Phreak's Training Camp Report; 03 August 2006 (Morning Session Only)

[PhillyPhreak54]

Another hot day up at Lehigh. You can tell the heat and the daily grind of being up there is starting to wear on the players. There was a pretty good fight today between Runyan and Juqua Thomas. I'll describe it later. But you can definitley get the feel that they are tired of beating on their teammates and they are ready to start hitting other teams.

As always, in Andy Reid style, we start off with the injuries;

a. Ryan Moats - Did not practice. He was running on the far field though.
b. Derek Fenner - Did not practice. He was running with Moats.
c. Donald Strickland - Did not practice. He was running with these guys too.
d. Brian Westbrook - Did not practice. Still has the flu
e. Correll Buckhalter - Started off practicing but I saw him leave later on.
f. Chris Gocong - Still no contact due to the stinger
g. Todd Pinkston - Did not practice. Nowhere to be seen.

1. Being that Westbrook was out and Buck ended up leaving (I do not know what isup with Buck. He started off doing drills and then I saw him going back into the fieldhouse about an hour later) today was the Reno and Bruce show with a little Tapeh sprinkled in there. These were the guys who were handling the running duties so they definitley got their work in. Tapeh only took a handful of snaps at RB and the rest were at FB.

2. Reno, and I know you guys do not want to hear this, ran the ball decent today. He had a real nice TD run on a delayed handoff. He took the handoff and went off right tackle, shook a few guys and then found his way into the endzone. They were doing red-zone drills so this was a 20 yard TD run. He still dances too damn much for my liking. Get the ball and run with it. Stop the BS'in. But he was running with the 1st team.

3. And that confuses the hell out of me. Bruce Perry was running with the 2's and he is such a better RB it's not even funny. This guy runs with power, balance and speed. He had several nice runs today as well as receptions out of the backfield. On one play I thought he was tackled about 6 yards down field but he never went down. He kept his footing and used his hand to keep him upright. He got another 5 or so yards. Bruce can cut but he doesn't dance like Reno. Perry will take the handoff and find his hole and then make ONE cut if need be and pick up yards. He has no indecision in his running style. Take ball, run ball, get yards and do it all over again.

4.Ok, now onto "the fight". It was entertaining to watch because it happened right in front of where I was sitting. So I was about 10 yards away from Jon Runyan and Juqua Thomas going at it. The play where Reno scored his TD was what started it. Runyan was finishing his block down the the goal line and Thomas and him starting pushing each other. That turned into Runyan putting a death grip on Thomas' facemask. Thomas returned the favor. So they stood there for a little bit doing a two step over who was going to let go first. Neither of them would so Runyan proceeds to start kneeing Thomas in the chest. He'd wind up with his right knee and then try to put a hole in Thomas' ribs. By this time Dhani shows up to help break it up. No chance. Then Castillo shows up. No shot. Runyan got off two knee shots and then they ripped each others helmets off. Runyan tossed Thomas' a few yards and it was over. Thomas paced back and forth about 5 yards for about 5 solid minutes trying to cool off. He was pissed.

5. When the #2 defense went back in to face the #1 offense several minutes later they were facing off against each other. Runyan pancaked him the first time on a running play and then Thomas got the best of him. Thomas then "sacked" McNabb by knocking the ball out of his hand and on the very next play he "sacked" him again.

6. Hank Baskett continues to be the star of Lehigh. I was aksed if he was running any plays at the X and the answer is that every receiver is running plays from every spot. They all rotate. But Baskett has two more very nice grabs today. He had quite a few plays with the 1's and McNabb obviously thinks highly of him. Baskett, Brown and McNabb continue to have a good rapport between them.

7. Jason Avant had a good day as well. He still needs polish on his playbook knowledge because he didn't run a few of his routes precise enough today. This is the second time I have seen him up there and he is better than a few days ago. He was also getting some time in with McNabb.

8. Greg Lewis was OK. Nothing bad, nothing spectacular. But one thing I have noticed about Greg is that he appears to be distancing himself. He doesn't really talk much to anyone and on some drills he always stands in the back. He wasn't like that last year or the year before. I wonder if his piss poor attitude last year has something to do with this? I don't know. Hell, I could be wrong all together. But I have nticed this on more than one occasion.

9. Thomas Tapeh had a few carries out of the one-back set. On one play it was 3rd and long (about 10) and he took the handoff and bounced it outside and picked up the first down. His blocking continues to look solid as well. I really hope he beats Parry out. I know I say this everyday, but he just looks so much better out there. The Tapeh-Perry combo was superior to the Mahe-Parry combo (obviously).

10. L.J Smith is going to be a big factor this year. They were working him a lot today. He ran a very nice wheel route and caught a TD. Sean Considine gave him a big hit and LJ held on. LJ threw the ball at Sean as if to tell him his hit wasn't nothing and then Sean threw it back at LJ. Like I said, they are getting antsy up there.

