Eagles training camp: Morning session August 30, 2011

Andy Reid, Vince Young, DRC, Jason Babin, and Joe Banner were all available to the press after practice today - some great stuff there.  I'll have more on that later today.  But for now, a recap of today's morning session:

1-on-1's : WR vs. CB

-          Avant vs. Hanson - Avant 5 yrd shitch, complete

-          Hall vs. Lindley - Good coverage by Lindley, Hall makes catch anyway.

-          DRC vs. Turner - Turner didn't have a chance.  DRC all over him like glue.  Incomplete.

-          Moss vs. Marsh - Deep ball to Moss incomplete.  Marsh ran with Moss stride for stride.

-          Cooper vs. Calvin - Cooper abuses Calvin physically on a square in for an easy catch.

-          Jones vs. Coleman - Jones burns Coleman deep.  Ball overthrown, incomplete.

-          84 (don't know who 84 is) vs. Marlin Jackson - Jackson beaten badly deep.  Jackson looks slow.

-          Avant vs. Wall - Wall very physical at the line with Avant.  Rare occurance when Avant doesn't beat a jam in these drills.  Incomplete.

-          Hall vs. Adams - Jamar Adams is huge for a safety.  Looks like a linebacker.  The shifty Hall beats him easily.

-          Avant vs. Jarrett - Jarrett playing off Avant.  Easy slant complete.

-          Quick note: Nate Allen is on the field and participating is some drills but not all.  He's not in on this session.

-          Hanson vs. Cooper - Nason playing off.  Cooper with the easy in route.

-          DRC vs. Moss - Almost a pick.  DRC now getting applause from the crown and respect from the other corners.

-          Rod Harper vs. Lindley - Gorgeous deep ball by Vick. TD.

-          Keith Carlos vs. Brandon Hughes - Easy slant complete.

-          Cooper vs. Trufant - Quick comeback complete.  Cooper running good, professional routes.  Looks sharp.

-          Avant vs. Calvin - Quick out complete.

-          Hall vs. Wall - Hall breaks Wall's ankles on comeback.

-          Gerald Jones vs. Adams - Good jam at the line by Adams, pass complete but took forever.

-          Moss vs. M. Jackson - Jackson now playing way off.  Easy short completion.

11 on 11's:

-          Vick rolls to his left, misses Hall on a cross.

-          Short pass by Vick incomplete.  Nice blitz pickup by Dion Lewis on Joselio Hanson.

-          McCoy run.  There's no tackling, but McCoy's burst is clearly still there.  Looks great.  Another reporter tells me he had McCoy pegged as a guy that had the potential to be out of shape.  We agree that that prediction was wrong.

-          Vick throws behind Avant on a slant.  Vick not sharp so far.

-          Peters is absolutely dominating Cole.  Offensive linemen have a big edge in these practices.  They can hold like crazy, and nobody's going to back you off 10 yards.  But still, Peters looks good. 

-          Aaaaand, now the 2's come in, and Peters looks completely gassed.  On a knee and breathing heavy after just a few plays.

-          On the very first play, Kafka makes a check at the line and hits Hall in the flat to beat a blitz.  Crisp pass.  Don't think I saw Kafka check at the line once in camp last year.

-          Kafka hits Harbor over the middle.  Good ball.

-          Another accurate ball from Kafka on a short slant.

-          Dion Lewis in motion to the slot.  Smokes Clayton on a drag route.  Nice pass again by Kafka.

-          Kafka is a different guy this year.  Looks confident.  Last year, he looked nothing like the passer that he was in this drill.

-          Jerrod Johnson now in.  takes off scrambling on first play.

-          Bomb by Johnson.  Good arm, but way overthrown.

-          1's back in.  Inside handoff to McCoy.  Hits the hole hard, jump cut to the left and up the field.  Looks great.

-          Run by Vick.  Good coverage.  Love when the QB takes off in practices.  The fans generally cheer for the offense in practice, and they go nuts when the QB takes off, not realizing that when the QBtakes off in practice the play has failed.

-          Ugly looking screen from Kafka to Lewis complete for a short gain.

-          Rollout by Kafka to the right, fires on the money to the sideline.  Marsh had good coverage on the play, but Kafka fit it in anyway on the run.  Really liking what I see from Kafka.

-          Tapp sacks Kafka, Kafka continues to play, then Bunk sacks him, then Laws.  All on the same play.

-          Sack by Ricky Sapp on Kafka.  With that one sack, Sapp has no officially done more in this camp than last year.

-          Special teams fire drill - Kafka goes down on purpose, and the kick team rushes out onto the field for a FG.  Henery drills it.

