Brooks gets back on field in loss
PHILADELPHIA » Veteran right guard Brandon Brooks got back on the playing field Thursday for the first time since the wild card loss to the New Orleans Saints that capped the 2019 season.
Brooks and oft-injured right tackle Lane Johnson joined Jason Kelce in the starting lineup as the Eagles gave Nick Sirianni a glimpse of what to expect this season.
It was a mild surprise in that Brooks had been limited at practice with a hamstring issue. But it was a major statement.
Brooks, who turns 34 next week, last played a complete season in 2019. That year ended in the playoffs against the Saints with a torn right Achilles’ tendon. Brooks tore the other Achilles’ tendon working out before the 2020 training camp.
Brooks exited after the first series for Jack Driscoll Thursday night in what became a 24-16 preseason loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Lincoln Financial Field.
Sua Opeta started at left guard in place of the injured Isaac Seumalo (hamstring), Jordan Mailata was at right tackle.
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Veteran Jordan Howard started at running back for the Eagles, who led 13-0 early over the Steelers.
Sirianni won the coin toss, elected to receive, and then lined the Eagles up with Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert at tight end.
Miles Sanders did not play, which was a mystery in that Sirianni expected everyone to be available who wasn’t on the injury report.
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Derek Barnett, not Josh Sweat, started at right defensive end for the Eagles. He promptly missed a tackle of Najee Harris, the Steelers’ first-round pick out of Alabama.
T.Y. McGill had the only sack on the night for the Eagles, who played the first-team defense for a series.
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Offensive tackles Jon Runyan and Tra Thomas will be inducted into the Eagles’ Hall of Fame on Oct. 14. That’s when the Eagles entertain Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Runyan and Thomas started in Super Bowl XXXIX against the New England Patriots with Brady at quarterback in 2005. The Patriots prevailed, 24-21.
Runyan and Thomas started a franchise-record 134 regular season games together from 2000-2008. In that time the Eagles won five NFC East titles, made four trips to conference championship games and reached the playoffs seven times.
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The frustration is setting in for embattled quarterback Deshaun Watson, who showed up for Texans training camp but has done so little he was listed fourth on the team’s quarterback depth chart.
Watson, a player of interest to the Eagles if you believe unconfirmed reports, is facing 22 civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual harassment and assault of massage therapists. He also has 10 pending criminal complaints.
In the wake of his limited activity, Watson walked off the practice field recently complaining about the media attention he’s still attracting.
“Why are you all always filming me every day,” Watson said to the media pack. “It’s the same (crap).”
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NOTES » Jake Elliott kicked three field goals from distance Thursday. After belting two from 47 yards, Elliott swished a 50-yarder. … Jalen Reagor gave up five yards when he let a punt bounce instead of fair-catching it on the 7-yard line in the first quarter. The Steelers downed it on the 2. … Arryn Siposs delivered a 55-yard punt to begin his Eagles career. … Good bounce back by Michael Jacquet. After giving up a 33-yard completion to Diontae Johnson, he threw Chase Claypool for a two-yard loss on an end around. … Tackle Brett Toth, who stepped in for Mailata, registered what Sirianni would call a “no talent penalty” with a hold, stalling a drive in the second quarter. Later in the second quarter it was Richard Rodgers with a no-talent mistake as he lined up wrong. … Rookie Zeck McPhearson’s interference penalty in the end zone set up the Steelers’ Anthony McFarland’s one-yard scoring run in the second quarter. … Talk about go green. The Eagles have uninstalled the windmills in both end zones.