Eagles Practice Observations

When asked if he could see himself helping the Eagles in short yardage or goal-line situations, Bryce Brown didn’t hesitate to deliver a clear answer.

“I can see myself doing anything the coaches ask me to do,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what it is, I can see myself doing it.”

That’s the right attitude to take when you’re a seventh-round pick trying to make the 53-man roster.

This afternoon, Brown rotated in and out with Chris Polk on the second team, and both players were impressive as the offense drove down the field and into the end zone against the first-team defense during the live hitting portion of practice.

“I got a chance to go against some of the first-team guys, really focusing in on just the details of the plays and everything that I’m doing,” Brown said. “Just wanted to show the coaches that I’m reliable and they can trust me when LeSean [McCoy] or Dion [Lewis] comes out… that they know the offense is going to pick up where it left off.”

It should be noted that the first-team defensive line was a skeleton crew, dealing with several injuries. But for Brown, the next few weeks are simple: Learn as much as you can, listen to whoever’s in your ear, and try to stand out in a variety of different areas.

Part of that, of course, is special teams.

“I’m on all of them right now,” Brown said, when asked which units Bobby April has him on. “It’s actually my first time doing any special teams, so all that’s new to me. It’s kind of like a new language. It’s more knowledge that I can add to my toolbox, and even with that stuff, I’m really trying to hone in on the detail.”

So far, so good for Brown. He has a long way to go, but is in position to earn a spot behind LeSean McCoy and Dion Lewis.

Other practice observations:

* The first-team defensive line originally looked like this from left to right: Cullen Jenkins, Fletcher Cox, Derek Landri and Darryl Tapp. But after Jenkins left practice with a hamstring injury, Brandon Graham took his place.

* Early in practice, Marty Mornhinweg used a walkie-talkie to give Michael Vick the plays through his headset in an attempt to simulate a game situation (props to Geoff Mosher of the Wilmington News-Journal for picking up on this). Just last week, in an ESPN special, Ron Jaworski talked about how important it would be this year for Mornhinweg to get Vick the plays early so that he could get to the line of scrimmage, and he and Jason Kelce could make the necessary pre-snap adjustments.

* Vick and the offense practiced against the blitz, and the results were not pretty. Joselio Hanson broke up a pass over the middle intended for Jason Avant on one play. And Nnamdi Asomugha dropped an interception on the next. Vick finally found Avant over the middle for a tough catch as he was popped by Kurt Coleman, but held on.

* At one point, Antonio Dixon jumped offsides and ran into Kelce, who collided with Vick and knocked him to the ground. I’m guessing Andy Reid wasn’t exactly thrilled to see that.

* Casey Matthews made a couple of nice plays down near the goal line, including one where he stuffed Dion Lewis. Defensive tackle Cedric Thornton had a nice goal-line stop against Brown.

* There are very few lines of work where vomiting is no big deal. But apparently, professional football player is one of them. Todd Herremans lost a little something on the field right before one-on-ones, but then put his helmet back on and was on his way with the rest of practice.

* Graham abused rookie offensive tackle Dennis Kelly during one-on-ones.

* Mike Kafka ran play-action down near the goal line and hit Brett Brackett for a touchdown in the corner of the end zone. Rookie Mychal Kendricks was in coverage. Earlier in practice, Brackett lost DeMeco Ryans over the middle and caught a pass from Kafka. I still think Clay Harbor is the No. 2 tight end, but Brackett has been getting open and catching the football pretty consistently.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.

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