IS GETTING SICK OF ALL THE INJURIES
Day 1 of practice at Lehigh is in the books. Here's the good, the bad and the rest:
The good
** As you know by now, Brian Westbrook made an appearance. Andy Reid said yesterday that No. 36 would be here, and he showed up on the field during the afternoon practice. Obviously you don't want to make too much of it, but it was nice to see him rehabbing and showing signs of recovery.
** Sean McDermott is all business. This was my first time seeing him speak at length in person, and everything I've read about the guy was spot-on. I'm not sure even the great Larry David could make McDermott laugh. At one point during this morning's press conference, he was asked if the past few days have been a whirlwhind for him. He paused for a second and answered.
“No, it really hasn’t. I’ve prepared for this my entire life, I really have," he said "I think anytime you’re an assistant coach and you have the desire to be a defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator, or take the next step in some way, shape, or form, you prepare for it and that’s what I’ve done.”
** Nice job by the Eagles putting the bloggers' trailer next to the fields. This morning, I watched part of the morning practice, jumped on my laptop, posted a quick entry and then headed back out. From what I understand, not a lot of teams are embracing the whole new media thing, and the Eagles went out of their way to accomodate instant updates, which, of course, benefits fans and readers.
The bad
** Still no sign of Jeremy Maclin. I know we've talked about it at length, but with every passing day, this becomes more and more of an issue. The first three days are for the rookies. The Eagles are counting on Maclin to be a contributor right away. I'm not ready to completely overreact, but he needs to be here.
** I have three philly.com shirts, the idea being to wear them when we shoot the daily videos. At first I was going to change into them on the field before we start shooting, but there was something weird about being in just an undershirt out there, even if it's only for a few seconds. So I decided to just wear the shirts the whole time. But after a couple wears in this heat, those things are going to be pretty grotesque. Anyone in Lehigh willing to do my laundry for free? Or do I just go the Fabreze route?
** Speaking of which, come Thursday, only the gutsiest of media members are going to venture into the one port-a-potty in between the fields and the bloggers' trailer. Yikes.
The rest
** McNabb seemed to be in good spirits. At times throughout his career, McNabb has made it clear during press conferences that he does not want to be there. Today he seemed at ease, cracking jokes, offering honest answers, etc. Check out his answer in reference to Joe Banner's comments about the Eagles' roster:
“What do you expect Joe to say?" he asked. "Does it put pressure on us? No. Does it put pressure on the coaches? No. Does it put pressure on Joe? Maybe."
** I'm looking for any and all feedback on the videos we do at camp. If you're wondering why we're not showing footage of the actual practices, it's because the NFL has very specific rules about what we can show online on non-team sites. I like interviewing the reporters and getting their take on camp, but our goal is to be simple with the video and get it up ASAP. If you have any suggestions to that effect, I'm glad to hear them.
OK, maybe one more post coming tonight. If not, we'll continue the Maclin-watch in the morning.
