CHESTNUT HILL - We officially hit the two week mark on training camp with practice No. 14 on Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles had been going at either 8:30 or 9:15, but this was one of two practices scheduled from noon-2 as Bill O'Brien tries to do whatever he can to simulate (as closely as possible) what game days might be like.
There were close to 300 alums/donors/friends and or family floating around following a tour of the football facilities. After practice, I saw Coach posing for a photo with some kids just outside of Alumni. There was a bit of a festive atmosphere for this one, but what those that chose to stick around and watch practice saw was a two-hour ass kicking by the defense.
For the most part, there's been plenty of back and forth between the offense and defense so far in camp, but there's no sugarcoating what happened Saturday.
With that in mind, here's everything I saw...
-Kye Robichaux, Datrell Jones and Turbo Richard all sat out, making the RB depth very thin. Jaedn Skeete was also out. Grayson James was in attendance but was not participating, saw him with a play chart in his hand standing in the backfield. Jacobe Robinson and Delaportas went 2-3 behind Tommy. I asked coach after practice about all of them as well as Logan and he said it's all mostly precautionary.
-Saw scouts from Philly, Kansas City, Denver and the Jets taking in practice.
-Stretch, indy and some 2-on-2 run blocking for the first hour or so. First bit of team periods came at 12:48...
*TC - run Ward, sack Okpala (you're going to read that A LOT in this write up, he put on a show), Rooks blows up a trick run play, Ezeiruaku picks off a screen, defense sprints down field going nuts.
*Robinson - Didn't chart all of his drives because let's face it if he's playing this season they're screwed. Plus, I was tweeting out that first drive. I did see a long catch and run that would have been a TD for Luke McLaughlin (met him after practice really quick walking out too, great, great kid). Reed Harris also made a sick leaping grab from (I think) Delaportas.
*TC - short run for McDonald, run stuff, would-be PI against Amari Jackson on a deep ball vs. Harris.
*Robinson - scramble, (missed this play), run stuff for Griffin, incompletion deep down the right sideline.
-Special teams period. Matt Thurin yells "quality over quantity" talking about reps. Ward, Bond, Nate Johnson and Jayden McGowan field kicks from the jugs machine.
-Back to some 7-on-7 just after 4:00...
*TC - deep slant for Bond, no throw (play blown dead thanks to great coverage), incomplete over the middle intended for Morales, McGowan drops a deep pass.
*Robinson - incomplete deep middle intended for Dino, crosser to McLaughlin, incomplete deep to McLaughlin (had him, overthrow), PBU deep by Jalon Williams against Dino.
*Delaportas - short pass to Martin Laham, Jay Brunelle makes one of the best plays of camp on a deep ball down the left side, Mossing Isaiah Farris to make a grab, slant to Laham, deep pass over the middle to Johnathan Montague.
-7-on-7 in the red zone up next, got uglier for the offense...
*TC - incompletion, swing to Ward, no throw (coverage), interception in the end zone for Koelenge after Tommy had to hold the ball. Receivers struggled brutally all day to get open.
*Robinson - short pass to McGowan, incomplete, incomplete, short pass to Edgehille.
-Team period of all third downs...
*TC - incompletion, PBU for Max Tucker, short pass to Morales, out to McGowan.
*Robinson - PBU deep by Ryan Turner vs. Montrell Wade, sack Quintayvious Hutchins, short to Jeremiah Franklin, incomplete crosser intended for McLaughlin.
*Delaportas - screen to Anthony Ferrucci, crosser to Ferrucci, short pass over the middle to Mike Landolfi, combo sack Holt Fletcher and Gilbert Tongrongu.
-First time we've seen them work on onside kicks and onside kick recoveries for 10 minutes or so in the next period. Really interesting to see how much actually goes into preparing for all types of recoveries and kicks.
-Team period again at 1:37. Ball at the opponent's 45...
*TC - PBU for Bryquice Brown on Harris, Okpala sack, sick interception deep down the right side for Jackson against Bradley, short run for Ward, Okpala sack, Hala run stuff, Okpala run stuff in the backfield, Okpala sack. Unblockable.
*Robinson - incompletion, incompletion on a screen (Farris almost picked it off), short pass to Franklin, short pass to Dino, swing pass to Ferrucci, scramble, sack Tongrongu.
-Goal-to-go situation with the ball at the 10...
*TC - short run Ward, incompletion in the end zone for Bradley, INT for Tucker on a forced throw that probably would have gone for a 100+ yard pick six.
*Robinson - (Missed the first snap), Ferrucci stuffed, incompletion in the end zone.
-Team period reset with the offense now coming out of its own end with the ball around the 20/25...
*TC - short pass to Ward, (missed next snap), scramble, run stuff, slant to Bradley, no gain run McDonald, out to Bond, swing to Ward, run Ward, false start, out to Bond, incompletion to Bond.
*Robinson - hitch outside for Dino, good run for McDonald, screen to McGowan, KP Price lays the wood on a run by McDonald, Kwan Williams sack (he stayed down for a while 2 snaps later, will get an update on Sunday), completion over the middle to Edgehille, no gain Ferrucci, out to McLaughlin.
-BOB calls them up at 2:02 to end the day, talked to them for quite a while after practice.
Eagles are back at it to start the final week of training camp at 9:15 on Sunday. Day off on Monday for local Media Day before going Tuesday-Sunday to finish up camp before beginning FSU prep.