11. Matt Schobel had another solid day. He was good the other day I was up there as well. No drops that I saw today and a couple of TDs.

12. They worked on the red-zone stuff quite a bit today and they did use a lot of two TE sets down there. They also run the ball quite a bit inside the 20 too.

13. Reggie Brown had one drop that I saw today but he made up for it with a couple of beautiful grabs. He is Donovan's obvious go-to guy.

14. Jabar Gaffney is his best when he is working inside. And I don't mean just lining up in the slot. If he lines up outside and runs a slant or a hook or a drag route he seems to have a knack for finding that soft spot in the muck around the LBs. He settles down and makes the grabs

15. I know no one probably cares but I think Bill Sampy has a shot to make the practice squad. That guy makes catches when given the chance to run plays. He is also fielding punts.

16. I couldn't really get a good look at the OL individually today. I did see Tra go down hard once and was a little slow to get up but he appeared fine. The 1s and 2s are still the same groupings though. As far as a unit goes, they were getting some good push in the run game. It appeared as if they won the majority of the battles today up front in the run game.

17. The pass rush was still effective though. Jerome McDougle continues to look very good. He had another couple of "sacks". He is also starting to look more comfortable when playing "joker" too. He is the #2 joker behind The Freak.

18. Darren Howard had a sack from the DT spot in that nickle package as well as one from his RDE spot. I still really like watching him. He's not all power. He sets up his blockers. I watched him bang inside three times in a row. On the fourth play he pinned his ears back and whupped Justice on the outside. He had him leaning inside.

19. Matt Ware is now a strong safety. I did not see him play any corner at all today. He was the 3rd team SS and had himself an INT and a few batted passes. I like him at safety so far.

20. Joselio Hanson was running some 2nd team CB today too. I was a little surprised to see him out there and he wasn't burnt toast. But you can tell he is a rookie. He gave so much cushion it was crazy. I was sitting right down the line of scrimmage at one point and you see Rod Hood right up on a guys face and there's Hanson on the other side about 10 yards off. I understand he doesn't want to get beat and all, but if a game he would be nickle and dimed like crazy.

21. Tank Daniels had a few nice stuffs at WIL on the 3rd team defense. This guy is  physical specimen. He's tall and well built. Like I said last week, I think he's a deep sleeper.

22. Omar Gaither continues to have a solid camp. He had two more batted passes today and he also broke up a few passes with solid hits. His coverage is looking better and you can tell he is confident now. No more timidness in his voice. He barks out the pre-snap calls and isn't afraid to go move the tackles around if need be.

23. While they were kicking FGs I noticed Jim Johnson had all of the SAMs gathered around him and he was coaching them up. He appeared to be showing them a coverage technique.

24. Speaking of coaching, one of my goals while I have been up there was to compare Pete Jenkins' style to what Tommy Brasher used to do. Man, what a difference. Jenkins is a ball of energy. This guy never stops teaching. He is very vocal and just an all out energetic guy. Brash was laid back and didnt really one-on-one guys. Jenkins is all about that stuff.

[PhillyPhreak54]

25. Guess what? Koy Detmer threw a couple of TD passes today. Shocked? I was. He'd been terrible all camp.

26. Jeff Garcia didn't get knocked down today. I think he was happy about that. Red meant stop for sure. But he did run a few good drives. He is very active in the pocket. On one play down at about the 5 yard line he looked like he was going to waltz into the end-zone. Dhani was in a jam...does he go all out and ty to get the QB and leave him man or does he lay back and try to cover? He started to come up to get Jeff and that left Schobel wide open for a nice little pass from Garcia.

27. Justin Jenkins continues to catch just about everything that hits his hands. I've said before that his speed is a question but if he can find a role where he is a slot guy and his job is to pick up 1st downs and thats it he'd be set, IMO.

28. Mike Patterson knocked the crap out of Fraley on one play. As soon as Fraley snapped it Mike planted his butt into the ground. Patterson's speed continues to impress me. He's fast at everything.

29. David Akers was on point as usual today. I found out that they alternate days with the kickers so they don't burn Akers out. Today was David's day and he was bangin' them from 60. He hit the cherry-picker basket on one from about 30 yards out. It was funny to watch. You could see the camera guy with his eye in the camera watching the ball. When he realized it was coming right at him he took his eye off the piece and appeared a little shocked. Pretty funny.

30. Mike Bartrum did the snapping (for those of you who think/thought he could be on his way out).

31. Andy Thorn had another fine day. Like I mentioned before, I think he's a victim of the numbers game ala Kori Dickerson was but he has shown some promise. I think he's better now than Stephen Spach was last year.

