CAN HEAR CLEARWATER CALLING
Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott characterized his group as "a little bit green around the collar" today. Everybody kind of knew what he meant, even if old Wisk commercials were playing in their heads.
How big would it be, for that young group, with two rookie starters, to shut down the feared Green Bay offense and Aaron Rodgers this weekend?
“It would be tremendous. It would be tremendous," McDermott said. "This is a great offense ... but it is a one-game season each and every week. So I want to take it one at a time and keep things in perspective, and continue to go and try to improve each and every week.
"Is this a challenge? Yes, it’s a huge challenge, but our players are ready for it, and I think they welcome that challenge. It’ll be a great environment in Philadelphia. It doesn’t get any better than playing at home on opening weekend, and wearing those (vintage) uniforms. I think it will be a great day for football, the barbecues will be flying around, and the tailgates, and we’re going to need those fans come this weekend.”
Flying barbecues could be one cause of being green around the collar.
"When you’re a little bit green around the collar, you want to see how players react, and how they play together, and how they handle adverse situations," McDermott said. "And I think we’ve been through some adverse situations already in camp, and handled them extremely well, and some in the preseason games. But, that experience is important. So, each and every play we’ll continue to build upon that experience and the players will get more and more comfortable with one another.”
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Special teams coordinator Bobby April indicated that DeSean Jackson will return punts and Ellis Hobbs kicks Sunday,but April said he would let Andy Reid make that announcement.
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Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said Kevin Kolb will see things he hasn't seen as he works his way through his first season as the starter, and that Kolb's ability to adapt will determine his success.
Mornhinweg said his offensive line "has an opportunity to be one of the best in this league," even though it never got to play together in the preseason. Mornhinweg said the OL is putting "quite a bit of extra work in" this week to make up for the lost time.
"They’ve played a lot of winning snaps together and now they’re standing," he said. "Other than that, they’re very good in their preparation and they’re putting their hard work in with their recent past history and then this week. I would expect them to play at a high level.”
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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