PHILADELPHIA — And on the 13th day of Eagles training camp, it rained. Saturday morning’s weather didn’t stop coach Nick Sirianni from sitting his starters, as he did when weather hampered the first two preseason games in Baltimore and Foxborough.
“It will be good for us to know the weather in terms of how we manage the football in training because we anticipate that in the North East we will have a few games in bad weather here and there,” he said.
Here are five overreactions to what happened:
ROOKIE WILL START
Unsurprisingly, the rookie is Quinyon Mitchell. The first-round cornerback had a nice pass breakup on a throw from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith. This kid will start Week 1. Also watch out for Kelee Ringo. The second-year cornerback had a nice day in the rain and continues to improve with each practice.
“The main thing is recognizing the patterns, knowing that they can pick up on things that they’ve seen,” Smith said of Mitchell and Ringo. “Today I ran a route on Q that I had run last week, I was open and he read it and he knew what I was doing.
“I told him it’s a good job of recognizing patterns and things like that, seeing something once and not being fooled by it again. So, you just have to be a student of the game, learn more to be a student of the game. When you get to that level, the talent is still going to be there, but the smarter you get at playing the game, the easier it becomes.”
EXTINGUISHED STARS
The three big offensive players who won the 14-13 victory over New England on Thursday were unable to practice Saturday. That’s not a good way to follow up strong performances.
Players who were unable to play were receivers John Ross (concussion) and Joseph Ngata (ankle), as well as tight end EJ Jenkins (knee). As Chip Kelly said, “you can’t make the club from the bath.”
Ross seemed like a candidate to make the team because of his two stellar kick returns against the Patriots, averaging 34 yards on two kickoff returns. Now, who knows? Ngata was probably an outsider to make the team, anyway, and Jenkins probably was, too, even though his camp was solid.
TAKE THEIR KICKS
The Eagles haven’t been very strong on special teams so far in the preseason, and that’s not an overreaction. Sirianni realizes that, and the Eagles have worked on kickoffs and kickoff coverage, though there’s also been some work on Braden Mann’s punts.
Speaking of Mann, he was used on kickoffs against the Patriots and he did it again Saturday. Special teams coordinator Michael Clay will speak to the media on Wednesday, so it will be interesting to hear what the plan is between Mann and Jake Elliott to handle kickoff duties.
It wasn’t a good day on the field for Will Shipley. The rookie lost two of his three punts.
In kickoff coverage, the Eagles gave up a big hit to the Patriots, a 53-yard field goal by David Wallis, a Division III player from Randolph-Macon College.
“Obviously we all have work to do in that area,” Sirianni said. “We’re not where we want to be in any area yet. We want to continue to improve in everything we do. Kick returns are even more so because it’s a big unknown.”
“We made a big comeback and we have to work on that because every time we do it, we learn a little more. Every time we play a game, our coaches learn a little more, our players learn a little more.”
The Eagles began a new period Saturday specifically dedicated to kickoffs and will do more of them Sunday.
WELCOME AYEDZE
The Eagles returned offensive lineman Gottlieb Ayedze after making some roster moves, placing cornerback Tyler Hall on IR and waiving defensive end Mekhi Garner. Ayedze, who started his career at Division II Frostburg State before transferring to Maryland, was ruled out with an undisclosed injury after just two days of camp, and the Eagles will likely want to watch him closely in Saturday’s preseason finale.
Ayedze wasted no time getting back into the groove. He made three straight plays against Nolan Smith one-on-one and won two of the three.
Perhaps Ayedze, who can play multiple positions on the offensive line, will make a late push into the roster since some of that depth struggled against the Patriots.
HUNTER’S DAY
Vic Fangio will speak Sunday morning and the defensive coordinator will be asked about rookie Jalyx Hunt and his practice habits. Fangio didn’t seem to think much of it the last time he spoke and was asked about Hunt’s play against the Ravens. The defensive coordinator said he was somewhat surprised given his performance in practice.
Maybe that lit a fire because Saturday was perhaps Hunt’s best day yet, and he went from someone I initially thought would be inactive on game day until he could develop, to someone who should have a very significant role when the season starts.
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