*Throat clear* First, injuries *cough*

Good news on the injury front as Chris Clemons returns to practice, rookie DE Bryan Smith makes his first appearance on the field after getting over a strain, and the word on Asante Samuel is that he could be back by the weekend.

Na Brown Award - A new contender emerges

So far the darlings of the 2008 camp seem to be RB Lorenzo Booker who has put on a show with his speed and arsenal of moves and WR Jason Avant who caught anything thrown  in his general direction. However, neither really qualify for the Na Brown award since Avant was already here and Booker was higher pick. There is one guy who is turning heads, and being a 4th round pick like Na himself Quintin Demps just may get the prize.

Demps was advertised as a "ballhawk" coming out of school having led the nation in interceptions. So far in camp he's done nothing to disprove that moniker. Demps has had more than one "pick 6" and excelled in practice again yesterday

Earlier, Booker dazzled rookie safety Quintin Demps after making a catch, but Demps had a pick and a "sack'' in the same sequence. Andy Reid noted that Demps has shown the same nose for the ball that led the Eagles to draft him.

Demps has been working as both a safety and a corner in camp and has left  Andy Reid impressed

"You can see that he had a lot of interceptions in college, and you always want to see if that carries over to the pro game," Reid said yesterday. "In these practices, you see him getting his hands on the ball and making catches."

Not everyone's hands are impressing

Free agent TE Kris Wilson was advertised as a good player who was both misused in Kansas City and stuck behind a future hall of famer in Tony Gonzales. Out of Tony G's shadow and back at his natural position TE Wilson was going to challenge for a starting job with LJ Smith on just a one year deal... So far, Wilson has failed to impress.

Wilson was given a chance to make the roster and possibly build himself a future because Smith is on a one-year contract. But like so many passes over the last two weeks, it may have already slipped through his fingers.

"Obviously, nobody wants to drop the ball, but that's part of the game," Wilson said Thursday. "That's something that you constantly work on. Every day you come out and tell yourself to try to have a perfect day.

"You don't want to have any balls on the ground, but from time to time, it happens."

Reports from camp make it fairly clear that Wilson has slipped behind both Celek and Wilson on the depth chart at TE. In all likelihood the Eagles will only keep 3 TEs, so at this point Wilson looks like the odd man out.

Westbrook contract situation

Andy Reid was asked in his press conference if there was any news on the Westbrook negotiations and there was not. However, one Eagles rival feels like Westbrook is worth everything he wants.

"To be completely honest with you," Umenyiora said, "if Philadelphia really understood his value to that team, they would never even have allowed him to get upset with his contract. You take Westbrook off that team and nobody would fear them. I don't think they truly understand that.

"He should be one of the highest-paid players in the league. Period. I'm not saying this as a friend of his. I don't even know the guy that well. I'm just saying it because it's the truth."

I think they understand it just fine Osi...

Quote of the day

Andy Reid was asked how entering his 10th year as coach he maintains his energy level and enthusiasm for the job?

"I change my diet," he said.

What are you eating? "Too much."

Eagles trainer Rick Burkhalter talked about the scary situation that led to Chris Clemons being hospitalized. When new players come in, the training staff has to learn about his physiology and what his body can handle. Burkhalter isn't as familiar with the newly signed Clemons as he is with other players, but he knew something was wrong.

"You know when you look at a player, he doesn't look back at you and can't answer your questions, that it's not normal," he said. "Here's a guy that I know he's in trouble and he can't answer my questions, that's when you don't worry about blood pressure, you don't worry about any of that.

"At that point you say, "Let's go. We're going.' "

Scary situation indeed, but I'm very happy to hear Clemons is fine. I also think this kinda as fans going up to just watch practice, we really shouldn't complain about the heat...

In other injury news, Victor Abiamiri's season could be in jeopardy.

Eagles coach Andy Reid said after yesterday's morning session that the worst-case scenario for Abiamiri's recovery would be 4 months, which would be late November. A second-year player trying to earn a role in training camp probably isn't going to earn one in late November for the final month of the season. What would determine if this were the worst-case? If the surgery required screws, Reid said, that would be bad.

As it turns out, he did need screws. The Eagles are saying at the very least he'll miss all of training camp. For a second year player trying to learn and earn a role on the team, that could effectively mean the end of his season.

Abiamiri was expected to play a significant role this year, something Andy Reid lamented.

"It's not good. He was playing well," Reid said. "We're lucky we have numbers there, but he was definitely a guy that we were expecting to be in there from the get-go. He was competing for a starting job there."

Na Brown Award Update

Up until yesterday, it appeared retired Eagles WR Harold Carmichael's campaign for the 2008 Na Brown was set to go unchallenged... Enter Jamal Jones.

Based on yesterday's performance at the morning session of training camp, Jones may not need a Walter Mitty moment to survive cuts. The 5-foot-11, 205-pound speedster hauled in a number of passes - including two long-gainers - that impressed coach Andy Reid and perhaps the toughest critics - the fans.

I'll be keeping an eye on Jamal Jones from here on out...

Everything is ok with McNabb

Les Bowen made a great observation about McNabb's role in camp this year.

You almost tend to forget No. 5 is here, or at least, tend to forget that his future with the Eagles seems to be hanging on a big comeback season, and that the Birds' playoff hopes also are predicated on that premise.

