Eagles football blog

After loss to Jets, some Eagles await roster fate

Jerome McDougle said he was at peace. There was nothing in his manner to suggest otherwise. The defensive end the Eagles traded up to draft 15th overall in 2003 had just played every defensive snap of the preseason finale, a less-than-memorable 27-20 loss to the visiting New York Jets that closed the books on McDougle's best pro training camp.

Yet, nothing happened last night to ensure that McDougle would still be around when the roster gets trimmed from 75 to 53 today and tomorrow, assuming the Birds do not keep an extraordinary total of seven defensive ends. Continue

Jackson, Demps help spark Eagles' win over Patriots

DeSean Jackson was the last Eagle off the field. As the rookie flipped his visor into the group of Eagles fans clustered above the Gillette Stadium tunnel, Jackson suddenly lengthened his stride and sprinted for the locker room. Eagles spokesman Bob Lange, who had been jogging alongside the team's hottest new property, suddenly was struggling to remain within hailing distance. Now Lange knew how the Patriots felt. "That's 4.33 speed vs. 6.0 speed," Lange said later, still looking a bit sweaty.

Turns out, the Eagles drafted this clever, top-secret plan to deflect attention from their wide receiver situation, in the wake of Kevin Curtis' sports-hernia surgery.They instructed rookies Quintin Demps and Jackson to go out last night and run a kickoff and a punt, respectively, back for first-half touchdowns against the host New England Patriots, keying a 27-17 Eagles preseason victory. Continue

Weather flashier than the starters

Lightning struck much more forcefully and consistently than the Eagles' first-team offense, in the home fans' first preseason glimpse of their 2008 team last night at Lincoln Financial Field.

Normally, you hate to see the starters leave. In this 24-13 victory over the Carolina Panthers, it was a relief, as each first-half Eagles' possession after a 58-minute, first-quarter thunderstorm delay seemed a little more futile than the one before. Then the subs, led by backup quarterback Kevin Kolb, fueled a fourth-quarter comeback to victory against the Carolina subs. Continue

Eagles beaten by Steelers

The Eagles completed their most tumultuous week of the preseason last night with a 27-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers that created some serious doubts about their ability to emerge as one of the NFL's elite teams when the games start to count in a couple of weeks.

With the starters getting their most extended and likely final playing time of the preseason, the Eagles' offense failed to capitalize on outstanding field position while the defense first bent, then broke during the first half at Heinz Field. Continue

McNabb, Sheppard ignite Eagles' win

Donovan McNabb, Lito Sheppard and the Eagles all returned last night at Lincoln Financial Field. After all three were absent during Monday night's lopsided loss in Baltimore, McNabb and Sheppard came back from injuries and triggered the Eagles' 27-10 rout of the Carolina Panthers.

The win evened the Eagles' exhibition record at 1-1 and should have eased any concerns that lingered from the game in Baltimore. More important, the evening's events should alleviate all concern about McNabb's readiness for the season. McNabb missed the final six games of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Continue

Eagles drop preseason opener

There's room for improvement, and it's an enormous room. That probably should be the message coach Andy Reid relays to his team tomorrow morning when the Eagles go back to work at the NovaCare Complex. Not much positive happened for the Eagles during their 29-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the exhibition opener for both teams last night at M&T Bank Stadium.

"All in all, it was not a very good performance all the way around," Reid said. "That's from the first unit all the way down to the last unit. The only positive was that we got to see a lot of young guys, and we'll be able to evaluate them and see how they did." Continue