TRUSTS CHOOCH IN A PINCH
Well, that didn't take long.
According to Michael Irvin, who hasn't been to one Eagles practice or game this preseason, the Eagles have a quarterback controversy.
Apparently, Irvin -- a long time Donovan McNabb hater -- and local radio yakker Howard Eskin are simpatico. Eskin tried to whip up a storm today when he asked the Eagles quarterback about his supposed conversation with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg when it was fairly clear the occassional inserting of Michael Vick in the last preseason game was disrupting the flow of the offense.
ESKIN: "Marty said he didn't remember your discussion on the sideline. Do you remember it and, if so, have you talked to him about what you apparently told him in the sideline about Vick."
[Mornhinweg, in fact, said he did remember the discussion. "We did have a quick discussion about that," he said Sunday. What he said he didn't see was McNabb waving his hand under his neck, apparently calling for the Mornhinweg to cut out the Vick plays.]
MCNABB: "Well, I remember the conversation. That's kind of talk of everything right now. But I thought the conversation was very productive and very important. It's a communication between quarterback and coordinator that I think we came up with answers and we were able to go out and execute. As far as anything else, I don't remember any of that."
ESKIN: "Did you talk to Marty?"
MCNABB: "Yeah, I talked to Marty."
ESKIN: "Did you figure out how you could make this better?"
MCNABB: "Just play football. That's over. You have to understand with everything that's going on right now everybody is making a big deal out of our whole situation. We communicate every game. We communicate in practice. We communicate here in the building. So it's no different than what we've done in the previous years. Now I know that with everything going on people are searching trying to find something."
McNabb was asked if he would be more comfortable with Vick coming in for successive snaps or for a whole series as opposed to the new quarterback jumping in for a play here and there. McNabb evaded the question, with something like, "Before you can come up with gimmicks, before you can come up with something else, you got to get your base offense going."
UPDATE: The Eagles announced that they released tackle Chris Patrick. They roster now stands at 79. Teams need to be at 75 players by tomorrow at 4 p.m.
Check back for more from today's practice.
Maclin back at practice
After leaving Sunday's practice with an undisclosed injury, rookie wide receiver Jeremy Maclin is back at practice today. Maclin left the field Sunday after catching a pass from quarterback Michael Vick.
Andrews moves up depth chart
Eagles offensive tackle Shawn Andrews is back with the first-team offense today, just three days after returning from a back injury that had prevented him from practicing through training camp and most of the preseason.
He returned to practice Saturday and worked with the scout team, then ran primarily with the second-team offense Sunday. The two-time Pro Bowl guard who has made the move to tackle also said before practice that he has some new music material about to be posted on You Tube.