7 on 7's:

-          Avant with the play of the day so far.  One handed stab near the sideline.

-          Celek with a nice catch on a high ball down the seam.

-          Bullet to Harbor complete.

-          Note: There are referees on the field this year, and are actually throwing flags.  The side judge threw a flag, then reported to Reid the foul.  I asked the referee what the call was and he told me it was an illegal shift.  Seems pretty obvious to have referees like this at practice to cut down on dumb mistakes.

-          Kafka to Havili.  Nice catch and run.  Havili looks like a natural receiver.

-          Fans boo a guy with a Umenyiora jersey

-          Just noticing that Jamaal Jackson is in on the 7 on 7's.  Good to see him out on the field.

-          Now focusing on DRC vs. Avant on 7 on 7's.  DRC tries to jam Avant at the line.  Avant is fantastic against the jam. Great hands, shoves defenders away easily.  He tries to shove DRC away, but can't because DRC is holding him.

-          DRC holds Avant on the next play.  Avant jokingly complains to the ref.

-          Kafka on the money again to 13 on an out.

-          OK, so now Scott Hanson of NFL Network is behind me BS'ing with the fans.  A fan asks him to pretend like he's doing a cutaway from one game to the next like he does on the NFL Red Zone.  Hanson happy obliges.  I can't hear everything he's saying but did catch him saying "We're gonna go double box here."  Fantastic.  The crowd loves it.

-          VY walks out to a huge ovation, and then of course... and Eagles chant.

11 on 11's:

-          Nice looking screen to Shady.

-          Swing pass to Shady.

-          Tapp sacks Kafka.  Coverage sack.  Kafka has been on the money all day, but if there's one gripe I have it's that he's holding onto the ball for a long time.

-          End around to Sinorice Moss.  Ugly.  Tapp "drops him" for a 3 yard loss.  Sinorice Moss is not DeSean Jackson.

-          Kafka over the middle to Harbor again.  Accurate again.  Harbor is getting a lot of passes his way, but he's going Chad Lewis on them all, going to the ground to catch everything.  Stay up, Clay.

-          Kafka misses a deep ball.  Arm strength is impressive.  Didn't see that last year either.  Castillo is screaming at the D for something (don't know what).

-          Tupou blatantly holds somebody (can't see who).  So blatant that Tupou is now on my radar.

-          Hunt with an inside rip move on Tupou.  Tupou holds again and gets beat anyway.  Tupou doesn't look good at all.

-          Vick behind Hall on a cross.  Compete anyway.  Vick is a little off.

-          Dixon drawn off on a hard count.

-          Vick pass too high for Avant near sideline.  Tipped and almost picked by Hanson.

-          Celek beats Casey Matthews badly.  Matthews must have gotten tangled up with somebody (or at least I hope he did) because he was 5 yards behind Celek.

-          Screen to McCoy.  Matthews reads it nicely and messes up the play.  There's no reason this team shouldn't be a great screen team.  Shady is a prototypical screen receiver, and the Eagles have all sorts of athleticism along the OL in guys like Peters, Herremans, and Watkins.  Good to see them working on it, even if most of them are ugly so far.

-          Nice ball by Vick to Avant on a deep post for a TD.

-          Peters dominating Cole.  In these practices, as I noted already, the OL can pretty much hold all they want.  I'm sure Peters is doing something illegal in there, but he's putting Cole on the ground quite a bit.

-          Tupou with anpther blatant hold on Te'o.  Te'o gets the sack anyway.

-          Kafka with another strong throw to 83.

-          Ciky Sapp beats Austin Howard around the edge like a rented mule.  Sapp looked like he had a nice burst there.  Like Kafka, this is definitely a different guy than I saw last year.

-          Special teams out there now.  I see Howard Mudd has pulled Austin Howard aside and is coaching him up.

-          I'm not paying attention when the fans start "OOH'ing and AHH'ing." I turn to see what's up and the football is a mile in the air from a Chas Henry punt.  Absolute bomb.  He has my attention now.

-          Henry hits another moon ball into the wind.  Good distance too.  Wow.  Impressive.  Bigtime leg.

-          Next punt is a low wobbler.  Bad punt.

-          Now Henry is punting with the wind.  Crushes one.  60+ yards, with hang time.  Wow.

-          33 yarder this time.  Another wobbler.

-          Another wobbler for 40.  Noel Devine muffs it.

-          65 yarder with the wind.  I'll repeat - This guy has a rocket for a leg.  He even gets a great response from Shady, who yells out "YEAH SAV!"

-          35 yarder with hangtime into wind.

-          Bomb again.  And another muff, this time by Locke.

More later.