IS GLAD SPRING TRAINING IS FINALLY HERE
Tweaks and pulls are common when an NFL team makes its players run "gassers" as part of the fitness testing, so most of the problems Eagles players experienced Thursday seemed to be no big deal.
But Shawn Andrews' back tightening up? The back that didn't allow Andrews to play after Week 2 last season, eventually required surgery, but had been rehabbed so well the team felt confident moving Andrews from right guard into Jon Runyan's right tackle spot?
Not a big deal yet, maybe. But it definitely has the potential to move in that direction. Andrews was clearly disappointed when he spoke with reporters following the afternoon workout he missed -- much moreso than the other new tackle Jason Peters, who also sat out with what Eagles coach Andy Reid called a "quad spasm," suffered during the testing.
"Nothing's easy in this life," Andrews said. "Nothing."
Andrews, ebullient when he checked into camp Wednesday, a year after missing the opening of camp while battling depression, said Thursday: "I have confidence in Rick (Burkholder, the head athletic trainer). I have confidence in myself ... I've been busting my asphalt all year, man, doing everything I'm supposed to do, mentally and physically. Left no stone unturned."
Asked if he thought he'd be OK in the few days, Andrews said: "We'll see."
"I want to be out here," he said. "Other than my rookie year, this is the year that I've actually looked forward to training camp. I've just put out so much hard work, getting myself together all around. It's really tough, man, but that's life ... I'm at the happiest point in my life right now. I'm at peace."
Mr. Runyan, please pick up the white courtesy phone.
Peters, meanwhile said his problem "ain't nothing a little ice and stim (electrical stimulation) can't take care of. I'm just going to rest it a couple days, then get back to work."
The Eagles signed their prize offseason acquisition to a six-year, $60-million-plus contract extension after acquiring him from Buffalo.
Andrews, Peters, Brian Westbrook (ankle surgery), Asante Samuel (hamstring, suffered during conditioning), Trevor Laws (hamstring, suffered before reporting) and Victor Abiamiri (pec) were placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list, Reid said, which has no ramifications, beyond allowing the team to keep them on that list instead of sidelining them for the season on IR should any of these problems turn out to be serious.
Defensive backs Macho Harris (slight high ankle sprain) and Byron Parker (hamstring spasm) also missed yesterday's practice.
***
Andy Reid upped the rhetoric a little, with first-round pick Jeremy Maclin remaining unsigned, though there were indications Thursday evening that the sides were moving closer to a resolution.
Before that, Reid said they were "not as close as we need to be."
Reid said Maclin would be "playing catchup" when he reports. "You can't buy back that time," Reid said. "It's important that he's here."
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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