A LITTLE MORE than a week before the Eagles open the regular season at the Linc against the Packers, head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg still are being purposely vague about their plan for Mike Vick in the offense. Yes, he will back up Kevin Kolb. But they could have gone out and gotten any one of a half-dozen other quarterbacks who would’ve been better fits for that job than this wild stallion from Newport News, Va. He’s still here because Reid and Mornhinweg think Vick’s unique skills as a runner-thrower can be of value to the Eagles’ offense this season, even if Kolb manages to stay upright for 16 games. “I don’t know exactly what [my role] is going to be,”
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Vick could take a run at third-down improvement for Eagles
IF I WERE a fan, I don’t think I would’ve paid $10 to attend last night’s preseason finale between the Eagles and the New York Jets. But the generally held belief that this game is meaningless is probably the farthest thing from the truth. Yes, the starters were given the night off, but the middle and final pieces of this roster are still in flux. For some of the guys who played in the Eagles’ 21-17 loss, it wasn’t just their final chance to leave an impression with the coaches; it was the only extended chance. For guys fighting to move up the depth chart or grab one of those last roster spots, every snap was crucial. After a long training camp, when most of the time you were used as
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For some Eagles, final preseason game was chance to show they belong
Now that Thursday night’s charade brought a merciful end to the exhibition games, there is nothing but a short expanse of practices separating the Eagles from the start of the regular season. Ready or not, here it comes, and much more than in recent seasons, there is good reason to wonder if the Eagles will be ready or not. It is a question that goes beyond whether they will be ready for the Green Bay Packers, one of the best teams in the conference. The Eagles might lose that game, perhaps soundly, and still emerge from the rubble with a chance for a productive season. “We’ll get those things fixed and it starts with me,” Andy Reid would no doubt say. At least, that is what he has said
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Now it’s reality for Birds
Eagles coach Andy Reid insisted that some jobs were still up for grabs going into Thursday night’s game — a 21-17 loss to the New York Jets. The Eagles coach probably wasn’t referring to the backup quarterback spot, although Michael Vick’s preseason wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. Vick entered the Eagles’ final preseason game having thrown three interceptions. He also had been sacked four times and had compiled a 33.7 passer rating. Those stats didn’t exactly reflect the work he had put in during the spring and summer to acclimate to the West Coast offense, and they didn’t exactly inspire confidence that he could take the wheel if starter Kevin Kolb were to suffer a major injury. It’s safe
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Vick solidifies his spot
On a scorching-hot weekday morning at Eagles training camp, retired running back Duce Staley was flanked by a half-dozen active running backs at Lehigh University. The temperature was boiling over into the low 90s - humid enough to warrant a lighter workout in the second of two-a-day practices that afternoon. But the Eagles pushed to close out the morning session strong. Near the end zone, Staley draped his thick arm around players’ shoulders, pointed to the field, and offered directions on making cuts during this noncontact drill. The first attempt was unsuccessful, so Staley called it back for another try. Even during the days of camp when the weather betrays players and practices seem
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Eagles running backs benefit from Staley’s expertise
TWICE, KURT COLEMAN was just kinda standing there, minding his own business, and, hey - a football! Coleman is a seventh-round rookie from Ohio State whose hard-hitting style and special-teams savvy probably had earned him an Eagles roster spot even before his scintillating two-touchdown first half in last night’s preseason finale, a 21-17 loss to the visiting New York Jets. But Coleman might play a long time in the NFL without fortune ever smiling on him again the way it smiled in this game. First time, the Jets were running the 12th play of a drive that had started on their 2. Running back Joe McKnight careened into one of his blockers on first down from the Birds’ 35, and the ball
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Coleman’s two touchdowns the only highlight from Eagles preseason loss to Jets
Center Jamaal Jackson could be the opening day starter after all. During an interview on last night’s broadcast of the preseason finale, Jackson said that the chances of him playing on Sept. 12 against Green Bay are “99.9 percent.” Jackson said his knee “feels great” following ACL surgery last December and said “they have been working me out hard this week,” in order to see whether he was ready to play. “Hopefully, no setbacks leading up to this,” he said. “And hopefully, I’ll be out there with my team.” He conceded rust could be a factor, but said he thought his experience could overcome that. Jackson, with the Eagles since 2003, would be the most experienced starter on offense.
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Jamaal Jackson: ‘99.9 percent’ chance he plays in opener
Jorrick Calvin was minding his business bright and early Monday morning - the business of trying to make the Arizona Cardinals’ roster - when he was pulled from a defensive backs meeting and told the head coach wanted to see him. Calvin is a rookie, 23 years old, and he might not know much about the workings of professional football yet, but he knew that Ken Whisenhunt probably wasn’t going to give him a good-conduct medal. The walk through the corridors seemed endless, with the pit-of-the-stomach emptiness that accompanies any unexpected trip to the principal’s office. But Calvin received a mixture of good news along with the bad when he arrived. The Cardinals, the team that drafted him
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Eagles’ Calvin a necessary part or extra cargo?
Andy Reid has tried to sell you on the fourth preseason game. The Eagles coach insisted recently that some final job battles are up for grabs tonight when the Eagles and Jets have their final tuneup before the Sept. 12 season opener. “There’s a couple of different (open) spots,” Reid said. “I’m not going to get into those. I think it’s important that all the guys that have an opportunity to play, play like they have an opportunity to make this football team. In essence, they do.” Nonsense, we say. The coaches know exactly who stays and who goes Sunday, when the NFL mandates that teams cut down to a 53-man roster. But since we can’t inject Big Red with truth serum, we’ve taken it upon
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Roster seems to be in order
At the start of every Eagles training camp, there are 80 players and a lot fretting over who will make the 53-man roster six weeks later. But, somehow, after dozens of practices, four preseason games, and hours of watching film, coach Andy Reid and his crew end up with very few tough choices when final cuts must be made by Saturday afternoon. With various places to stow and sometimes protect players - injured reserve, the physically-unable-to-perform list or the practice squad - picking the final roster essentially comes down to two or three players. Final, of course, is a relative term. Reid and general manager Howie Roseman will continue to tinker with the roster in the week leading up
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A look at the likely Eagles roster
The NFL Players Association is monitoring a little-known “85-percent rule” after two minor trades this week involving rookie players were made even as confusion reigned over the rule’s application. Under the rule, which is only applicable in an uncapped year, any drafted rookie who is cut by his team has 85 percent of the $310,000 first-year minimum salary reallocated to rookies who do make the club. The rule came under scrutiny when the Redskins and Rams exchanged rookie players in separate transactions earlier this week. The Washington Redskins traded rookie tight end/fullback Dennis Morris to the St. Louis Rams for a future conditional draft pick; the Redskins then acquired rookie
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Sources: NFLPA monitoring trades
WHEN ANDY REID said yesterday that, “You want to make sure that you’re right” about roster selections, he was not speaking in the theoretical. Just last summer the St. Louis Rams plucked Danny Amendola from the Eagles’ practice squad and turned him into a valuable NFL player, a slot receiver with 43 catches and the sixth-best punt-return average in the NFL. When Chad Hall comes into the locker room late and out of breath from running extra routes, it is not some schoolboy’s attempt to impress. If he has learned nothing else about the NFL since he signed a free-agent contract with the Eagles in March, he has learned what a heartless business it can be, that signing a player one day does not
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Eagles rookie receiver Chad Hall needs to play fast in preseason finale
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