Positional Depth

[reese125]

regardless of their toughness, how many times one touches the ball or whatever....its a different type of play and there is more concern for injury

sure if he waives off the play, hes fine. but if he doesnt and the defenders sees that, your looking at about 5 guys right in your mug ( as your looking up in the air for the ball) ready to cripple you.

more dangerous, no question

[SunMo]

i can't believe there are 2 more pre-season games...this sucks.

[ice grillin you]

its a different type of play and there is more concern for injury

he shouldnt run screens end arounds or rb options either then...all different plays and more concern for injury

[General_Failure]

i can't believe there are 2 more pre-season games...this sucks.

The regular season never gets here fast enough.

[SunMo]

The regular season never gets here fast enough.

normally, yeah, but i think 5 pre-season games, and an earlier starting camp has made it worse

[Diomedes]

The last one doesn't matter for shtein.  Starters won't see more than a series or two, tops.  2nd team won't see more than a quarter.  It'll be a game strictly to work out the 3s and 4s.

[ice grillin you]

thanks andy

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

regardless of their toughness, how many times one touches the ball or whatever....its a different type of play and there is more concern for injury

sure if he waives off the play, hes fine. but if he doesnt and the defenders sees that, your looking at about 5 guys right in your mug ( as your looking up in the air for the ball) ready to cripple you.

more dangerous, no question

Forget the risk of injury - I just want Westbrook at 100% for 1st down.

[reese125]

if your talking 100% just for stamina purposes, then it shouldnt be in issue. thats what training camp is for. Its not like westbrook is going to return a punt or kickoff for 50+ yards everytime he touches it.

if you cant catch the ball, run it for 20 yards, wait for a commercial break and get back on track by 1st down, you have other issues

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

They don't always go to commerical.

I agree that injury is the primary concern, but I just wanted to present a valid secondary argument.

[Wingspan]

hank baskett would run it 80 yards, and need a chute to pop out of his back to stop himself before knocking a wall down.

and then he'd do it again, while eating a stick of butter

[rjs246]

Westbrook should only be a part time running back in this league. And he should be returning punts for the Eagles.

Anything else is misusing him.

[General_Failure]

He is a part-time RB. He's a full-time receiver though.

[Feva]

GREAT article on the d-line

Jasper gives nod to young rivalsBy LES BOWEN
bowenl@phillynews.com
THE INTERVIEW began with reporters asking Ed Jasper about his success at blocking kicks over the years. Somehow, it morphed into him basically cutting himself from the team.

Sometimes, a day in the locker room is like a box of chocolates...

The whole thing started when Eagles special-teams coordinator John Harbaugh noted that Jasper has blocked five kicks in his nine NFL seasons with the Eagles, Falcons and Raiders, two short of the NFL record, Harbaugh said. (By the way, that apparently isn't true; Hall of Famer Ted Hendricks is credited with blocking 25 field goals or extra points. Seven is Hendricks' one-season record.)

At any rate, Jasper, 33, then said he didn't think being able to block kicks would be of much help in making the team, and he talked about what an excellent group of young defensive tackles the Birds have now. Jasper signed with the Eagles as a free agent before the team drafted first-round rookie Brodrick Bunkley and sixth-rounder LaJuan Ramsey.

"How do I fit in? The truth is, now, I'm going to tell you what - if I was a d-line coach or a head coach, I would always go with the young guys," Jasper said. "It's so hard to find defensive linemen, you can never let a young defensive lineman go. Is it hard for me to say? No. I've had my moment in the sun. Not at all. There's some young guys here - Bunk and Ramsey - who have a bright, long future if they keep their head right."

Jasper has done a respectable job in the preseason, but probably does face an uphill fight, even if defensive coordinator Jim Johnson gets his wish and is allowed to keep 10 defensive linemen, something Johnson spoke of recently. It's pretty easy to count to 10 without Jasper: ends Jevon Kearse, Darren Howard, Trent Cole, Juqua Thomas and Jerome McDougle, then tackles Darwin Walker, Mike Patterson, Bunkley, Ramsey and Sam Rayburn.

