Eagles trim roster; who's playing vs. Jets
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Eagles trim roster; who's playing vs. Jets
Daily News staff
UPDATED: The Eagles have trimmed their roster to 75 by this afternoon's deadline by placing tight end Cornelius Ingram (knee) and linebacker Stewart Bradley (knee) on injured reserve and releasing defensive back Brandon Harrison, linebacker Charleston Hughes (waived, injured). Chris Patrick was released yesterday.
From earlier:
As expected, Eagles coach Andy Reid said Kevin Kolb will start Thursday's preseason finale at the Jets.
Michael Vick will play in the second half and also is expected to be on the field in a Wildcat or other role in the first half. A.J. Feeley also will play in the second half. Reid would not commit to which QB would start the second half.
“I think you’ll see him probably play a little faster this week than he did last week," Reid said of Vick. "It was just a matter of getting him acclimated back into the speed of the game and then this week he’ll have a chance to get in and get a few more reps. He had a good week of practice, he’s worked very hard so I would expect good things from him.”
Reid also said Vick will take more snaps from under center.
"I didn’t really put a number on it," Reid said. "He’s been doing it all week and looked fairly smooth. He had a drop today but that was his first one here. I don’t have a number on that but you will see him be underneath the center.”
Rookies Jeremy Maclin and Brandon Gibson will start at wide receiver. Gibson, a sixth-rounder, is seemingly in a battle for a roster spot and this could be a chance for him to show himself.
“I tell the players the first day of camp, make the decisions for [general manager] Tom [Heckert] and I as tough as you possibly can and that means we’re doing OK at your spot," Reid said. "I would say that about the wide receivers, we have some kids that can play and so there will be some tough decisions there.”
None of the starting offensive linemen are scheduled to play, meaning Shawn Andrews will head to the regular season with no game action. It remains unclear whether Andrews will be ready for the season opener, Sept. 13 against Carolina.
Starters along the line are left tackle King Dunlap, left guard Mike Gibson, center Mike McGlynn, right guard Paul Fanaika and right tackle Winston Justice.
“I’ve told you before I have a concern there," Reid said of the offensive line. "I think it’s important that they play together. The one thing I will say though is if there are a couple positions that work as close to game speed as you’re going to get, it’s the offensive and defensive line. They do that on a daily basis ... They work the stunt games and they work the run games so they get plenty of fast work. Again, would I like to see them all together? Absolutely.”
Brian Westbrook also will not play. LeSean McCoy will play, but Reid said that was to get the rookie more reps in game situations.
Joe Mays will start at middle linebacker with Omar Gaither sidelined by an ankle injury suffered Monday in practice. Gaither did return to finish the practice.
The battle for the starting spot continues at free safety between Quintin Demps and rookie Macho Harris. Both will get to make their case.
"I’ll just keep a close eye on the safety position, it really doesn’t matter what position they’re playing back there in the secondary, as far as the safeties go they’ll be able to show me what they can do," Reid said. "We have an open competition there and we’ll just see how that works."
CURTIS UPDATE
Wide receiver Kevin Curtis, sidelined with knee inflammation, will take part in warmups Thursday night but will not play, Reid said.
“It really isn’t [bad], we’re just trying to make sure while we have this time right now, just make sure to keep the swelling out of there and he’s actually doing pretty good," Reid said. "He’ll travel with the team and go through the warm-ups and all that so it’ll give him a chance to get out there running around.”
TIGHT END SITUATION
As Les Bowen tweeted earlier, the Giants released tight end Lee Vickers, who came to the Eagles as a defensive end and was switched to tight end earlier in his career. Could the Eagles be interested?
Why isn't Big Lazy playing? He hasn't played one NFL game at RT.— dragoon6
He's getting his Garfield on.— Richard Saunders- Brian Westbrook recovers from surgery, misses most (if not all) of camp, and doesn't play in any of these "raindeer" exhibition games. No problem. Shawn Andrews is recovering from a surgery on his herniated disc, a surgery that is 1000% more serious than either of those undergone by Westbrook. In the process of running, Andrews strains the muscles around the area of his back surgery, and misses all of camp, and all the "raindeer games". BIG PROBLEM! Who gets the benefit of the doubt? THE LESSER PLAYER. Shawn Andrews, with fewer years in the league, has been to more pro bowls than Westbrook. When he is on the field, he has been more productive. And Brian Westbrook has missed MORE GAMES than ny other Eagle on the roster, including McNabb. Shawn Andrews broke his fibia (his thigh bone), the most important bone in an O-lineman's body. He was on his way to the pro-bowl that year. He came back the next year and was a pro-bowler. Then he hurniates a disc and has surgery. But Eagles fans are done with him because he suffers from depression, and so obviously are prejudiced against mental illness to the point of believing that people who suffer from such ailments automatically lack the "manhood" and "toughness" to play football. This, they spue from computer terminals while sitting on cushy seats in cliamte-controlled settings, in a faceless and anonymous fashion, the height of the "manhood" they berate Shawn for supposedly lacking. Shawn Andrews is the best player on this team. PERIOD! It is not even close. No one else on this team has more consistently over the course of his careeer garnered the level of respect from fellow players that Shawn has. Everyone knows that the only reason he was not an All-Pro his rookie season was because veterans refuse to let that happen. Oh, he'll be ready on opening day, back at his NATURAL position. Now that Runyan is finally gone, Shawn can have his position back! You'd think the fans would be happy.— montgomeryhopkins
Comment removed.- What about Sean Jones?— Lemur
- FYI-He didn't make a Pro Bowl his rookie season, because he broke his leg in the first game of the year vs. the Giants. His rookie season was the year they went to the Super Bowl. It wasn't a veteran conspiracy. Just wanted to clarify that for people.— Phils2Repeat
- Comment removed.
