Eagles News: Brian Dawkins explains why he loves Philadelphia fans

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Eagles training camp prep: Brian Dawkins praises Philadelphia fans - Morning Call
The connection was seemingly there from the start, in 1996, and remains nearly seven years after playing his last NFL game and 10 seasons removed from his last game with the Eagles. “I love the Eagles fans,” he said. “Yeah, they’re crazy, they’re twisted in some ways, but I love them. They’re as tough as I am. There’s a lot of parts of me that are twisted in a lot of different ways. That’s why I did some of the crazy stuff on the field. So we fit. Like hand in glove, we fit.”

Philadelphia Eagles potentially have a new dynamic duo at tight end - BGN
As if Ertz’s presence wasn’t threatening enough, the Eagles selected Dallas “Philly” Goedert with their first selection in the 2018 NFL Draft. Goedert has drawn a lot of comparisons to Ertz but I think he’s more in the Travis Kelce mold. Goedert’s athleticism pops more in the form of contested receptions and yards after the catches. Goedert looked real good in this regard during OTAs and minicamp. He was lethal as a big red zone target.

10 AM: Free Training Camp Tickets Available - PE.com
Public practices at Lincoln Financial Field are slated for Sunday, August 5 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, August 11 at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available here at 10 a.m.

Complacency - Iggles Blitz
The current Eagles have better leadership than the 2005 team. Pederson has a better feel for his players than Reid did. Carson Wentz and Nick Foles are natural leaders. Jason Peters is…well Jason Peters. Malcolm Jenkins is a terrific leader. Chris Long is a natural leader. I think the current coaching staff and veteran players will keep this team focused and on track. Long has now won back-to-back Super Bowls. Jenkins just won the second Super Bowl of his career. Haloti Ngata was with the Ravens when they won in 2012. Corey Nelson was a backup on the 2015 Broncos, who won it all. Chris Maragos was with Seattle when they won in 2013. These players know what it is like to be a champion and how that affects individual players and teams.

Chris Long pushes back on Ben McAdoo’s Eagles commentary - ESPN
“That’s kind of a speculative statement, isn’t it?” said Long during a call on behalf of the Men’s Wearhouse Suit Drive. “There’s no science as to who’s going to handle success well or not handle success well. Certainly, no one’s given any indication in our organization that we won’t handle success well. I think it’s a challenge for any team coming off a really great season like we had. That’s why you don’t see a lot of teams repeat. You don’t see a lot of teams back deep in the playoffs. Continuity is one of the hardest things to come by in the NFL. Listen, that’s his opinion. We don’t play each other this year, right? At the end of the day, it’s an opinion and he doesn’t have to back that up. I respect his right to have an opinion -- he coached in the NFL -- but I mean, come on, there’s no science to knowing who’s going to handle success well or not.”

For ex-NFL LB Emmanuel Acho, serving Nigeria is an affair of faith and family - SportsSpectrum
Undrafted in 2015, Bausby is on his third NFL team in almost as many years, fighting to crack a full-time spot on a 53-man roster for the first time in his career. One offseason slip-up, and those dreams could be shot. Yet, with precious few weeks in between spring practice and July’s training camp, when he’ll try to convince the Super Bowl champion Eagles he’s worth a job, Bausby was in Nigeria this June for the third straight summer — the result of invitations from Acho and his brother Sam. “It’s his make-or-break year, and the fact that he still sacrifices two weeks to fly across the country for people that aren’t even his own, his faith is impeccable,” Acho said. “He’s a servant’s heart, a lover of people … and still sacrifices his time, his training and his money to go all the way to Nigeria.”

2017 Play-Action Offense - Football Outsiders
Philadelphia’s a more interesting case, especially with all the hype over the RPO. It’s worth noting there’s a significant difference between Carson Wentz and Nick Foles here. With Wentz, the Eagles had a 29.6% DVOA with play-action and a 53.8% DVOA without it -- still very high, and with great results with play-action anyhow. Under Foles (in the regular season), the Eagles had a -0.1% DVOA without play-action … and a -45.0% DVOA with it. Still, if RPOs are so good, then how come Philly’s DVOA dropped in play-action? That wouldn’t pass the eye test. The thing to note with Philadelphia -- and with the other two teams to be at least 30 percent worse with play-action, Oakland and New Orleans -- is that they are three of the five teams to actually see their yards per play drop when they go into play-action. I think that’s the culprit for the drop-off -- and that’s actually just fine in their offensive scheme.