Jasper apparently has done the same math.

"Don't get me wrong. I ain't saying it because I can't play or anything like that," Jasper said. "I'm just telling you what I would do. Those young guys, I'd keep a couple of vets around to help [new defensive line coach Pete] Jenkins out but... Just think about how long and how far between it's been since I've been here [1997 and '98] that you've found defensive linemen. They're few and far between. It's not just like that here, it's like that everywhere. When you get some good, young defensive linemen that you've got a chance to groom, you've got to let them do their thing."

Young talent is one reason Jasper thinks the Eagles' d-line will be really good this season. Another reason is Jenkins, whose philosophies Jasper knows well from having played for Jenkins disciple Bill Johnson at Texas A & M and then for the Falcons, where Johnson remains the defensive-line coach.

"What it is, is a gap-control type of line play. It's not two-gap and hitting guys in the middle... It's kind of like a gap-edge defense. And there's no sitting back watching; it's an attack defense. You'd be surprised how much it helps," Jasper said.

Jasper said the Jenkins-John-son methods helped make Pat-rick Kerney a Pro Bowler in Atlanta.

"This is just one of those defenses that takes advantage of football being a game of angles - and of fewer steps," he said. Then he gave an involved demonstration of one-gap play, focusing on one shoulder of the blocker, instead of trying to overpower him straight-up. Jasper noted that defensive linemen often are quite a bit smaller than offensive linemen these days, and trying to overpower them often doesn't work. (Until we add video to the stories, that's the best explanation you'll get.)

Jasper said he sometimes translates Jenkins for the younger players, who don't always relate to the 64-year-old coach's manner.

"They tend to have a harder time with Pete, because Pete is real old school," Jasper said. "There's, like, a generation gap. They don't know it, but for a long time, Pete Jenkins was known as the best defensive-line coach in college football... If they listen to it and buy in, the defensive line around in the next few years - you all are going to really have something to write about."

Jasper said Jenkins "expects things to be a certain way."

"The communication on the pro level and the communication on the college level are different," he said. "There's nothing wrong with anybody, everybody is getting along. I'm not saying that; it's just that there's a generation gap."

Asked about Bunkley, who notched 1 ½ sacks last week in Baltimore in only his second preseason game, after getting a late start because of a contract dispute, Jasper said: "I think he's got a chance to be really good. And I'll tell you who else - Ramsey has a chance to be just as good. Ramsey is kind of a natural pass rusher. He's kind of a natural edge guy, so he really falls right into everything that Pete is teaching right now."

Jasper said he wasn't giving up; he just has never seen this much youth and depth around him.

"Until that day comes, I'm going to work as hard as I can," he said. "But these guys are young, man. When I was down in Atlanta, I was there about 5 years before they brought in another good defensive lineman."

Move over, L.J.

Watching rookie free-agent center Nick Cole line up as a goal-line package fullback in practice inspired right guard Shawn Andrews to speak of his own aspirations to branch out.

"Coach [Andy] Reid was saying something in a joking way [about Andrews playing fullback] before we did that drill, and I said, 'Nah, tight end.' He said, 'I didn't say that, I said fullback.' But he doesn't know my tight end history, obviously; I'm very capable of catching a pass," Andrews said.

"My sophomore and junior years in high school [in Camden, Ark.] I was one of the top two or three tight ends in the nation, actually," said Andrews, who has slimmed down from about 400 pounds to around 340 this year, and is the Birds' fastest o-lineman. "I don't like to toot my own horn, but 'Beep-beep'.  I was awesome. I think if I could get down to 260 or 270, even, I could run a 4.6 and probably be the best wide receiver in the league."

This defense should be a lot of fun to watch.  A good thing, I guess since we're probably gonna see an awful lot of it this season.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Shawn Andrews might be clinically insane.  I like that.