WOULDN'T MIND SEEING A.I. RETIRE A 76ER
The Eagles put on quite a show tonight with their first Flight Night fundraiser at the Linc. A crowd of 31, 786 enjoyed the festivities that surrounded a practice that went more than an hour, and was surrounded by a parachute landing and capped by fireworks.
The only blemish were what seem to be minor injuries to linebacker Stewart Bradley and cornerback Ellis Hobbs.
Bradley limped off and made his way to a training table where athletic trainer Rick Burkholder looked him over. He trotted off the field to the locker room with an unspecified knee injury. The team said he will have an MRI on Monday morning. Joe Mays took Bradley’s place at the middle linebacker spot.
Hobbs left the field with what the team called a stinger, and he will also have an MRI on Monday. Dimitri Patterson and Jack Ikegwuonu filled in the defensive back spot.
*
Along with being asked about Jeremy Maclin's absence, special teams coordinator Ted Daisher was asked about the punt and kick return rotation:
“We’re going to start with the guys that played last year, the guys we’re going to stay with and start with," he said. "Quintin Demps is going to be the kickoff returner right now. Ellis Hobbs has done a great job and has good skills. He’s going to be back there. Jeremy, when he gets into camp, will also be a part of that group. At punt return, we really like DeSean [Jackson]. He’s done a nice job. [He’s] very explosive with the ball. He’s the guy right now, with Jeremy Maclin working his way in as he gets back.”
Asked about any concern about Jackson being on the field too much as his role in the offense increases, Dashier made it clear who is the boss.
“That’s real easy. When Andy says he’s out there, he’s out there. When Andy says he’s not, he’s not. That’s just the way it is.”
*
Elsewhere, the Giants reported to Albany for training camp, and Brandon Jacobs had this to say:
"We had a couple people last year who played a big part in a lot of things who are not here. We’re going to be fine. As a football team, we have a lot of talent and we have a lot of players with a lot of will and determination to make themselves better and make us better as a team ... I like that people are counting us out again this year – because we don’t have Plaxico (Burress). They’re saying that the young receivers can’t pan out and our veteran receivers can’t get it done. Plax was a special talent and it’s hard to find someone like him but we have a lot of guys here that can play and do well enough to get the job done."
*
To read our earlier post about the Jeremy Maclin situation, click 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.
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.
