Did the response to the Cooper incident give any insight into the QB competition? We explore that and more in the latest Twitter Mailbag.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell appeared on ESPN radio Thursday morning to discuss Riley Cooper’s racial comments and the Eagles’ handling of the situation.

The new, evolving structure of NFL front offices was on display Wednesday morning in the cafeteria of the NovaCare Complex.

Members of the Eagles’ scouting and football operations staffs were in attendance to meet with reporters. In the back left corner sat Tom Donahoe, a veteran scouting man who now serves as the team’s senior football advisor.

At the table next to Donahoe sat 26-year-old Alec Halaby. When Donahoe began his NFL career as a regional scout with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the late ’80s, Halaby was in diapers. But now, the two men are part of Howie Roseman’s staff, both tasked with helping the Eagles make wise personnel decisions as they begin a new era under Chip Kelly.

Halaby’s title, special assistant to the general manager, is as vague as Donahoe’s. The question he answered time and again Wednesday was simple: What exactly do you do?

Matt Barkley conceded that Wednesday’s outing was “a little rough.” There were some obvious growing pains as Chip Kelly had the offense working on the two-minute drill and red-zone situations.

More Barkley passes seem to be hitting the ground now compared to earlier in the camp when the team was still in shorts.

The fourth-round pick is working uphill as he fights for the starting job against Nick Foles and Michael Vick. Even more so perhaps because he is working with less talented skill position players overall.

Barkley was asked: Is it difficult to show your best if you don’t get a chance to run with the top dogs in practice?

“I think at times it is,” Barkley said.

Ever since Michael Vick took over the starting job back in 2010, he has been the unofficial spokesperson for the Eagles.

So it was no surprise that when he walked out of the NovaCare Complex a little after 8 p.m., Vick stopped and shared his thoughts on the Riley Cooper situation.

“Riley came to us as a man and apologized for what he did,” Vick said. “As a team, we understood because we all make mistakes in life and we all do and say things that maybe we do mean or we don’t mean. But as a teammate, I forgave him. As a team, we forgave him. We understand the magnitude of the situation. We understand that a lot of people may be hurt and offended, but I know Riley Cooper. I know him as a man. I’ve been with him for the last three years and I know what type of person he is. And that’s what makes it easy, at the same time hard, to understand the situation, but easy to forgive him. I forgave him.”

Your running diary of observations from Wednesday’s Eagles training camp practice.

Dressed in an orange polo, blue mesh shorts and flip-flops, Riley Cooper got behind the mic for six minutes, 31 seconds Thursday and tried to explain himself.

A couple hours earlier, an Eagles media relations staffer had shown him the video that captured the Eagles’ wide receiver saying he’d “fight every [N-word] here” while at a Kenny Chesney concert last month. Now, with the bricks of the NovaCare Complex as his background, it was time for Cooper to face the music.

“There was a confrontation with me and one of the security guards,” he said. “I’m not gonna get into what happened, but I said something that was absolutely disgusting and terrible. And I should not have handled it the way I handled it.”

Cooper later confirmed that the security guard was African-American and admitted that he had been drinking.

Chip Kelly has no intentions of getting into a stare-down with the NFL over rules that could potentially restrict his up-tempo offense.

“We understand the rules of engagement,” said Kelly. “[Vice president of officiating] Dean Blandino and those guys in the league office, we met with them at the league meetings, they were here when we had minicamp. I have absolutely no issue with them. We actually embrace the way they are doing it.

“I don’t anticipate any problems.”

Left tackle Jason Peters exited the practice field about halfway through Wednesday’s session with what the Eagles later called a right hamstring strain. He is day-to-day.

Peters started out the 11-on-11 drills with the first team, but was replaced by Matt Tobin for the final snap of the first series. He remained on the sidelines for the rest of the drill, then walked into the NovaCare facility with one of the trainers when it was over.

“He said he was OK,” said Chip Kelly after practice.

Todd Herremans (knee) returned to practice Wednesday. Cary Williams (hamstring), Brandon Hughes (hamstring), Antonio Dixon (hamstring) and Arrelious Benn (knee) all worked off to the side. Tackle Dennis Kelly was being stretched out by trainers during practice and appeared to leave the session early.

We have heard about the benefits of sports science when it comes to fine-tuning athletes and shortening recovery time following physical exertion. But what about when you’re fighting back from serious injury? Seems like an appropriate question, seeing as both Jeremy Maclin and Jason Phillips are about to start on the long road back from ACL tears.

Jason Kelce tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee last September against the Ravens. He began his rehab under Andy Reid and finished it under Chip Kelly. By the sounds of it, there is a noticeable difference in their staffs’ approach.

If there’s one thing we can say with absolute certainty about Chip Kelly six-plus months into his tenure, it’s that the man is obsessed with efficiency.

That’s why when Bill Belichick called him up and brought up the idea of joint practices, Kelly decided his old pal might be on to something.

“A lot of times when you’re getting into that game, you spend some time during the week going over what their looks are,” Kelly said.

“We don’t have to install the Patriots’ look because we’re going to face them in practice. The game-plan aspect of it is we’re going to spend a couple days practicing against them, then go play a game on Friday.”

The Eagles placed Jeremy Maclin on injured reserve Tuesday and re-signed receiver Nick Miller.

Maclin suffered a right ACL tear in practice on Saturday.

“It’s definitely going to hurt us, for sure,” said LeSean McCoy of Maclin’s loss. “If anybody tells you anything differently, they’re lying.”

Two days after Maclin’s injury, reserve linebacker Jason Phillips tore his ACL on the same field and was also lost for the season.

Miller was released by the Eagles on July 24 to make room for running back William Powell, who was promptly waived after failing his physical. The 5-9, 180-pound receiver out of Southern Utah has had two stints with the Raiders and one with the Rams, and saw action  as a kick and punt returner for both teams. He has four career catches for 48 yards in the NFL.

Will NFL officials try to slow down Chip Kelly and the Eagles’ offense? Here are some thoughts and reaction to today’s Wall Street Journal article.

This week’s roundup of what the national media are saying about the Eagles.

Practice had been over for a time and just a few stragglers remained around the NovaCare fields. Jason Avant was feeding balls into the jugs machine for a growing legion of eager young receivers. A group of reporters milled around mining for nuggets and subjects to interview.

A short distance away  in their own little piece of land stood Brian Dawkins and Nate Allen, locked in conversation. Dawkins took in practice following Donovan McNabb’s retirement ceremony and had some pointers for the 25-year-old safety.