Damaris Johnson was lined up one-on-one with Brandon Hughes and had a step on the cornerback down the left sideline.
Michael Vick let go of the football, but before it arrived, Hughes made contact with Johnson, broke up the pass and landed on the 5-foot-8 wide receiver.
Johnson grimaced and was slow to get up. You could almost see him consider staying down for a moment, but instead, he fought through the initial pain and jogged towards the sideline.
From Demetress Bell to Bryce Brown, here’s a player-by-player breakdown of the Eagles’ offense against the Steelers, after having re-watched the game.
The way Damaris Johnson tells it, there was no discussion. Someone just yelled at him to get on the field, and so, that’s what he did.
“It wasn’t really a conversation,” Johnson said with a laugh. “The crazy thing is I was on the sideline and the first group was in. They called me off the sideline, so I didn’t really know. I kind of went in the game late.”
Football in Philadelphia makes its long-awaited return tonight as the Eagles host the Steelers at Lincoln Financial Field.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast locally on 6-ABC.
Tim and I will be there, and we’ll be hosting a live chat right here, so be sure to join us.
Meanwhile, here’s a cheat-sheet for you: 10 things to keep an eye on this evening.
When asked who undrafted free agent Damaris Johnson reminded him of, Eagles special-teams coach Bobby April needed a few seconds to remember the name.
But then it came to him: Eric Guliford.
The Eagles don’t plan on using DeSean Jackson as their primary punt returner this year.
“I want him to concentrate on the receiving end of it,” Reid said. “And most of all, we think we have guys that can contribute there and be effective, and that are explosive players. Now we have to see.”
For now, two of those guys are fourth-round pick Brandon Boykin and undrafted free agent Damaris Johnson.
Here are some practice observations from the first two days of training camp with rookies and selected veterans.
One guy who’s stuck out the last two days is rookie linebacker Mychal Kendricks. Kendricks tested out extremely well in just about every category at the combine, but he had an impressive college resume too, earning Pac-12 Player of the Year honors last season. We’ll have to wait and reserve judgement to see how he holds up against the run, but he looks to have good cover skills. Yesterday, he made a nice play on the ball while matched up against tight end Chase Ford. And he was step-for-step with fullback Stanley Havili down the sideline, forcing an incompletion out of bounds.
Earlier today, I wrote about Kendricks’ height, but in the afternoon, he leaped at the line of scrimmage and batted down a Mike Kafka screen pass. Obviously still a long way to go, but Kendricks looks good so far.
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Sheil Kapadia has been writing about the Eagles since 2008. His previous Philly.com blog, Moving the Chains, was named one of the best in the state by the Associated Press. Sheil's main joys in life are family, football and finding good parking spots.
Tim McManus is a bulldog reporter with a nose for news and story angles that will get people talking. He'll talk about it himself on 97.5 The Fanatic, where he serves as a host and Eagles beat reporter. Tim, an award-winning journalist, will be with the team around the clock.