There is no McNabb controversy this year, though. No sniping superstar wideout. No injury comeback. The whole Kevin Kolb-looking-over-McNabb's-shoulder angle is no longer fresh.

For once, McNabb can just run the offense - he looks really fit and pretty sharp, by the way - without having every throw and every gesture endlessly dissected. It must be nice.

He's absolutely right. The expectations for McNabb are as high as ever, but for once any drama or controversey surrounding camp has nothing to do with him. It should be excited to see McNabb enter a season fully healthy, not coming off rehab and free of distractions.

Speaking of McNabb, he seems remarkably unconcerned about Shawn Andrew's abscence.

Shawn will be back," McNabb said. "I'm sure of that. When he comes back, it will kind of be like he's been here. I haven't spoken to him personally. We have just kind of played phone tag. But he assured me that things will be fine and that he will be back."

McNabb said that when Andrews does come back he'll be welcomed "with open arms." Open arms?

Time to give Booker his due

I'm my zeal to find the 08 Na Brown award winner, which is given to the no name guy that makes the biggest impact at camp, I feel like I've ignored a guy that was expected to contribute this year and has arguably been the standout perform at Lehigh this year. Lorenzo Booker. Dave over at Eagle Scout is suggesting that Booker could be his training camp darling of the year.

The Eagles own website agreed.

Lorenzo Booker could be the "training camp darling" of 2008 up to this point. The second-year running back out of Florida State broke a 60-yard run off a reverse play during Monday morning's practice. (Eagles special teams coach) Rory Segrest said that Booker has made a similar impression in the return game.

In fact, Booker has made such an impression on Segrest that he's been named the starting kick returner. That could change depending on what happens in preseason, but for now Lorenzo Booker is slated to return the opening kickoff in 2008.

Lehigh Pilgrimage

Finally, as I said earlier this week I'm headed up to Lehigh with some friends this Sunday and I'll be staynig over into Monday. If anyone else is heading up I'd live to hang out or if anyone wants to stay over let me know!

Scary news from Eagles camp this morning as newly signed free agent DE Chris Clemons left Lehigh in an ambulance with dehydration symptoms. Philly.com reports that trainers had trouble bringing down his body temperature and he needed to be helped into the lockerroom. Andy Reid followed the ambulance to the hospital.

Obviously after the heat exhaustion death of the Viking's Korey Stringer teams are being very cautious with this type of stuff.

it's hot out there, and these guys are working hard.

[Note by JasonB, 07/29/08 1:50 PM EDT ] PFT is reporting that Clemons has been released from the hospital and is headed back to the team facility. Good news.

[Note by JasonB, 07/29/08 4:50 PM EDT ] Shock! PFT had poor information. According to PE.com Clemons has not been released from the hospital, but he is stable and is scheduled to be released at some point tonight.

Here is the PFT retraction

The source whom we thought told us that Eagles defensive end Chris Clemons is out of the hospital now informs us that Clemons actually is still in the hospital.

We apologize for the error.  (It’s not the source’s fault — we misunderstood what we’d been told.  Again, we apologize for the error.)"

The best part is the first comment on the post...

Oh! You mistook “in” for “out”. Your 15 children must be very appreciative.

Classic.

Recently there have been several notes about the Eagles Defense.  Mark Eckel wrote this weekend about the linebacking corps, Igglesblog had an interesting take about the defense's supposed speed and Tommy Lawlor had a nice homage to Buddy's 46. 

I personally find it easier to come up with defensible things to say about the offense because that is the side of the ball which gets emphasized during network broadcasts.  Prior to the snap the camera is focused on the offense and afterward it follows the ball.  It's only during shows like NFL Matchup where we get to see any coaches tape showing the whole field.  

NFL Network recently rebroadcast last year's Cowboys victory and I rewatched their highlight reel a couple of times.  Several plays stuck out.  Three of the Eagles eleven interceptions on the season came in that game.  Unfortunately one of them resulted in an immediate turnover (screw on your head before buttoning your chinstrap Quintin), the second, Lito Shepard's pick before halftime, led to the games only TD, and and the last, which turned into Brian Westbrook's infamous knee, was Dawkins' only pick of the year.  Certainly you can't generalize based upon a sample size of one, but this example sure seems to say something about turnovers.

These plays were great, but one play - a 9 yard pass reception by Jason Witten - was the one that really got me thinking.

Continue reading this post »

Found this little tidbit in the latest Spads article

Johnson has some options, for sure. He admits that using more of a 3-4 look is "in the back of our minds," depending on what the team does on first and second down. Johnson remains committed to stopping the big play first, but he also recognizes that the run defense made tremendous strides last season and that Patterson and Bunkley are emerging as one of the best young tandems in the league. The linebackers are all young, fast, physical and intelligent. The secondary has a bunch of good cover men.

We saw a little bit of this against the Patriots and it worked quite well. The Eagles certainly have the personnel to run the 3-4 in certain situations. They don't have the big 2 gap nose tackle to run it all the time, but on passing downs I could absolutely see the likes of Gocong, Clemons, Cole, and even Smith rushing from a standup LB position.

It also presents a potential nightmare for opposing offensive coordinators having to prepare for a team that can show you a 4-3 or 3-4 look on any given play.