IS GLAD SPRING TRAINING IS FINALLY HERE
Left guard Todd Herremans said he was "stoked" to get back on the field today for the first time since the preseason. Eagles coach Andy Reid cautioned that Herremans was only scheduled to work 15 or 20 minutes in individual drills, as he returns from stress fracture surgery on his left foot. Doesn't sound like Herremans will be playing this week at Oakland; he talked a little about that possibility last week, but previously had targeted the Oct. 26 game at Washington, which seems more realistic.
Herremans was not available to speak to reporters after practice. He and corner Dimitri Patterson (quad) were the only Eagles who didn't officially practice; corner Sheldon Brown (absdomen) was listed as a limited participant.
WR Kevin Curtis fully participated but said his sore knee didn't feel much better. "It's still not where I want it to be," he said.
Reid seems to be making an effort to be more quotable these days. Sunday we had the declaration that the Wildcat results against the Bucs weren't "blowing up my blouse."
Wednesday, asked about the league's crackdown on excessive celebrations, Reid said: 'I'm probably the wrong guy to ask that. I'm not really big into all of the celebrations. I've always said 'act like you've been there,' but at the same time, it is a little exciting. By the way, I have some guys that think they're gymnasts and do some pretty creative things. But I'm not here to give them a '10.' I'm not here to grade them on that."
Reid said practicing at a high tempo without mistakes will be an emphasis this week, given the Birds' continuing issues with taking too many penalties.
Reid indicated he will continue to rotate Brian Westbrook with rookie running back LeSean McCoy.
"I feel confident doing that. (McCoy) has been playing well," Reid said.
Westbrook was asked if he had been assured of more than last week's eight touches this week.
"Not really," he said. "You call plays for a lot of your playmakers," and at this point, he acknowledged, younger players such as McCoy, DeSean Jackson, Brent Celek and Jeremy Maclin are making plays. "At some point, we're going to have to run the ball, at some point, they're going to have to put the ball in my hands," Westbrook said.
His ankle is OK, he said, but he is still "fine-tuning my game" after sitting out the preseason and the Kansas City game.
"Of course, as a playmaker and as a running back, I want the ball just as much as everybody else," Westbrook said. "Everybody on this team wants the ball ... Over the years here, we've fought and fought and tried to get more playmakers on this team, and now we have 'em. One of the drawbacks of having more playmakers is, you have to spread the ball out a little bit more."
Westbrook said this is the most talented Eagles offense he has seen.
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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