It is number-crunching season in the NFL. Teams are in the process of whittling their rosters from 90 all the way down to 53. By the time the August 31 deadline hits, nearly 1,200 players across the league will have lost their jobs. A reminder that this is a harsh business.

“I think Billy Davis made the point.  Billy got cut in his one tryout with the Dolphins,” said Chip Kelly, who didn’t have to deal with anything quite like this in college.  “That is the only time you get cut, and you remember that for the rest of your life.  We have to do it, that’s part of our job, but I think we were conscious of that.  We sat down with everybody [during the first round of cuts].  Our coordinators all sat down with everybody.  Our position coach sat down with them. It’s a difficult time.”

Bryce Brown heard something pop and he thought he had broken his left ankle.

A lineman stepped on the foot during practice Monday, keeping that leg stationary while the rest of his body carried forward. It twisted.

“I felt it. I heard it. Everything,” he said.

He was assisted off the field by a pair of trainers. Turns out it was just a scare. Brown was able to put pressure on it and after a brief once-over from the medical staff, he had the ankle taped up and was sent back on the field. He needs to be further evaluated, but plans on playing Thursday in New York.

Crisis averted, and onto the next relevant topic — his fumbling tendencies.

A position-by-position review of how the Eagles’ offense performed against the Jaguars, with extensive notes on Jason Peters and the line.

The fight for the final starting safety spot could come down to the wire.

Chip Kelly told reporters Monday that the starters will not play  in the preseason finale against the Jets. That likely includes Patrick Chung, who has nailed down a starting job. As for the other post?

“I think we’ll get some work depending on how Billy [Davis] wants to rotate those guys back there, so we may get an opportunity to see them” said Kelly. “I think Pat may not go on Thursday but the other guys will go. Trying to finalize it that way.”

Here’s a position-by-position review of the Eagles’ defense, after having re-watched Saturday night’s game against the Jaguars.

If Michael Vick stayed between the painted lines during the first two preseason games, he did a little more off-roading against the Jaguars on Saturday. There were more risky decisions.

DeSean Jackson says that just comes with the territory.

“Mike is always out there trying to do the best he can in any way possible,” said Jackson. “He just tried to extend some plays where he probably could have gotten out of bounds or threw the ball out, things like that. But that’s Mike Vick. That’s what you’ve got to deal with when you’re dealing with Mike Vick.”

Howie Roseman stood on the field at Ladd Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala. and was perfectly honest about the difficulties he’d had in finding players at one specific position.

“To me, that’s the hardest position to evaluate in college football is safeties,” Roseman said back in January at the Senior Bowl. “The guys that used to be the most explosive athletes and were playing in the back end, they’re going to play corner because they feel like maybe at corner, they can play 10 years. You look at the franchise tag numbers, the corner position is higher than the safety position. That is going to be the constant struggle. When you talk to people around the league, it’s hard to find safeties.”

Roseman wasn’t lying. And Sunday’s release of Kenny Phillips served as just another reminder of how this franchise has struggled to address the safety position since it lost Brian Dawkins back in 2009.

The Eagles have released safety Kenny Phillips and linebacker Jamar Chaney, according to reports.

A look at how both moves affect the current roster.

The Eagles cut 10 players Sunday, trimming their roster to 78. Here are all the names, along with some thoughts on where the roster stands.

From the spread to the scrape to offensive line issues, here’s what we saw from the Eagles’ offense against the Jaguars after having reviewed the game.

Chip Kelly‘s first-team offense looked different against the Jaguars than it had in the previous two preseason games. Not as rooted in the run game. Fewer quick strikes and bubble screens. Longer-developing plays. The offensive line was decidedly less effective. So what happened?

A few things.

Chip Kelly was not happy with the turnovers and penalties Saturday night against the Jaguars, but overall, he didn’t seem too concerned with the performance of the Eagles’ offense.

“We were again our own worst enemy on the offensive side of the ball,” Kelly said. “We turned it over three times. One was on a punt return by Damaris [Johnson] and the one [Bryce Brown fumble] that goes through the end zone. And besides that, the two big penalties where we had huge first downs where we get them called back because we got penalties, whether it was on the 4th-and-1 or on the third down early in the first half. So those are the things that kill drives – the penalties and the turnovers. We need to continue to work on that.”

JACKSONVILLE — The smooth, quick-strike option offense that we saw in the first two preseason games was nowhere to be found in the first half Saturday against the Jaguars. In its place was an erratic style of sandlot ball that resembled the 2012 Eagles just a little too much.

At the controls was newly-crowned starter Michael Vick. The 33-year-old was not helped out by his line, which yielded seven QB hits and a pair of sacks in the first two quarters. But we also saw some old habits creep back in. Vick held onto the ball too long, had happy feet in the pocket and made some ill-advised throws.

Here are first-half observations from tonight’s Eagles-Jaguars game.

Tim and Sheil will have updates and observations as the Eagles take on the Jaguars Saturday night at 7:30.

To comment, readers must log in, using Twitter or Facebook.