32. Matt McCoy looked OK. He did have a few loud hits on some backs and he also had a "sack" on Garcia. He blitzes well. Like I've said before, its going to take some patience with him. Everyone seems ready to bury him and bury the Eagles. But you have to let him find his way. He cannot, I repeat cannot, be wors than Keith Adams was for us last year. Adams had 0 sacks, 0 FF, 0 FR, 0 INT and 1 pass defended all season long.

33. JR Reed had another fine day. He is full out bringing the wood to guys. He also is returning kicks well. I kid you not when I say I cannot tell a difference in him now vs. 2004 when it comes to his speed. Truly amazing. Let's hope his leg can hold up to game situations. How will it react when he takes a hit there? We'll have to wait and see.

34. The overall practice was good today. Not sluggish or anything like that. I'd say it was crisp and had good intensity. As as I said earlier you can tell these guys are ready to hit another color jersey. They worked on running the ball, audibles, red-zone and all with the playclock out there.

As always feel free to ask questions. I did not get to see too much of the OL and interior DL as I said before. It was too hard to focus on them and I forgot my binocs too so that didn't help.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

28. Mike Patterson knocked the crap out of Fraley on one play. As soon as Fraley snapped it Mike planted his butt into the ground. Patterson's speed continues to impress me. He's fast at everything.

Yes.

[ice grillin you]

David Akers was on point as usual today. I found out that they alternate days with the kickers so they don't burn Akers out. Today was David's day and he was bangin' them from 60. He hit the cherry-picker basket on one from about 30 yards out. It was funny to watch. You could see the camera guy with his eye in the camera watching the ball. When he realized it was coming right at him he took his eye off the piece and appeared a little shocked. Pretty funny.

was johnson holding for him again

[Dillen]

Sorry if I missed this in one of the previous posts, but do they actually do real kickoffs, with the coverage and blocking unit? I dont remember when I went two years ago. Im wondernig if JR Reed has been on the receiving end of a hit yet.

[PhillyPhreak54]

David Akers was on point as usual today. I found out that they alternate days with the kickers so they don't burn Akers out. Today was David's day and he was bangin' them from 60. He hit the cherry-picker basket on one from about 30 yards out. It was funny to watch. You could see the camera guy with his eye in the camera watching the ball. When he realized it was coming right at him he took his eye off the piece and appeared a little shocked. Pretty funny.

was johnson holding for him again

Yep

Dillen,

They do real kicks at the end of the practice. They dont go full contact though. Only the returner is really going full speed. Well, the coverage guys and bockers do too but not full contact

[reese125]

2. Reno, and I know you guys do not want to hear this, ran the ball decent today. He had a real nice TD run on a delayed handoff. He took the handoff and went off right tackle, shook a few guys and then found his way into the endzone. They were doing red-zone drills so this was a 20 yard TD run.


the LB's had me scared me a little before, now Im frightened to death after reading this

luckily, I have a dog

[MURP]

thanks for another great report Phreaky.

Scott Ware report...

Showboat report....


In Sportingnews magazine they had a training camp report in which they asked who the hardest working player was on the team.  Runyan said... usually the guy I get into a fight with, because he is working too hard.   ha. 

[PhillyPhreak54]

Schoboat was much better the last two days I was up there. His days of impersonating Torrance Small seem to be over.

Scott Ware has done nothing to stand out. The only reason I noticed him today was because I wanted to make sure he was at FS when Ware was at SS.

[ice grillin you]

schobel looked outstanding on sunday....i cant get over how smooth and effortless he runs...dook can move

[T_Section224]

because of you phreak i feel like i've actually been able to make the trip to lehigh this year, great report.

[ice grillin you]

phreak indeed does an excellent job...but he single handedly creates the blind faith and false expectations of all the eagle homers in the world...and that is a dangerous thing

no one is having a bad camp except detmer

and everyday in practice everyone is great....the wr's and the cb's..the ot's and the de's...the center and the nose tackle

if you go by these reports eagles are a 16-0 lock

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

You contradicted yourself quite thoroughly there, IGY.

[PhillyPhreak54]

phreak indeed does an excellent job...but he single handedly creates the blind faith and false expectations of all the eagle homers in the world...and that is a dangerous thing

no one is having a bad camp except detmer

and everyday in practice everyone is great....the wr's and the cb's..the ot's and the de's...the center and the nose tackle

if you go by these reports eagles are a 16-0 lock

I put down what I see, man. You saw that they looked like shtein on Saturday and I put down that it sucked.

[Drunkmasterflex]

phreak indeed does an excellent job...but he single handedly creates the blind faith and false expectations of all the eagle homers in the world...and that is a dangerous thing

no one is having a bad camp except detmer

and everyday in practice everyone is great....the wr's and the cb's..the ot's and the de's...the center and the nose tackle

if you go by these reports eagles are a 16-0 lock

I will take Phreak's word for it, he knows football better than most analysts.  And if you Remember the Pat Kirwan article he seemed to be thoroughly impressed with what he saw at the Eagles TC as well.