Press Taylor files: How the 30-year-old Eagles QBs coach worked his way up the ladder - The Athletic
“Ours was just we put the dressing on it of the quarterback going out and making a dummy call and the direct snap, which is again the same thing the Patriots did to us in 2015. But then I had the Bears example, we ended up stealing exactly that, the formation, the way everything looked. Other than motioning the back, that was the same thing. So it’s really, I’ll put in these ideas, they’re maybe not all exactly the same. But it’s the same idea that the play is. And so as we watch five of them, and then Coach says, ‘Hey, I think that Bears one fits us best. We’re in that formation a lot. We’re in the gun in the low red. I think that makes sense to begin with.’ So there’s maybe five or six ideas, they maybe don’t look exactly the same, but generally the same play, and so we can sort through them and find the idea that fits us best.”

These criticisms of Alshon Jeffery should make you laugh - NBC Sports Philadelphia
If you want to make the point that it doesn’t make sense to draft any Eagles receiver in fantasy because the Eagles are so balanced offensively, that’s fine. But trying to make a case that Jeffery underachieved or is overpaid or overrated because his yards were spread out fairly evenly throughout the season instead of in groups of 100 yards is just silly. The fact that Jeffery didn’t have any 100-yard games is irrelevant. That was never the goal. Including the postseason, he had 60 or more yards nine times, and only 11 wide receivers league-wide had more games with 60 or more yards.

Do the Eagles have a better roster than last year entering training camp? - Inquirer
There are more questions on defense. The Eagles added Michael Bennett and Haloti Ngata on the defensive live, although they lost Vinny Curry and Beau Allen. They’re relying on four players age 30 or older. Then again, look for Derek Barnett to take a major jump in development in Year 2. There are questions at linebacker after cutting Mychal Kendricks, and the Eagles will need someone unproven to emerge as the third linebacker and provide depth if Jordan Hicks cannot stay healthy. The secondary could be better this season – especially if Sidney Jones is healthy. A full offseason should help Ronald Darby, and young players will continue to improve.

50 days until Philadelphia Eagles kickoff: 50 questions before team begins its Super Bowl defense - PennLive
8. Will Brandon Graham get his payday? One of the Super Bowl LII heroes is entering the final year of his contract, and he has publicly said he wants to remain with the Eagles. Graham had a career-high 9.5 sacks last season and has come on over the previous two years after a quiet start to his career as a first-round pick. But he turned 30 in April. Can the Eagles make a long-term commitment to him?

Dolphins think Kiko Alonso “can play better” - PFT
Linebacker Kiko Alonso played in every game last season and made 115 tackles, but linebackers coach Frank Bush believes that the veteran’s play left something to be desired. “I’d kind of say it was up and down,” Bush said, via the Palm Beach Post. “I was expecting a lot more from him. I’m sure he expected more from me. He did what we thought he should do and he can play better. He can play better in coverage. Some of his tackling was suspect.”

PFF pass-rush rankings are bad news, then more bad news, for Giants - Big Blue View
The New York Giants were hardly a pass-rushing, quarterback-pressuring defense in 2017. On the whole, the unit tallied just 27 sacks, and the lack of disrupting opposing quarterbacks’ plans helped contribute to New York ranking 31st in passing yards and 32nd in passing touchdowns allowed. But that’s not even the bad news; rather, it’s that things don’t project to be much better in the upcoming season. According to Pro Football Focus, the Giants are entering the 2018 season with the 29th-ranked pass-rushing unit in the league.

Torrey Smith to host fundraiser for veterans this weekend - WBAL
Former Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith is hoping to help out a few veterans this weekend. Smith’s Family Fund Foundation will be hosting a fundraiser and flag football tournament to raise money for the USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore. The tournament will be held Saturday at noon at River Hill High School in Clarksville. The four-teams will be comprised of service members from four of the area’s military bases. Smith said his main goal for the fundraiser is to bring people together in support of the troops.

All-Star Game: Nola shines, Trout gives Eagles shoutout - 6ABC
Earlier in the night, during the second inning, Trout was mic’ed up while playing on the field. The Millville, New Jersey native spoke of his love for his hometown Super Bowl Champions. ”Go Eagles!” Trout told broadcaster Joe Buck. “Hopefully Carson, Zach, all them guys are watching.” His shoutout did not go unnoticed by the Birds. ”We see you Mike Trout,” the team tweeted.

What does Randy Gregory’s reinstatement mean for the Cowboys? - SB Nation
Randy Gregory has been on the field for the Dallas Cowboys for just 14 games since he was picked in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft. For 30 games, the defensive end was suspended — including all 16 games in the 2017 season. Now, Gregory is primed to return to the field for the first time since New Year’s Day 2017. The league announced Tuesday that Gregory was reinstated to the NFL.

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