Eagles Patriots Day 1 Practice Recap

The Eagles and Patriots had a joint practice today at the Nova Care Complex and it showed a lot of things about the Eagles football team, some good things and some, well not so much. One thing we concluded is that #12 on New England is pretty darn good. Lets talk about the offense where the Eagles receivers looked really good including Damaris Johnson who caught almost everything in 1 on 1s, Johnson's speed and crisp route running is a reason he will be a huge factor in the offense this season. If he does what he did to the Patriots secondary in the preseason game like he did today then he is going to move up the depth chart...that is written in sand of course. Chip Kelly released his first depth chart yesterday by the way and has the QB position as Vick/Foles but honestly it looks like Vick is pulling away since the pads went on. His release has been really fast but I am interested to see if during the preseason game, he can run the offense quickly and execute how Kelly wants it run because Nick Foles  is doing a terrific job with it. Corner back Carry Williams pulled off some stuff he is known for today when he and rookie Patriots receiver Aaron Dobson got into a fight and Kelly sent Williams off the field for the rest of practice. I personally love this because Williams has that grit that the defense really needs. Fellow Corner Bradley Fletcher looked good at the start when he picked off Tom Brady with nice coverage but after that he struggled throughout practice, Fletcher is struggling with man on man coverage which is a major concern. If he can look solid during preseason then he should be a starter but second year corner Brandon Boykin is knocking on the door to be the opposite starting outside corner if neither Fletcher or Williams steps up. Again all of the play during training camp is analyzable (If that is a word) but the real break down of each player's performance will be decided during the preseason. Tom Brady picked apart the defense in 11 on 11's which is right fully so since the new defense had its first taste of new offensive schemes. Vinny Curry looked good stuffing up the middle of the line without any runs getting through. Just to see how the starting d-line might shape up, Fletcher Cox and Cedric Thorton were the two DE and Issac Sopoaga was the starting NT. During 11 on 11's both Michael Vick and Nick Foles were great, Vick was stellar moving around in the pocket using his legs to extend plays. He has worked very well with the Tight Ends, he connected with James Casey for two touchdowns in 11 on 11's and hit Zach Ertz on a big 30 yard reception. NFL analyst are saying as of right now that Vick has separated himself from Foles in the race but today, Foles almost looked better. He ran the offense smoothly and he showed some of his deep play ability hitting Desean Jackson for 2 huge touchdown bombs. Rookie receiver Ifeanyi Momah had a terrible day in 1 on 1's, he repeatedly stumbled when running routes and could not separate himself from the corner. Of the three reps he had he missed all three and in the last one he got dropped by a corner much smaller than himself. If he doesn't produce during preseason then he might not even make the practice squad. Other rookie receiver Russell Sheppard looked good and is now to me ahead of Momah for that last WR spot but again all comes down to preseason production. Barkley and Tebow didn't get many reps as it was normally first and second team on the field but when Barkley was out there, he threw a terrible interception. Clearly the Patriots are a step ahead of the Eagles as of right now but I saw some good things from the offense and defense. They go at it again tomorrow at 12 30 and will be interesting to see if the defense can bounce back from a un stellar performance.