Camp Wrap: reasons for optimism, worry on defense
Training camp has given us more clues about what to expect from the Eagles' defense this year. Here are some reasons to be hopeful, and some things to worry about.
Camp Wrap: reasons for optimism, worry on defense
Jonathan Tamari
The Eagles are out of Lehigh, giving us a chance to look back at what training camp stories amounted to real news and what was just noise that will soon be forgotten.
Of course, any camp recap comes with the disclaimer that we can’t draw firm conclusions based solely on practices and a single preseason game. But camp has at least given us new clues of what to expect, where to be optimistic and where Eagles fans should worry heading up to the Sept. 12 opener.
We have written about many of these issues (and others) throughout training camp. Hopefully this helps crystallize things. Today we look at defense. The offensive warp up is here. An “awards” section is at the end.
Defense overview:
The defense entered camp with more veterans, but also more questions than the offense, with new looks throughout the linebacking corps and secondary. To this point, though, many of the issues have turned in the Eagles’ favor. Stewart Bradley has stayed healthy and Ernie Sims has the look of a tackling machine. Nate Allen and Ellis Hobbs practiced well, giving hope that they can solidify a shaky secondary. The defense had a stronger, more consistent camp than the offense.
Defensive line:
Reasons for hope: Brandon Graham looks like he will terrorize quarterbacks. His play has seemed to make many forget that Juqua Parker had career-high eight sacks last year, though he still looked capable in camp and should not be overlooked. Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson remain their solid, steady selves and Trevor Laws showed signs of improvement. With Graham or Parker teaming with Trent Cole, the Eagles hope they can generate more pressure with four rushers.
Reasons for concern: Neither Darryl Tapp nor Daniel Te’o-Nesheim did much in the pass rushing department. If anything happens to Patterson and Bunkley, the depth at tackle is thin. It's important to see more of Laws to know how much he has improved. As good as the defensive line looked, they were going against an offensive line full of back-ups.
Linebackers:
Reasons for hope: Bradley looked more and more comfortable as camp went on. On several plays near the end of the time in Lehigh he leaped up from a scrum at the line of scrimmage to smack down passes, showing little concern about the contact and potential for another injury. His size and speed makes him a difference-maker, particularly in his ability to disrupt passing lanes or just run and cover. Ernie Sims looked fast and will soon get to hit players from other teams.
Reasons for concern: Bradley still has to last an entire season. Sims seems like an unnecessary roughness penalty waiting to happen. Hard to say if Akeem Jordan, who played on the weak side and the middle last year, is the answer at SAM for 2010.
Cornerbacks:
Reasons for hope: Ellis Hobbs had a good camp covering skilled Eagles receivers, so far rewarding the team’s faith in him. He is fast and aggressive and, in a very limited first team performance against Jacksonville, got in on two tackles, showing a willingness to hit even after neck surgery. Coaches say Asante Samuel has responded to criticism of his tackling by adding strength. Macho Harris is back at the position where he excelled in college, giving him a chance to improve on his rookie year. Trevard Lindley is an intriguing prospect.
Reasons for concern: As solid as Hobbs looked, a neck injury is a scary thing when it happens to someone whose job includes tackling people. After him there are few proven cover men. Joselio Hanson got burned for a deep score against Jacksonville and never challenged for a starting job. Harris missed a significant portion of camp and we don’t know yet if he can cover professional receivers. Even if Hobbs remains healthy, he is going to be at a significant height disadvantage against many receivers in the NFC East. We’ll see how much Samuel tackles when the real games begin.
Safties:
Reasons for hope: Nate Allen has fit right in alongside veteran Quintin Mikell. He has quickly learned his job and, at least early in camp, was constantly around the football and caught any overthrows or tipped balls he got his hands on. Mikell feels less pressure to be a leader and instructor and said he is more focused this year. Seventh-round pick Kurt Coleman is smart and punches above his weight when it comes to hitting. Quintin Demps quietly played well.
Reasons for concern: Allen is still a rookie and we haven’t seen much to judge his skills in run support. He seemed to tail off after a fast camp start. After Mikell, there is little experience here. Coleman, for one, got caught in a mix up for one of Jacksonville’s long touchdown passes.
Special teams:
Not much changed here. David Akers is the kicker. Sav Rocca will punt. Ellis Hobbs will probably return kicks. The only question, as yet unanswered, is if DeSean Jackson will keep returning punts. If not him it might be up to Jeremy Maclin or Chad Hall, if he can fight his way onto the roster.
Awards Section:
Biggest Surprise: Clay Harbor. Production from a fourth-round pick is not stunning, but from a fourth rounder out of Missouri State who barely got a college scholarship, that’s a nice find.
Honorable mention: Riley Cooper, Ellis Hobbs, Trevor Laws, Kurt Coleman
Biggest Disappointment: Moise Fokou entered camp as the starting strong side linebacker, and promptly lost the job to Akeem Jordan. The team has moved him around to try to find a place to use him, not a good sign.
Honorable Mention: Nick Cole, Cornelius Ingram, Darryl Tapp, Ricky Sapp
No News is Good News:
I usually hate this phrase, but in the case of Stewart Bradley, it’s perfect. We all did the “Can he stay healthy?” story when camp opened, and he generated little attention after that, because, well, he was on the field contributing. There was little to report, which is exactly what the Eagles wanted.
Best reason for missing practice:
Brent Celek, ill after eating a cherry cheesecake that had sat in his car for five hours.
Honorable mention: Ellis Hobbs, out after eating, he said, “bad cereal.”
Quotes of Camp:
“I’m not a mad scientist,”
-- Asante Samuel, after being asked when he might return from a hamstring injury
“Only at your guys,”
-- Andy Reid, when asked by reporters if his coaches are allowed to curse, “Hard Knocks” style
“Watch for the flea-flicker!”
