IS FEELING THE VALENTINE'S DAY LOVE
Things have reached a strange state in Eagles Nation when it's a big deal that Winston Justice isn't seriously injured.
But rumors were flying Friday that Justice, who has played right tackle all preseason in place of back-spasmed Shawn Andrews, suffered a torn pectoral muscle in Thursday night' preseason finale against the Jets. That would be a season-ending injury, and seemingly would completely set the table for a Jon Runyan return, if just in a reserve role behind Andrews, who has said he expects to play in the season opener a week from Sunday
.
Your Eagletarian's thumbs were a blur as he texted back and forth with Runyan over this possibility. Big Jon had no comment other than to ask what I knew about the extent of Justice's injury. At that point, I was Sgt. Schultz, I couldn't provide any enlightenment. But then, no doubt in response to a number of media queries, an Eagles spokesman phoned to say that neither Justice's pec injury nor cornerback Dimitri Patterson's ankle problem were serious. He said both players are day-to-day and could practice Monday, when the Birds reconvene.
Of course, after watching some of the o-line deep reserves play a lot against the Jets, you could make the case that the Birds should sign Runyan anyway. But that's unlikely.
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The Eagles got the jump on paring their roster from 75 players to 53, which has to happen by 6 p.m. Saturday. Friday afternoon they released tight end Eugene Bright, from Harriton High and Purdue, who was trying to convert from defensive end, along with linebacker Curtis Gatewood and defensive tackle Willie Williams, both of whom joined the team during training camp. So now they're at 72 and counting.
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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