Making Sense of the Eagles’ Inactives
The following Eagles will be inactive for today’s 1 p.m. home opener against the Ravens: Trent Edwards, Riley Cooper, Dion Lewis, Curtis Marsh, Dennis Kelly, Nate Menkin, Vinny Curry.
The first thing to note is both DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin are active. Jackson was dealing with a hamstring injury at practice this week and was questionable. Maclin suffered a hip pointer in last week’s game and was also listed as questionable.
The Eagles have five wide receivers active. In addition to Jackson and Maclin, Jason Avant, Damaris Johnson and Mardy Gilyard will all dress.
The team is keeping just two quarterbacks active: Michael Vick and Nick Foles. At running back, Dion Lewis is inactive for the second week, even though he was not listed on the injury report. Lewis had previously been recovering form a hamstring issue. In addition to LeSean McCoy, rookies Bryce Brown and Chris Polk will both dress. Brown was McCoy’s backup in Week 1.
Interesting note on the offensive line. Demetress Bell, who looked lost in the preseason and was inactive in Week 1, is the team’s backup swing tackle. In the opener, the Eagles gave that responsibility to rookie Dennis Kelly. As usual, the Eagles have two backup offensive linemen. In addition to Bell, Dallas Reynolds is active.
No surprises on the defensive line. Rookie Vinny Curry is inactive for the second straight week.
The Eagles only have four cornerbacks dressing as Curtis Marsh is inactive after suffering a hamstring injury last week against the Browns. Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie will start, and Brandon Boykin will play nickel. Brandon Hughes could see action in dime, and he’ll fill in should any of the other three go down.
Some changes at safety too. Colt Anderson is active for the first time since tearing his ACL in Week 13 of the 2011 season against the Seahawks. And David Sims, whom the Eagles acquired from the Browns before Week 1, will also dress. One of them would have to go in should Nate Allen or Kurt Coleman go down.
For the Ravens, outside linebacker Paul Kruger (back) was a bit of a surprise scratch. He had 5.5 sacks and 15.5 hurries last year, according to Football Outsiders.