Sunday was the seventh day of 2015 Philadelphia Eagles training camp practice. The training session was open to the public at Lincoln Financial Field. There's a lot to talk about, so let's dive right in.
• It was Military Day at practice today. The Eagles did a lot to honor the troops, including wearing camouflage jerseys. The white jerseys were very effective. It was nearly impossible to read their numbers all the way up from the press box where I was watching.
• Cowboys, once known as America's Team, fans proved they hate America by interrupting the National Anthem with their silly plane banner.
• After not wearing pads on Saturday, pads were back on for Sunday's practice.
• Quick injury update: JaCorey Shepherd left practice early after being carted off the field. More on that here. Jerome Couplin and Kiko Alonso did not practice, as expected. Prior to practice, defensive coordinator Bill Davis said he expects Alonso to be fine.
• Cody Parkey started practice by drilling a kick from 53 and 58. Right down the middle. He also made a few others. The only kick he missed was one that hit the left upright and bounced off from about 50 yards out. No egregious misses. The days of Alex Henery are long gone.
• My notes are a bit extensive today. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for some summarized thoughts.
Two vs. One (QB & WR vs. DB)
Walter Thurmond broke up a pass on the first rep.
Rasheed Bailey made a solid over the shoulder catch.
Jaylen Watkins breaks up an intermediate pass intended for Nelson Agholor. Ball was thrown by Sam Bradford. Good play by Watkins, who has stood out more recently in camp.
Matt Barkley threw a pass but the pass is off target. And then again. Accuracy issues.
Mark Sanchez fits a ball to Jordan Matthews in tight coverage up the seam. The wide receiver almost pulls off a great one-handed catch but can't hold on. Malcolm Jenkins was defending Matthews on the play.
Josh Huff made a catch with Byron Maxwell trailing in coverage, but then the cornerback poked the ball out Huff took a few steps. Fumble! Maxwell has a knack of popping the ball out like that.
Bradford hits Ryan Mathews on the wheel route with a perfect throw. The defensive back wasn't close to covering him.
Agholor beat Watkins deep.
JaCorey Shepherd broke up a Tim Tebow pass along the sideline.
Three vs. Two (QB & 2 WR vs. 2 DB)
Bradford's most impressive throw in this drill came on a deep pass to Huff for a touchdown. Great zip on the pass and perfect ball placement. Huff burned Jenkins and made a good catch in stride for the score. The crowd loved this play.
Sanchez made a bad decision and was picked off clean by Walter Thurmond. Good break on the ball by the DB.
Sanchez completed quite a few passes to Trey Burton. One of them including a sliding effort by the second-year tight end. Burton has had a quiet camp but he showed up today.
Jeff Maehl made a sick one-handed catch along the sideline. He had a good catch on Saturday. The Maehl man lives.
Barkley threw behind a wide receiver, which caused the ball to go off the target's hands. Thurmond was there to intercept it and take it to the house for pick six.
Tebow was almost picked off by a defensive back whose number I couldn't see.
Tebow threw a deep pass to Riley Cooper (Florida Gators unite!) but Cooper couldn't reel it in. The wide receiver had to slow down for the pass to get there.
11 vs. 11
DeMarco Murray took first team reps at running back, which is a good sign for him after missing time due to illness.
Bradford targeted Huff deep but had his pass broken up by Maxwell. Good throw, just a better play by the defensive back. Maxwell has looked like the real deal this summer.
Ryan Mathews broke off several impressive runs. This is something I typically don't find myself saying since the defense isn't really allowed to tackle runners, but Mathews got himself into open space where defenders weren't even near him. Great speed.
Thurmond's name has popped up a few time in these notes already, but we're not done yet. On one play the defensive back did a real nice job of exploding into the backfield to blow up a running play. Thurmond obviously has experience playing near the line of scrimmage as a nickel corner.
Julian Vandervelde took reps with the first team at right guard. Second day in a row. So far, Vandervelde's had two days, Matt Tobin has had two days, Andrew Gardner has had two days, and John Moffitt has had one day.
Tim Tebow fooled the entire defense by faking the handoff on the read option before keeping it for himself and breaking a big gain. TOUCHDOWN!
G.J. Kinne took some reps at running back today. I compared him to a rich man's Bo Jackson.
7 on 7 red zone
Ertz drops a Bradford pass. Then Huff drops a Bradford pass. Third time is a charm for the quarterback: Bradford connects with Ertz in the end zone for a score. Bradford to Ertz on the post route is going to be very hard to stop this year. Ertz is a great route runner and Bradford puts the ball right where it needs to be.
Sanchez hits Seyi Ajirotutu in the end zone for a TD. Ajirotutu had a real nice spring but he's been quiet in camp. Agholor came over to Ajirotutu after the score for a chest bump celebration.
Barkley hits Burton in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. Solid day for Burton.
Randall Evans gets involved by breaking up a pass along the sideline.
Eric Rowe dives to break up a pass intended for Ajirotutu. Real nice effort on that one.
Shepherd gets carted off after Darren Sproles ran into him. Watkins replaces him in the slot.
Tebow throws a nice ball to Josh Reece in the end zone along the sideline but the undrafted rookie couldn't stay in bounds or keep it under control as he went to the ground.
11 on 11
Sanchez hits Mathews in the flat for a touchdown. Then Sanchez tried to force a ball to Cooper on the goal line but Nolan Carroll broke it up. Sanchez had Mathews open in the flat but didn't look to that side of the field.
Tebow was "sacked" after holding on to the ball way too long.
Fletcher Cox stuffed Murray on a run play, which was a reminder of how good he was at doing that last season.
Agholor got a number of first team reps today.
Matthews made an incredible catch along the sideline on a Bradford throw to move the ball into scoring position. Bradford targeted Huff on a back shoulder throw in the end zone but the location of the throw was a little off.
Bradford threw a touchdown to Huff in the back of the end zone. Great catch. Huff spun 360 in the air while trying to stay in bounds, which he did.
Bradford gets picked off by Thurmond after a pass goes off Ertz's hands. Not Bradford's fault. Great focus by the defensive back to stay with the bouncing ball in traffic and come up with it.
Ertz also dropped a great seam pass from Sanchez in the end zone.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
• Thurmond had himself quite the practice. He looked good during the team's spring practice (hence the title of this post) but hasn't stood out a ton during the summer. He really flashed some play-making skills on Sunday afternoon. It'll be interesting to see how he holds up at safety in game action.
• Another good day for Bradford. Also yet another day where he took all the first team reps. He seems to be really settling in to a groove after looking rusty early on in training camp.
• Bradford's three favorite and most productive weapons: Jordan Matthews, Josh Huff, and Zach Ertz.
• Another day where Mark Sanchez was up and down, but more good than bad. Another unimpressive showing by Matt Barkley. Another day featuring the highs and lows of Tim Tebow.
Post-Practice
Over 43,000 fans reportedly attended.
Eagles players gave their special camouflage jerseys to military members after exchanging hugs and handshakes.
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Up next: No practice tomorrow on Monday. Eagles return to action at NovaCare on Tuesday at 11:40 AM ET.