- motgomeryhopkins is sticking up for her son Andrew just like Mrs. McNabb. How cute.— pat28
I hope the Andrews brothers both play at a Pro-Bowl level. The problem is the O-line needs to work together to gain some cohesion. It needs to be a solid unit. All the time missed this preseason, not just by Shawn, by everyone except Jackson, makes it less likely they will be ready to play together in the early part of the season. If you are not concerned by all the time lost by the O-line yet, you have not been paying close enough attention.- nice rant....— oTTo the CzAR
- I'm with montgomeryhopkins. But I have to point out that there is no arguing with McNabb/Reid/Andrews haters. That's because they are idiots, and you can't use logic on people who can't grasp it. So don't waste your time. I just wish that those of us who are sane weren't always the silent majority. It puts the fans here in a bad light to the players. Andrews needs to know that most of us support him (this may even legitimately help his career), yet he seems to be falling into the WIP trap. Unfortunate because he could be a 4-6 Pro Bowl guy.— sla6yer
- Andrews is excellent; but, we are selling a lot of players short if we say he is hands down the best. Both our previous tackles were every bit as good and dominant each year, every start. Patterson and Westbrook are as good for sure. McNabb is at times better, but more often is worse than Shawn. Silly argument to make that he's the best hands down.
- Can't blame Shawn Andrews for the time it takes to heal. Back stuff can be real tricky. Everyone recognizes there are business decisions in football, and I question the wisdom of keeping an injury-prone, expensive player like Shawn. Unfortunately some players don't have long careers because of bad luck. I'd be surprised if he ever plays a full season again.— tacklinjoe
- Comment removed.
- Andrews was excellent 2 years ago. He didn't play last year. He hasn't played yet this year. When he plays and he is excellent I will be the first to say, "He is excellent again."— Richard Saunders
- lol, the fibula is your outside calf bone, not your thigh (femur), andrews didn't break his thigh bone... -not bob levy— remyy
- What would Kevin Curtis' name be if he played hockey.....Daniel Briere!!! Someone put this guy in bubblewrap until you are ready to use him for 12 plays a game— rvb2321
- montgomeryhopkins - don't waste all of your best rants now, save some for the season!
- Who cares. I want them to win, Andrews is blessed and he could be the greatest O linemen the eagles have ever had. Westbrook gets the pass because Andy has been killing him for the past 4 years. Can't we all get along. I'll be at the link against the aint's. Miami or Bust. No winning the Super Bowl or nothing!!! The HEAT IS ON, THANKS TO THE PHILLIES.— Eaglefreak
- I want to say Booooooooooooooooooooo to the Shawn and McNabb haters!!!— Bigbadrookie
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- sla6yer, i thought it was funny that you said 'those of us who are sane' when speaking about Andrews. Good one!
- montgomeryhopkins - he is too depressed to play a game and earn millions and you're defending him? Really sit down and think about that. He's depressed with his life. Earning more in one afternoon than most in a year and he's depressed. This is a hard town, people here have real problems and real struggles in their lives, and we're supposed to have sympathy for Shawn Andrews? Could you imagine if he had to face real world real life problems. He has less reason to complain than 99.9% of the world, but somehow he's too sad. Really?— CharlestheHammer
- I look forward to reading the injury report on Andrews. Out with hurt feelings.— CharlestheHammer
- Dr. Montgomeryhopkins your fibula (not fibia) is not a thigh bone...your thigh bone is your femur. Fibula is one of the two bones in your lower leg the second being your tibia. Just an FYI. So if you want to rant take an anatomy class prior...— coryreedmiller
- hey montgomeryhopkins: I wont argue that his injuries are or aren't legitimate but to say he is by far the best player on the team is insane. Let me throw some numbers at you, (2004 he missed the whole year, we went 13-3 made the super bowl)(2005 played the whole season, went 6-10 missed playoffs)(2006 played whole season went 10-6 made it to 2nd round of playoffs)(2007 played whole season went 8-8 missed playoffs)(2008 missed the season went 9-6-1 made it to NFC championship game).... so in the 3 season he played, we missed the playoffs twice and won 1 playoff game and his combined record is 24-24. Without him in 2 years we made it to the superbowl one year and made it to the Nfc championship game the next for a combined record of 24-9-1. so Is he the best player on the team? the record clearly doesn't show it.— 8131anthony
- sla6yer, you are dead on! Maybe if we all band together. We can drown out the boneheads... OK, probably not. Hope springs eternal.— rluderitz
- Comment removed.
