ALWAYS BREAKS OUT THE TY ON HOLIDAYS
UPDATED: Asante Samuel left the Tuesday morning practice early on the last day of two-a-days. He walked off under his own power. The team said he had tweaked his left hamstring. Leaving the locker room Samuel told reporters only, "I'm getting too old for this." His injury, though, is not considered serious. We should learn Wednesday if he'll play in the team's second preseason game.
Fellow cornerback Ellis Hobbs was out with an illness. He said he had eaten some "bad cereal" in the morning, but would be back Wednesday. Joselio Hanson filled in for Hobbs at the corner and Dimitri Patterson played with the first team in nickel situations.
-- Center Mike McGlynn is looking to continue his push for a starting job this Friday in Cincinnati. McGlynn said he expects to play the entire first half with the first team.
"Everything's going in the right direction right now," McGlynn said.
-- His main competition at this point, Nick Cole, sat out practice again. He has had a sore knee, according to the team, and has barely participated since leaving practice Aug. 7. Jamaal Jackson was on the field, but only for individual portions of practice, not any full team drills. Todd Herremans was a full participant. Mike Bell (calf) was also still out but said he expects to be back in a matter of days. Cornelius Ingram only took part in the early portion of practice. The team said he left for maintenance on his knee. LeSean McCoy, who missed Monday's practice with a thigh contusion, was back.
-- The team continues increasing the ways they are trying to use Brandon Graham. Today he lined up at the three-technique in some nickel situations, matching him up against interior linemen rather than tackles. Graham, already so eager to hit quarterbacks that he overran them in Friday's preseason game, said the position lets him push upfield without having to worry about keeping containment on the edge of the defense. It does put him in more of a crowd though. So far in camp he has been impressive blowing by tackles in one-on-one match ups on the end of the line.
Graham has also dropped into pass coverage in some plays, something that he said is new to him.
-- UPDATED: How fast is DeSean Jackson? The fleet wide receiver speed will be tested on Tuesday night's episode of ABC's Shaq Vs. The episode features a race between Jackson, Titans running back Chris Johnson and sprinter Tyson Gay. The show airs at 9 p.m.
-- Chad Hall made the play of the day on a flea flicker from Mike Kafka. Martell Mallett took a hand off and flipped the ball back to the quarterback who launched it some 40 yards in the air. Geoff Pope had good coverage on Hall and it seemed like he had a better shot at the ball, but the 5-foot-8 receiver pulled the pass in, much to the delight of fans and teammates. DeSean Jackson, Jason Avant and Hank Baskett rushed out to congratulate him. Hall is making a late push for a job, but still must be seen as a long shot. We'll see if he gets some more return opportunities Friday.
-- The first team offense got into the end zone a couple times from the 10-yard line, once on a Kevin Kolb pass to an open J.J. Arrington and once on a Kolb strike to DeSean Jackson in the back of the end zone. Nate Allen was beat on the play. Both plays came with only a token pass rush chasing Kolb, since the team was in "shells" and there was no contact.
-- Macho Harris showed some strong physical play going up against Riley Cooper in the red zone, jamming the big receiver on the line. Harris later had a nice diving pass deflection, but the ball popped into the air and Cooper grabbed it.
-- Kolb hit Jackson on a great deep throw, dropping the ball in over Samuel.
-- Newly signed safety Anthony Scirrotto was on the field wearing number 47.
-- Nickname of the day: heard teammates calling Akeem Jordan "Dream" -- as in Olajuwon. I like the reference and knowledge from a pretty young group.
-- Last night in Lehigh for the team tonight. I asked Stewart Bradley if there is anything he'll miss. Long, long pause. Laughter from reporters. "I'm going to miss so many things ... too many to say," he finally said.
