Andy Reid says all the talk by Shawn Andrews about getting bad news from the doctor is nothing but Shawn expressing his emotions. He said he expects Big Shawn to be back for the season opener, if not sooner.
I can vouch for Andy that Shawn is a major league entertainer and loves nothing better than getting a few laughs or some other type of reaction from his words and acting. If Shawn weren't so big, I would have turned and told him about ten to twenty times to shut up. He's always in the lockeroom singing or telling jokes. Shawn reminds of Reggie White some times. Reid said everybody needs to calm down and not overeact to his All-Pro guard. Seth Joyner used to call Reggie "The Toy", which was a movie starring Richard Pryor. In the movie, Jackie Gleason rented Pryor to play with his kid. Reggie and Shawn in the same lockeroom would have been quite a show.
Reid also talked about what wants to see out of Donovan on Friday. Andy said he wants Donovan to get acclimated to the speed of the game and establish his rhythm. I could see the Birds coming out with some classic West Coast offense plays with quick throws and a number of chosen runs thrown in to spice things up. Mornhinweg will likely lean on the running game, so he can keep that Panther defense off guard and away from McNabb. This will be a good test for the entire offense because the Panthers have a "D" line led by Julius Peppers, which can cause some major problems.
Once Donovan starts playing a lot of the media will start going into a different phase. I advise you to hold your breath as sinister plots start being hatched in the newspaper and electronic sports media. More than anybody else I've ever seen, why is it that so many people claim to be able to read his mind and draw meaning out of him smiling or rubbing his forehead. Until Donovan started talking I didn't know we had so many psychiatrists in the media. Enough of the nonsense, McNabb needs to look sharp for the offense to start gaining their confidence. They're used to doing well and they need to get back to success.
Brian Dawkins looked great yesterday in practice even though he didn't go the entire workout, so I expect him to be in aciton when the Birds play the Steelers. The Eagles aren't the same football team without Dawk because the other guys on both sides of the ball gain confidence from seeing him out there because they know he's going to make plays. I'm still concerned about the achilles tendon being sore. Remember what I said before, achilles tendon injuries show that the legs have had some wear and tear. All this tenerness could be the body's way of giving Brian a heads up that it's getting ready to snap. I hope not but it's not out of the question.
Lito Sheppard looks like he's ready to go. He practiced the entire workout yesterday and is back to his ball hawking ways. The defensive tackle position is a bit short on players with both Ian Scott and LaJuan Ramsey being injured. Scott was in action a bit yesterday even though it was at half speed. They need to let some of those young backups who are going to get cut, play. They can't afford to put their starters out there too much and get one of them hurt.
As for L.J., Reid continues to say that he's getting better. I saw him walking to the car yesterday and he wasn't limping so that's progress with a groin because they can affect the way you walk.
