Eagles players say new pieces are coming together

GIVEN THAT they're changing a lot of key personnel, including at least nine starters from last season, how quickly can the Eagles pull all this together? Are we going to see some sort of trainwreck when the preseason starts Aug. 16 against the Colts, or much more to the point, when the regular season kicks off Sept. 14 against the Falcons?

Not surprisingly, the answer from the Eagles, four days into training camp at NovaCare, is no, it's all going to work out just fine. Some Eagles acknowledge the task is daunting but say they're well on the way to accomplishing it. Others say the whole thing is no big deal, that every team deals with change, every year, and the Eagles aren't undertaking anything unprecedented.

Seattle and New England played in the Super Bowl six months ago. When the 2014 campaign began, had the Seahawks or the Pats gone to any special care to ensure continuity from the previous season? The Patriots - who seem to be Chip Kelly's ideal - began 2014 with nine starters different from the group that had lost the previous season's AFC Championship Game. For the Seahawks, it was five different starters from Super Bowl XLVIII to the start of 2014.

Of course, one thing neither New England nor Seattle changed was the identity of the starting quarterback, whereas the Eagles went out this offseason and traded Nick Foles for knee injury recoveree Sam Bradford, who wasn't able to really run his new offense until camp commenced on Sunday.

"He's done really well. He looks healthy, he looks strong. Arm looks great. He's making really good decisions," wideout Jordan Matthews said yesterday, when asked about Bradford. "I can't think of any time when he's had a string of bad plays. If there's a play he doesn't like, he's going to come back and make up for it. All the guys trust him, know he's going to get the job done."

Bradford acknowledged this week that it's very different for a QB, your first camp in a new offense.

"You're still learning everything," he said. "You're learning reads, you're learning timing, you're learning how [receivers] on the outside see things. I think it's extremely important that I make the most of every rep I get during this camp and get as comfortable as I can with this offense."

As tight end Zach Ertz pointed out, the Eagles haven't exactly been the Patriots or the Seahawks when it comes to starting-QB stability in recent years; this isn't totally new territory.

"We've had a lot of different quarterbacks during my going-on-three-years here, but each time I think we've been able to build that team camaraderie around them," Ertz said. "That's what camp's for. That's what the offseason's for. That's what cellphones are for, nowadays, just to be in constant communication with everybody on this team. I think we have a very special group in that regard; guys want to hang out with each other both in the building and out."

Outside linebacker Connor Barwin said this camp isn't any different from others.

"I've been around teams, there's a lot of turnover every year," Barwin said. "It's nothing new. It happens all the time. I'm excited about the guys that are in here, and so far, I'm excited about the first week of camp we've had."

Running back Darren Sproles said he can't remember ever integrating this much change into a roster when he played in San Diego or New Orleans. "It happens, though," he said. Sproles added that he feels much of the hard work in assimilation occurred during spring work - that training camp hasn't been much different from the usual.

Wideout Miles Austin, who has played in Dallas and Cleveland, said there is really no way to know for sure how well things are coming together, until you start playing games.

"Every team around the league is probably feeling good about everything right now. It's so early. You haven't really been hit with much adversity yet," Austin said. "I think once that adversity comes, whether it be in the preseason or the start of the regular season, then you really find out how your team is."

One of the big areas of change is the offensive line, where veteran starting guards Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans were released. O-lines have to work together much more closely than players at many other positions.

"Every year the team's different. Every year you lose guys, add guys," left tackle Jason Peters said. "That's why you have offseason programs, to try to get your players in, get the chemistry going. We're going to be fine."

Former Seahawk and Giant Walter Thurmond is learning a new defense while morphing from nickel corner to safety., a position he has never played as a pro. But Thurmond said he feels everything is coming together, and that the defensive changes have been exaggerated. Though three of four secondary starters are different, Nolan Carroll, the favorite to start at corner opposite Byron Maxwell, was here last year, Thurmond noted, he just didn't start. Ditto Brandon Graham, the former top outside linebacking sub, taking over for Trent Cole. Maxwell, inside linebacker Kiko Alonso and Thurmond are the only new starters who are learning the defense.

"When I was with New York last year, that was a makeover of a team," Thurmond said. "There were like 15 free agents they brought in, most of them starting . . . as far as the [Eagles] defense is concerned, the core is the same."

The Giants started 2014 with 13 starters different from the end of 2013.

Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis made the point this week that Kelly's torrid pace means the Eagles fit more reps into their practice time than other teams. Obviously, more practice helps when you have new people.

"I've calculated [reps are] two to three times higher for practice," Davis said. "With having all those offseason reps, which is way more than you get anywhere else, our backups and our younger guys get more and more, our new guys get more and more than if you were somewhere else. There is nothing like a rep, a practice rep on the field, to train somebody.

"You've got to keep doing it and doing it. And we covet mistakes. Come on and make your mistakes, guys. Don't be fearful of mistakes; come make them because you'll learn from them. I think all those offseason reps let the new guys and the young guys be better prepared to come out and compete in the preseason and compete for a roster spot."

Yesterday, Kelly was asked about what Davis said. Kelly said the pace of practice does give more opportunities for backups who might otherwise get shortchanged, but starters don't really work more here than in other camps or during regular-season practices. (He didn't add, "Hear that, Cary Williams?")

"Our ones get the same amount of reps as every other team's ones across the league. It's just the way we format our training sessions, our twos and threes get more reps than everybody else," Kelly said.

"In a lot of places, the ones get 12 reps, the twos get six reps and the threes may get two. For us, it's even across the board. So we are just rotating in sets of four. Right now, in a team period, the ones will get 12 reps, the twos will get 12 reps and the threes will get 12 reps."

Kelly explained why he thinks practice reps are so much more valuable to subs than classroom or drill time, which every team provides pretty much equally.

"Our educational philosophy is: 'I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do, and I understand,' " Kelly said. "So you can talk about it and show it to him on tape as much as [you want] . . . they have got to do it. Then our decisions, in terms of our evaluations of them as players, have to be based on demonstrated evidence. It can't just be, 'I think he's a good player. He's only been in there for a couple snaps, but I think he's going to be able to do it.' We are trying to put [the player] in as many situations as we can where it can reveal itself."

Overall, Matthews said a huge part of bringing everything together is everyone being focused on and committed to his specific task. If you're supposed to run a 10-yard out to a certain spot, you make sure you know your assignment and you execute it. Whether the QB knows you well or not, he knows where you're going to be. If everybody does that, communication problems or troubles getting in sync are minimized.

"To be honest, it's not as hard as some people think," Matthews said. "Everybody makes a big deal out of [a team] having to get that chemistry going, but that chemistry kind of staggers when guys aren't responsible and aren't accountable; we have a . . . locker room full of accountable guys who really are really responsible and are going to do their job. When guys go out there and do their job, that chemistry happens so much faster. It picks up way quicker."

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