DeSean Jackson thought for a moment that the press conference was over.
This was post-game in the cramped visitors media room at FedEx Field. Jackson had just talked for six-plus minutes about the Eagles’ season-opening victory over the Redskins. As he prepared to step away from the podium, a media relations staffer stopped him and told him there was just one more question.
But this one was from a familiar face.
“How would you rate your performance?” asked Michael Vick, who had snuck into the crowd before it was his turn to address the media. “I saw you running down the field a couple times with your hands up.”
Answered Jackson with a huge grin: “I got mad a couple times, you know, Michael Vick didn’t throw me the ball.”
Here are instant observations from the Eagles’ 33-27 win over the Redskins Monday night.
The following Eagles are inactive for tonight’s game against the Redskins: Matt Barkley, Shaun Prater, Matthew Tobin, Dennis Kelly, Vinny Curry and Emil Igwenagu.
The Eagles released Brandon Hughes this week so they only need to name six inactives instead of the usual seven.
The big name in that group is Curry. The second-year defensive lineman spent all offseason adding weight to prepare for the 3-4 scheme shift. And he was quite possibly the Eagles’ most active defensive player in the preseason.
Join Tim and Sheil for a live chat during tonight’s Eagles-Redskins game. They’ll be live from FedEx Field with updates and observations. Kickoff is set for 7:10.
Here’s a roundup of what the national media are saying about the Eagles going into tonight’s game.
Last week, we walked around the Eagles’ locker room and approached players with the following request:
Give me one teammate who’s impressed you this summer and is primed for a big year.
Several players didn’t want to get specific, but others provided responses. Here is what they said.
“I think Chip Kelly is going to have as much influence on the game and the way it’s played now as anyone. If for no other reason, just the pace of the game and the number of plays.
— Hall of Fame coach John Madden
When Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie talked about Chip Kelly being on the “cutting edge of football today,” you wonder how much he was referring to tempo.
Here are 10 things to know about how the Eagles’ offense matches up with the Redskins’ defense. If you missed the first cheat sheet, click here.
The Eagles released cornerback Brandon Hughes on Saturday, a league source confirmed.
The 27-year-old veteran fractured his hand in the third preseason game against the Jaguars. He had already been ruled out of Monday’s opener against the Redskins.
This could very well be a temporary and financially-driven move.
At 4 p.m. on Saturday the salaries for players that are considered “vested veterans” become guaranteed. By cutting Hughes, who was not going to play this week anyway, the Eagles avoid that guarantee.
Hughes is scheduled to make $650,000 this season.
A fifth-round pick by the Chargers in 2009, the Oregon State product has 27 tackles and a pair of passes defensed over the last three seasons with the Eagles.
Here are 10 things to know about how the Eagles’ defense matches up with the Redskins’ offense.
When the fire comes, chances are it’s going to be coming off the right edge. Not just because that’s Michael Vick‘s blindside, but also because of who is protecting it.
“If you had your choice, who are you going to try to go against from a tackle perspective?” asked Chip Kelly. “Right now, you’ve got an All Pro lining up at left tackle [and at right tackle] a very talented but still a rookie. I think all rookies in this league are going to be tested no matter what position you play.”
Kelly has a point. Even if Lane Johnson, the No. 4 overall pick, does come in with a pedigree, he is still completely green. Given a choice between going after him or Jason Peters, you go Johnson all day until he gives you reason to change course. The rookie is going to be tested quite a bit.The Redskins have a pair of quality outside linebackers in Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan that are sure to do just that Monday night.
Michael Vick seemed to be choosing his words carefully.
His overall message was clear: The players have put the Riley Cooper–Cary Williams scuffle behind them, and the team is focused on Washington.
“Yesterday, what happened in that 10 minutes didn’t affect us for the rest of the practice,” Vick said. “We all know one another. We’ve got a brotherhood in there, so it extends far beyond football. It’s just something that happened and we cleared it up. We didn’t even think nothing about it.”
Chip Kelly fielded questions today about the Cary Williams–Riley Cooper scuffle and predictably downplayed it as no big deal.
Asked if there was any fallout from the incident, Kelly said: “No, we went right back to team period after that, and both those guys were lined up and played. As a matter of fact, Mike [Vick] threw the ball deep to Riley on the first play of team period and Cary was covering him, so I don’t see any fallout.”
Will Chip Kelly be a success? Which Eagle is ready to break out? And what will the team’s record be? All that and more as Tim and Sheil attempt to predict the season.
Tim and Sheil talked Cary Williams, Riley Cooper, Eagles-Redskins, Chip Kelly and more on 97.5 The Fanatic Thursday night.
Download the podcast here: iTunes version or listen online.
They’ll be broadcasting live from Smiths in Center City from 6 to 7 every Thursday during the season.
