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It’s happening: Eagles cornerback Ronald Darby told reporters he’s going to play in Philadelphia’s Week 11 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night.
Ronald Darby says he’s back. He said he took reps with the #Eagles’ first-team defense today in practice.
— Aaron Kasinitz (@AaronKazreports) November 13, 2017
Ronald Darby lined up with the first team today at practice. Has his ankle taped, won’t wear any type of brace aside from that. #Eagles
— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) November 13, 2017
The expectation was that Darby was going to be able to play after the Eagles’ Week 10 bye. Now the player is confirming the news.
Darby has been out ever since he suffered a dislocated ankle in the Eagles’ Week 1 win over Washington. At the time of the injury, it looked like his season was going to be over. It’s great that he’s going to make it back to the field.
The 8-1 Eagles have been more than capable of weathering the storm in the absence of their best cornerback. Give credit to the trio of Patrick Robinson, Jalen Mills, and rookie Rasul Douglas for stepping up in his absence.
It remains to be seen how the Eagles will use Darby upon his return. The feeling here is it’d be surprising to see him get 100% of the defensive snaps off the bat. He suffered a pretty serious injury and he needs to get back in game shape. Maybe there’s some kind of rotation in store.
Darby was impressive in his time with the Eagles in training camp and preseason after Philadelphia traded for him. Now he’ll get the chance to show what he can do in real games. If he can play up to expectations, the Eagles’ defense — which has already been playing well — just got another boost.
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In other injury news, Eagles tight end Zach Ertz said he was a full go on Monday. He sat out Philly’s Week 9 game after tweaking his hamstring in practice.
Zach Ertz (hamstring) said he was a full go in practice today. Said he needed the bye week to heal. #Eagles
— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) November 13, 2017