IS LACING UP ITS DANCING SHOES
Eagles backup quarterback Kevin Kolb left the field this morning with what was later diagnosed as a sprained MCL in his left knee, the team said.
Defensive end Trent Cole left practice with an AC sprain in his left shoulder. The Eagles said neither Kolb nor Cole will play in Thursday's preseason opener, but both are listed as "day-to-day."
That means while the Birds might need to bring in a QB to take some camp reps (Adam DiMichele, are your cleats still handy?), we can cancel the all-points bulletin on Brett Favre or Michael Vick sightings. UPDATE: Adam Schefter has tweeted that the Birds are signing Matt Nagy, who is even closer to hand than DiMichele -- Nagy has been working as a coaching intern while throwing passes to Brian Westbrook during Westbrook's ankle rehab. Nagy played at Delaware and starred in the Arena League.
Cole, the team's top pass-rusher, should be ready for the Sept. 13 regular-season opener at Carolina.
Kolb got caught up in action between his blockers and pass-rushers. Specifically, offensive tackle King Dunlap said defensive end Bryan Smith knocked him backward, and when he reset, his foot came down on top of Kolb's, as Kolb turned away.
"I got bullrushed, got knocked back a little bit. When I went to hop back and brace, I felt that I landed on his foot," Dunlap said. "I had my (longer) mud cleats on today, because it's a little wet."
Initially, Kolb walked off the field to seek medical attention. He was examined and then driven off on a cart. As Kolb was being tended to, Cole left the field and also was taken by cart to the locker room. Both said later they weren't too worried about the injuries.
The Birds have been hit with a bunch of knee injuries already, including season-ending ACL tears to linebacker Stewart Bradley and rookie tight end Cornelius Ingram. Ingram, by the way, left Lehigh Monday to visit famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Alabama. DeSean Jackson hyperextended a knee Saturday but was back on the field for yesterday's light afternoon workout. Jackson was a full participant Monday.
"That's the game of football," quarterback Donovan McNabb said, in McNabb's scheduled news conference after Kolb was injured. "We have a good training staff ... You just hope everything's all right and he'll be back out there ready to go."
CRUNCH TIME
(a compilation of hits and a few misses from Monday's morning session; the afternoon session was devoted to special teams.)
*First live play of the morning, Donovan McNabb checked down to Shady McCoy for a dumpoff, McCoy with plenty of room to ramble, but McNabb missed him, setting the tone for an offkey workout.
*Asante Samuel dropped a McNabb pick.
*Quinitn Mikell broke up a bomb intended for Jeremy Maclin.
*Sheldon Brown fell awkwardly after going up with Maclin for a jump ball. Brown was shaken up but returned to practice.
*Ellis Hobbs tipped away a goal-line-drill pass from McNabb to Maclin that might have been underthrown.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"I think every year is kind of 'the year.' The focus for me, every year, is to win it right now." --- Donovan McNabb, asked if he feels any extra pressure to win the Super Bowl this year.
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.
Paul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 27 years at 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 came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually wa s boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad and very dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 29 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 26, a lawyer and graduate of Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 23, who graduated from Clemson and works in marketing and sales for a professional baseball team.
