The Birds got in another day of good work. The defense seemed to have a better day than the offense today. The receivers seemed to be getting jammed and the physical approach of the cornerbacks and linebackers threw off the timing of the routes for just about the whole practice.
At the same time there were moments in which the offense got the best of the defense but there was no doubt that this was a "D" day. The D-line even batted down a couple of balls and the only thing the offense did complete were short routes.
I really like the way Chris Gocong is beating up receivers. His ability to jam the TE is improving very quickly. He was only working against Lee Vickers and a new game with the last name Hunt, but still Chris did a solid job.
Vickers was one of the bright spots for the offense. The big tight end can really catch the football. Brent Celek walked off practice with some type of injury.so Vickers and this new dude got all the work at tight end.
Little Jeremy Bloom continues. having a very good camp. I don't how well he's going to make it with the pads on, though. I will say that he's a little speedy waterbug in the shorts. Bloom gets seperation on nearly all of his routes. I still want to see him do it in the equipment.
Kevin Curtis continues making his adjustments to this offense. A number of times today, he read one thing and A.J. Feeley read something else. It'll be important that Curtis and McNabb get to work together for at least a month. The reciever and quarterback have to see the same thing in the covreage. Kevin is used to do things the Rams way and he's got to get used to doing things the Eagles way.
I can see the Eagles must have told Mike Patterson to come in heavier because he definitely has put on some weight. I think the extra pounds will help him but they've got to make sure to rotate these guys.
Ryan Moats has improved his play at the running back spot. He catches the ball better and he seems to have very few mental mistakes. Moats may still have a problem because his slow development forced the Birds to draft to young halfbacks and that may mean his days as an Eagle are numbered.
Bunkley has lost some weight. It's not a lot but you can see he's trimmed himself down a bit.
Jim Johnson says he wants Jevon Kearse to come in at about 245 or 250 pounds. I saw him in the weight room pumping those weights after practice.
Jim Johnson backed in declaration that Sheldon Brown and Will James would battle for a starting job. Jim says he likes the fact that Will thinks like he's a starter but he expects to see all three on the field for a lot of the defensive plays this year. The fact that Brown has looked very good in the workouts probably precipitated Johnson's comments.
Jim mentioned that C.J. Gaddis has improved tremendously from his first mini camp. They have this kid covering the wide outs during one-on-one drills and he does a pretty good job. I think he could find himself on the field for big plays during the season because offenses do a good job of getting their wide receivers manned up on Jim Johnson's safeties. If Considine or Mikell gets beat deep for a big one, don't be surprised if they start rotating Gaddis in there because he can run like a cornerback.
Jim was very positive today because he even said Jerome McDougle looks good. I don't think McDougle is looking bad but I didnt' see him do anything that stood out. He's going to have to have a great training camp and pre-season if he's going to have any chance of making this team.
