Eagles Roundup: Bears Recap/Patriots Joint Practices

The Eagles started their first live action of football last Friday night when they took on the Chicago Bears at Solider Field and suffered a loss 34-28. Now their were some really good things from the starting defense.....as for the offense it was a little bit different to start it off. Nick Foles struggled early, throwing two interceptions after forcing passes to Ifeanyi Momah and Brent Celek. Momah looked good catching a pass for 12 yards with the first team, Brent Celek also was involved heavily in the offense. If there is any recollection of the type of formations Chip Kelly is going to run, you didn't get any idea. Mostly the first team offense was running triple receivers and a single tight end. Sproles and McCoy did not go out on the field at the same time. The offense has already seemed to start its rebound today when they had a great practice against the Patriots. Nick Foles was sharp on 7 on 7's including a spectacular throw to Maclin who beat Revis over top for the touchdown. Dave Spadaro of PhiladelphiaEagles.com said on twitter how well the defense looked compared to last year when the Eagles joined up with New England for practice  #Eagles defense far better vs Pats this summer. No comparison to 2013 summer.

Back to the Bears game, the defense came out flying against Jay Cutler and the first team. After a big stop on third down, Bears kicker Robbie Gould attempted a kick that was blocked by Damion Square! So turnovers to start it off for the defense was something I loved to see. Now I don't need to recap exactly what happened all game but the defense looked better than the offense. Which isn't what you may have expected. Mark Sanchez looked sharp also leading two drives to touchdowns courtesy of Matthew Tucker in the red zone. Sanchez looked comfortable in the pocket and had precision on his throws including a impressive deep pass to tight end Zach Ertz. Some of the standouts against the Bears were rookies Marcus Smith and Jaylen Watkins. Smith played the JACK linebacker role and excelled in it getting to the quarterback twice and almost intercepting a pass he batted down from Jordan Palmer. He looked very comfortable in the scheme and signs point to the Eagles having a really deep linebacker core.  Jaylen Watkins is a guy I am very intrigued with. Drafted in the fourth round this year out of Flordia playing both safety and corner in college, the Eagles were excited about getting him, well his first NFL game is what you can call a bit of a roller coaster. After getting beat badly on a 70 yard touchdown pass where Watkins failed to wrap up the receiver on press coverage. Watkins instead of getting discouraged got right back to it and intercepted a pass that really showed how great of an athlete he is. This is very early for me to say something like this, but I truly believe Watkins is going to turn out to be a very good defensive player and Billy Davis is going to use him a lot in nickel packages. The rookie receivers had what it seemed to be unexpected performances for both Josh Huff and Jordan Matthews, only it wasn't the way you thought it would have been.

Josh Huff comes out of the end zone, breaks a couple tackles, quickly hits a whole, stiff arms Robbie Gould.....gone touchdown! First time the Eagles had a return touchdown in what feels like an eternity. Huff showed a explosive next step and did what recent return men of the Eagles couldn't do, and that is finish. Jordan Matthews was a disappointment in his first every NFL action. Dropping passes isn't something that is familiar with Matthews. Well he dropped two against Chicago and could have caught another. He did have 4 receptions which shows that the Eagles are getting him involved in the offense. Its just that total, he racked up a measly 14 yards. The great thing about this is that it is just the preseason. So nothing needs to be blown out of proportion, but we know it will. The only thing I am a little concerned about is what I saw from how Nick Foles through those interceptions. Although Foles only had two interceptions last year, he was sacked a lot due to not throwing the football away or to a player. Well that was something Chip Kelly said he wanted to correct. Well if you look at it here in this picture,  he is clearly throwing the football, forcing a pass as he is hit. This is something Foles said he can correct and is why he is optimistic for this weeks match up. 

The Eagles will be tested Friday night when they take on the Patriots and Tom Brady. Hopefully Nick Foles will rebound as well as some of the receivers that didn't play to their best last week.