-- Samuel, from the sidelines as the offense lined up on the five-yard line. He was talking trash because he thought the offense was relying too much on misdirection. For sheer entertainment, Samuel should be allowed to color commentate games while he plays.
“Even his incompletions are better!”
-- one fan’s sarcastic (we think) evaluation of Kevin Kolb
I have been pleasantly surprised with how the defense looked against the Jags, and from what I have heard through reports. Although I think this week's game against the Bengals will paint a better picture. My only concern is the lack of depth in the secondary and DT. If we get injuries there we could be in big trouble...and we aall know Asante will come off the field atleast 16 times during the season with some kind of injury.— EaglesBleedMoney- Sims hasn't done anything yet. He can't be a tackling machine until he actually tackles a lot of opposing runners, preferably before the whistle blows. Graham will terrorize quarterbacks? C'mon. What we've seen so far is he looks pretty good. Could make important contributions. Guaranteed, there isn't a single offensive coordinator putting a lot of thought into him. Agreed, even if Hobbs plays better than expected, his neck is a big question mark. I think Fokou is more a coaching thing. First they think he's a bit of a phenom, and then they look closer and see the mistakes. The guy's just playing football, trying to do the right thing. If they start him before he's ready, that's their judgement error. I doubt he declined during camp at all. He's a second year player without much polish.— tacklinjoe
- concerned to see how the eagles short CB's fare against taller receivers.— chadp1234
- D line needs to send 6 to generate a rush. That puts tremendous burden on the safety play. Hope this kid Allen is as good as advertised. Which Mikell do we see, the 2008 or 2009 version? Eagles have never been successful blitzing LB's in Reid's time (due to low quality personnel) They apparently plan to do more of that this year. If they don't get to the QB, look for huge gains by the TE's and RB's. Graham looks to be a PLAYER. Stop dropping him back in coverage! No way you can be successful on third and long with Laws and Teo at DT. Hopefully that was just camp fun and not a serious package. The O linemen play nearly every snap, why can't Bunk and Patterson?— jimmyj
- D-line can only get better. Graham is an upgrade over Parker, plus, he moves inside in the nickel package. We MUST have more of a pass rush without blitzing! We shall see... The current LB corps is the best of the Andy Reid era, hands-down. Nate Allen, while a rookie, is a serious upgrade from last year. Samuel has bulked up, and more importantly, seems to have embraced the fact that he needs to be more physical, get up in the receivers' faces at the line of scrimmage, etc. His INTs will come, as they always do. Brown, while steady, did not have a good year last year. Let's see what Hobbs can do. This is a push, or maybe a very slight downgrade. Pass rush from 4 down lineman will be the key to the year. All in all, I am way less concerned about the defense than when camp began.— 5NOT4
- tacklinjoe -- Sims had good production in Detroit with high numbers of tackles, so yes, he is a tackling machine.— andimike
- andimike: To show you how important number of tackles is, the Eagles "tackling machine" last year was Quentin Mikell. Any questions?— jimmyj
- If you play linebacker for Detroit, you'll make a lot of tackles. Because the opposing offense has the ball 40 minutes a game. You think Detroit would let go a tackling machine for a 5th round draft pick?— tacklinjoe
- andimike: One more thing to beat the Sims dead-horse (after the play of course). Dhani Jones not only lead his team in tackles last year, he was one of the league leaders. Remember when we used to call him "tackling machine" here in Philly? I guess he got younger or faster or bigger or something!— jimmyj
- You guys complain too much...— EaglesBleedMoney
lol @ EBM. If they stay healthy, this D could be above avg this year. Hopefully they can achieve JJ's magic #17— Mabus
I have to question if some of the posters here are actually Eagles fans at all. Last season the team had zero games played by the expected starting LB combination. They took the one guy who looked good last season and teamed him with two veterans who can play their positions very well. How is that a bad thing? The D-line has added depth and talent. Hopefully, Allen and Hobbs can help the secondary improve. Dick Jauron is a smart defensive coach who has been around the league a long time. His pressense has to help McDermott who was obviously not up to the task of running the defense last season. This team is going to be much, much harder to score on than it was last season. If they play a little more ball control by mixing short passes with the runnning game effectively, they are going to be a very good team. 11-5 last season when anything that could go wrong did go wrong. I will not predict more wins because it looks like they drew a tougher schedule. They should be a playoff team, anyway.- Eagles D will be a top 5 D . You heard it here first . They added edge rushers and brandon will be a STUD . They welcomed back one of the best MLB and added ernie simms . Our DB's got killed last year because of no S play and no pressure on the QB . That has all changed . I predict Kolb will have a 28 Td - 14 INT 4000 yards season and we will finish with a 11-5 record .— kdubs215
- PaulSoTX -- Eagles fans have to believe the hype from training camp about a tackling machine, a guy who is more dangerous to his teammates than to the yards per carry of opposing teams? We can root for the Eagles, want them to go 16-0, without believing press coverage of players who haven't done a thing yet. Stewart Bradley, one of my favorites, would nod his head. It's preseason. He hasn't done a thing yet. Neither has Sims. Neither has Jordan, another one of my favorites. The players have my support -- except for Sims. Guys who cheapshot their own teammates are not tacklers. He needs to prove he's a football player, another Bunkley or Cole. Root for a great Eagles' D, to be sure. But how many people in the league see this as a top defense? Fans are allowed to have their eyes open. The D will need to bring it, for 16 games. They all know we remember Dallas.— tacklinjoe
- kdubs: "Our DB's got killed last year because of no S play and no pressure on the QB . That has all changed." Ummmm no actually. In the first game they got little pressure on the QB, and the secondary play was spotty at best. You are hopefully going to be right, but you aren't right yet!— jimmyj
