Eagles Practice Observations: Defense rips offense; Sturgis surging ahead; Means is all business

The Eagles held their 13th practice of training camp on Sunday. Here's what I saw:

-- First, the good news: The defense, overall, looked very good -- which leads to bad news: The offense stunk. The Eagles were back in pads after a 10-10-10 day, and while there weren't "live" tackling drills, there was still plenty of contact during "thud" periods. All three units of the offense couldn't seem to get into a rhythm. The quarterbacks weren't sharp. There was an assortment of mistakes. I counted at least five dropped passes (Cayleb Jones, David Watford, Nelson Agholor, Chris Pantale and T.J. Graham). I also counted as least three false start penalties (Pantale, Matt Tobin and Josh Huff). The defensive effort certainly contributed to the errors. Even the hard-to-please Jim Schwartz acknowledged that his units had a solid day. "They had a pretty good day this morning," the Eagles defensive coordinator said, "but we don't need to be patting guys on the back for that."

-- The kicker competition will hinge, ultimately, on how Caleb Sturgis and Cody Parkey perform in the preseason. But based on how they've kicked thus far in camp Sturgis has been better. He's been more accurate and his leg has been stronger. On Sunday, he went 6 of 7 during the first field goal drill. Sturgis hit from 33, 43, 46, 44, 50 and 38 yards. He was wide left from 52. Parkey was 5 of 7, missing wide left from 50 and 52 yards. They were both good during team drills from 33, 44, and 46 yards. Overall in camp, Parkey is 23 of 31 and Sturgis is 28 of 31. Sturgis' kickoffs have also been consistently longer.

-- The Eagles didn't have any new additions to the missing-practice crew. Receiver Jordan Matthews (knee), safety Malcolm Jenkins (hamstring), tackle Jason Peters (quadriceps), defensive end Marcus Smith (concussion) and running back Wendell Smallwood (quad) were absent. Cornerback JaCorey Shepherd was out with a hamstring injury for the second day in a row. I missed his absence on Saturday, which may something about how he's performed thus far in camp. He said he'll be back on Monday. Safety Rodney McLeod was back after missing two days to attend a funeral. Running back Ryan Mathews (ankle) and right guard Brandon Brooks (hamstring) appeared to be full participants and took their respective places with the first team offense.

-- Sam Bradford had maybe his worst practice of camp. It happens. No biggie. But he struggled. Not having Matthews could have been one factor. Corner Jalen Mills picked off Bradford in the end zone during the first team drill. The rookie keeps making plays on the ball. He later broke up another pass from Bradford to receiver Chris Givens. Corner Nolan Carroll blanketed Jones on another Bradford incompletion. Leodis McKelvin and Ron Brooks are still the first team corners, but Carroll takes Brooks' spot when he moves into the slot in the nickel defense. Carroll lost receiver Rueben Randle and Bradford hit him for what would have garnered multiple yards after the catch. Bradford threw a deep one up for grabs that McLeod intercepted, but it looked like Doug Pederson awarded the defense a sack. Safety Ed Reynolds, who has been pitching in some for Jenkins, was credited with a sack, too. Linebacker Mychal Kendricks picked up another later one. Bradford did have nice throws. He lofted a strike to tight end Trey Burton over Kendricks during 7 on 7s. He hit running back Darren Sproles on a slant for a score.

-- Chase Daniel was up and down, per usual of late. He had success going to tight end Zach Ertz underneath a bunch of times. On one catch, Kendricks gave Ertz a little extra pop high with the pads that he clearly didn't appreciate. Defensive ends Bryan Braman and Steven Means were awarded sacks. Schwartz gave Means props – "He means business." – after practice. Can Means overtake the injured Smith for a roster spot?

-- Carson Wentz played about the same as the other two quarterbacks. He was "blindsided" by corner Denzel Rice with a sack. He tried to fool Aaron Grymes with a pump fake-fade to Givens during 4 on 4s, but the corner didn't bite and knocked the ball away. Linebacker Quentin Gause picked up a sack. Wentz threw high of Agholor when the receiver couldn't break free of corner Randall Evans. He sailed another pass high of Walton. Wentz was picked off by Randall in the end zone during 7 on 7s. But he had another one of those "Wow" passes when he rolled to this right and fired a toss off his back foot to Burton for a touchdown.

-- And a few notes … Running back Cedric O'Neal brought the "thud" to practice when he bounced safety Nick Perry back about three yards with a pop on a run up the middle. … Corner Eric Rowe did a good job of jamming Givens at the line during one on ones, which drew a low five from defensive backs coach Cory Undlin.