
NEEDED YEARLY SITE DONATIONS: 345 | CURRENT # OF SUBSCRIBED SUPPORTERS: 98
If the Birds' first-string passing attack is looking sharp (which it does), and receivers DeSean Jackson, Kevin Curtis, Reggie Brown, Jason Avant, and Jeremy Maclin are all enjoying productive to above average camps (which they are), then logic dictates someone is throwing them catchable balls that give their routes payoff. That person is Donovan McNabb.
Not only has McNabb produced positive results on the field, he's made sure to keep the club cohesive amidst a training camp that's featured its fair share of unanticipated adversity. Injuries have slowed the development of a revamped projected starting offensive line designed to protect him, and TE Cornelius Ingram's ACL tear cost McNabb a rookie receiving option with whom he had been developing comfort and chemistry. Through it all, in addition to the absence of RB Brian Westbrook, McNabb has projected nothing but an upbeat attitude. If his belief has wavered, he hasn't shown it.
Re: Behind enemy lines: preseason week 1 at Eagles
From the Eagles team website, the expected starting lineups: Philadelphia Eagles
Offense: QB Donovan McNabb, RB LeSean McCoy, FB Leonard Weaver, WR Kevin Curtis, LT Jason Peters, LG Nick Cole, C Jamaal Jackson, RG Max Jean-Gilles, RT Winston Justice, TE Brent Celek, WR DeSean Jackson
Defense: LDE Juqua Parker, LDT Mike Patterson, RDT Brodrick Bunkley, RDE Darren Howard, WLB Akeem Jordan, MLB Joe Mays, SLB Chris Gocong, LCB Asante Samuel, SS Quintin Mikell, FS Quintin Demps, RCB Sheldon Brown
In injury news, Todd Herremans will be held out of the game, and perhaps the entire preseason, with a stress reaction in a bone right above the arch in his foot. Reid said it might be a four week injury, but Herremans is expected to be ready for the regular season opener in Carolina.
Stacy Andrews will also be held out of the game for caution's sake, although he is improving. The other players who will not play Thursday night are Trevor Laws, Victor Abiamiri, Shawn Andrews, Brian Westbrook, Stewart Bradley, Cornelius Ingram, Kevin Kolb, Trent Cole, and Matt Schobel.
As for the quarterbacks, newly signed Adam DiMichele might get some action in the fourth quarter, although it will be mostly on short passes and hand-offs, Reid said. DiMichele is getting a crash course in the offense today, although he was with the team in mini camp.
As training camp comes to a close, one of the standout players has been rookie linebacker Moise Fokou. The seventh-round pick came into camp part of a loaded linebacker corps and has ascended to the second-team strongside linebacker on the official depth chart.
"He's got a skill set of strength and quickness and then he's got a very serious approach to the game," said defensive coordinator Sean McDermott. "That's big for a rookie, to come in and have that background and really not have to learn that part of it. It's a step in the right direction."
Indeed, Fokou credits his work off the field as much as his work on the field for his rise up the linebacker ladder.
"I've been staying in my playbook," Fokou said, "And once you get that part down, I think it allows your natural athleticism to come out because you're not thinking so much on the field, you're just reacting."
Thanks for posting the links...Fokou is not a new name to the draft forum, he was one of the Linebackers NE scouted closely for the draft. His reported playing weight was a bit low for NE's 3-4 base, but if Fokou is working into second team SLB for Philly because of his strength, quickness, and smarts I can see why NE was sniffing around him.
__________________
"Avert thine eyes! You're not hot enough to be looking at me." To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Thanks for posting the links...Fokou is not a new name to the draft forum, he was one of the Linebackers NE scouted closely for the draft. His reported playing weight was a bit low for NE's 3-4 base, but if Fokou is working into second team SLB for Philly because of his strength, quickness, and smarts I can see why NE was sniffing around him.
Congrats on post #15k!
Yeah, I remember a lot of good things being said about Fokou before the draft too. I'll be curious to see how he does Thursday.
Behind Enemy Lines: Preseason Week 1 at Eagles
Linear Mode
