Eagles training camp 2013: What they're saying: Panthers preparing for Eagles' up-tempo offense

by Jimmy Kempski

Published Aug. 15, 2013, 8:26 a.m. ET

It's game day tonight at Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles will take on the Carolina Panthers in Week 2 of the preseason. Nick Foles getting the start at QB. Here's what they're saying...

You'll see a little more of Nick Foles and Michael Vick Thursday night against the Panthers, Eagles coach Chip Kelly said Tuesday.

Kelly said he hopes to play his starters about two quarters. Foles and Vick again will divvy up the "starter" reps, with Foles getting the first series this time. In the preseason opener against New England, Vick and Foles each got two series, and each QB produced one touchdown.

"We'll see how that plays itself out," Kelly said. "Does that mean (the QBs will alternate) by series, or whatever? It depends on how many snaps and how long the series are ... if we get a lot of reps in the first quarter," Kelly might go to subs at some point in the second. 'Some of our 'ones' only played nine or 10 snaps the other night."

Most NFL teams don't do much game-planning before preseason games because coaches generally keep their schemes fairly vanilla, not wanting to show too much before beginning the regular season.

But the Carolina Panthers' defense has taken special measures this week to get ready for Thursday's second preseason game at Philadelphia. Carolina isn't all that concerned about what plays the Eagles will run under first-year coach Chip Kelly, but how fast they'll do it.

The diehards still grumbling over New England's game-opening march downfield last Friday won't want to hear this, but this is true about the Eagles' defensive line: Minus a few veterans, it's young, versatile and promising.

It's a group the front office and coaching staff expects, sometime in the near future, to be the foundation of a championship-caliber defense.

"It's nice to see when you have young guys like that coming up," Kelly said. "The game is won up front on the offensive and defensive lines, and I think we have some young defensive linemen that we're excited about seeing how they grow up."

His public image is in such bad shape, you're almost anticipating this snarly voice to snap at you when you answer the phone; some one-dimensional character that fits with our understanding of the man, which has been cobbled together from newspaper clippings and Wikipedia entries and of course, Twitter outbursts.

What we found in our recent hour-long conversation with Marcus was something completely different. He was measured and he was thoughtful and he was reflective. He didn't give any impression that he lacks a moral compass — only the ability to stay consistently true to it.

We can't make any conclusions from the opener, but I just re-watched some of the D-line today so let's take another look at them.

Fletcher Cox was just bad. I don't know if he was confused or just had an off night, but he only had a play or two where you'd give him a positive grade. Fletch needs to kick butt and take names this year. His job is to be a difference-maker. I hope he's a man on a mission this week.

Even though Logan, 6-foot-2, 309 pounds, and Square, 6-foot-2, 293, are only entering their first years in the NFL, they are hoping to contribute immediately and look to bring toughness, physicality and a dominating attitude to a defense that is searching for an identity.

"Hit the man in front you, dominate the man in front of you," Logan said. "That's my main thing every time I go out to play. Even in practice I get mad when a guy gets the best of me ... The attitude I have in practice is the same way I approach the game."

"Physicality, intensity, rage, controlled chaos," Square said, adding that he hopes to be "contagious with good effort."

The focus on whether Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III will play during the preseason has bolstered the assumption that he'll play in Week One of the regular season.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, that hasn't been decided yet.

Though Griffin publicly has said there's "no doubt" he'll play, the decision ultimately will be made not by Griffin but by coach Mike Shanahan, after consulting with Dr. James Andrews.

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Please let this happen: Chip Kelly calls for Eagles to run dual triple stacks with Peters and L. Johnson out wide... http://t.co/xpl8AVyQKe

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