Allen: Hammy Issue No Big Deal
Philly.com, Inquirer, and Daily News coverage of the Eagles
Allen: Hammy Issue No Big Deal
Les Bowen
Eagles safety Nate Allen said Monday the hamstring injury he suffered Sunday night during Flight Night was of little consequence.
"I wouldn't even call it a 'tweak,'" Allen said. "It was more like a spasm. It's nothing, not even close to what I had i[earlier] in training camp. I'm going to give it a couple of days."
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Wideout Riley Cooper hasn't been around reporters much since breaking his collarbone in the early going at Lehigh. Sunday, Eagles coach Andy Reid said it would be a struggle for Cooper to be ready for the opener, but Cooper said he has his full range of motion back, but "bone has to heal." He also said he still has to strengthen the muscles around the area of the break.
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Quarterback Mike Kafka, who has been cleared to start taking snaps, said he is taking everything 'one day at a time." This answer was given to questions about his injury, his roster spot, playing against the Jets Thursday, and his all-time favorite '70s sitcom. I might have made that last one up. But whatever happened to Bonnie Franklin?
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To the casual observer, it might look like the Eagles are once again shuffling their linebacking corps because they never quite seem confident they have everything they need in their most troubled unit, over the past decade or so.
Shockingly, that is not how Eagles defensive coordinator Juan Castillo sees it.
"They're athletic. They can run. They're tough. They're hungry. I think what [DeMeco Ryans] has added is, Meco has that experience ... Now, all of a sudden, the kids see how they're supposed to watch tape, how they're supposed to act on the field. Meco's a no-nonsense type guy, and a guy who's been in the league and done it ... You take that, mixed with athletic kids, athletic guys, now you have a good group," Castillo said Monday.
Castillo said veteran Akeem Jordan, elevated to the starting weakside spot Sunday ahead of Brian Rolle, has "had one of the better training camps since I've been around." He said coaches initially were milidly pleased to see Jordan making plays and leading the second defensive unit. Then they saw him making more and more plays, and started to think about moving him up.
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Marty Mornhinweg was not nearly as interested as reporters were in parsing the quarterback situation behind Michael Vick. Since Kafka has been cleared to take snaps again, that might mean Kafka gets into Thursday's last preseason tilt against the Jets. But Mornhinweg professed not to have given much thought yet to who is No. 2 and who is No. 3, after the decision to cut the fourth quarterback is made.Of course, now that three QBs are fully active on gameday, this decision is much less of a big deal than it once was.
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Mornhinweg said "consistency" was the key to King Dunlap winning the left tackle job over Demetress Bell.
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Linebacker Casey Matthews (high ankle sprain) believes he can be ready for the opener.
JC says, "Now, all of a sudden the kids see how they are supposed to watch tape, how they are supposed to act on the field" ARE YOU KIDDING ME. YO Juan.....Are you not the DC? Do you not have coaches around you ? What the hell are you doing if you are not teaching the kids what to look for or how to act.....YOU are so Bogus....Are you a coach or what ? YO Andy....Can you believe that....you hire a linebacker who may not be what you hoped for and your personal choice for DC cannot teach things and is please that the player is doing the coaching.....HELLO Jeffery, What is wrong with this picture...— nuggett- Dude- you're reading into it way too much. Just twist the guys words around. HELLO- he's saying that the guy is a good role model. There's a reason why Reid is sticking with him....this may surprise you but the dude did a great job last year considering the circumstances. I'm sure Andy has a better idea then you. McDermott wasn't any good, and he's gone. If you watched any of the games you'll see the guys didn't tackle. If you follow the Eagles, they got rid of a key player named Banner who made a good bit of the personnel decisions. — John Dealoni
- Throw away year. Vick at QB, Castillo as DC, no safeties, questionable LBs, questionable corners. Arguably, the Eagles lost there two best players from last season (Samuel and Peters). 9 and 7 would be a gift.
- The only shocking thing Castillo could say would be a sentence that ridicules one of his players in public. They could lose every LB they have to injury, be forced to sign 4 players off various NFL taxi squads, and he would still be positive about their talents and capabilities. "Yes, he was a special teamer at Bucknell, but that Miller kid can play!"
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— Quixote II - Samuel was one of the two best players form last year? Wow...that really was a bad year— cbanger
- Why didn't the LBs know how to watch tape before Ryans? Why didn't Les ask that question? Why hasn't Nugget learned how to use the ellipses properly? So many questions before week one— dragoon6
The 11th ranked defense in the entire NFL. Yeah that Juan sure is a lousey Defensive Cordinator!- if the preseason is vanilla im really gonna hate seeing what juan and the D will bring this season... could it get any worse than last season? could we be embarrassed any more than last season? hopefully not guess we will find out in a few weeks. at this point juan is the DC we have no choice in the matter so its time for support just like vick will be the qb time for my support though juan didnt cut it last year and neither did vick but you guys have my support till your gone... lets go eagles— defroe
If Jim Johnson had this year's defense or last year's we'd be talking about the number 1 defense in the NFL for 2 years straight with sack records. With Johnson Reid gave him bums to work with because he was such a genius he could make anything work. With Juan he is so outta there he has to be stacked with talent to make up for the strategic defiencies— Zeru- Brian Rolle needs to be moved to Strong Safety, he's an undersized LB with heart...it would be great having him out there on running downs....he's less likely to jump offside there and he'd be an upgrade to the scrubs we have there now. Allen needs to show up this year. As it stands, the safety position will be this teams weakness again.— John Dealoni
- Juan could be outcoached by the Jets' waterboy, and Reid will say he's doing "a pretty good job."— NM Eagle fan
- Based on what? You don't know if Juan did a good job or not- the players were scrubs. Couldn't tackle. You're shooting from the hip! Remember Banner? Remember the shortened off season last year? Why do you think Roseman and Reid are doing personnel now? — John Dealoni
- YOU GUYS...need to stop dogging Juan. Typical Philly, scratch one layer and everybody has the answer to the problems. Juan was never the problem last year, NONE of you know anything about schemes and wouldn't know if he did a great job or not. The problem last year was personnel, shortened off-season and too many changes. Guys weren't even making tackles. That's not something you should have to teach in the NFL. The issues fall squarely on Big Red's shoulders. After Childress left, has Morningweigh done anything? Nope! Has he ever had success anywhere? Nope. Offense is going to be the bigger problem again.— John Dealoni
- John-I agree with your view of the offense but you are cutting Juanderful too much slack. He is an offensive line coach, and not a very good one. He may have coached defense once at the high school level but that is like saying that because you once cooked a meal you are now a chef. Juan is a joke and he will continue to be the weak link on the defense. — coloradoeagle
- TiF Castillo isn't the problem, then why does he still have an assistant to help him "learn" his job?— NM Eagle fan
