ROOKIES ADD SOME SPICE TO MONDAY’S PRACTICE
Dillard involved in scrimmage skirmishes with Barnett, Cyprien
PHILADELPHIA — Monday’s 10-10-10, non-padded practice at Philadelphia Eagles training camp was supposed to be a typically short, choreographed affair with limited contact and time spent on the field.
So much for the best-laid plans of mice and men.
During one team scrimmage session, left tackle Andre Dillard did something right defensive end Derek Barnett didn’t like or vice versa, and the next thing everyone knew, the two were brawling. They finally were pulled apart by teammates and coaches after a fairly decent tussle. This was no pushing and shoving match.
Dillard refused to comment on it. Barnett never appeared during the period the media was allowed in the locker room.
Their teammates weren’t sweating it, though. Fights, just like injuries, are a big part of the game. But unless someone gets injured in one, which wasn’t the case on this day, fights can actually be more of a benefit than a detriment to a team because of the way they often pull combatants closer.
“We all know as football players, as men, it’s part of it,” safety Tre Sullivan said. “You’re in a vulnerable situation, trying to make the team, tempers are flying and
things like that. So it’s no hard feelings ever. Those guys, they’ll see each other again, they’ll compete against each other all the time. That’s just the game we play.”
The thing about Dillard and Barnett, though, is that neither is in a roster battle. Both are first-round picks who figure prominently in the team’s future.
“But that’s good,” Sullivan said. “You look at it from our standpoint and that’s
two guys that are competing with everything that they have. Things like that happen. So like [coach] Doug [Pederson] says, that’s something that stays there. We’re still a family.”
Dillard actually was involved in two skirmishes on this day. Before mixing it up with Barnett, he had a punch thrown at him by safety Johnathan Cyprien, who didn’t appreciate being knocked to the ground by his clearly overzealous teammate, who owns a 104-pound weight advantage.
Remember, this was not a padded practice.
Here are some other observations and takeaways from Monday’s session:
This was a much better day for quarterback Carson Wentz than the day before. He opened the first team session by hitting a streaking Nelson Agholor in stride deep down the right sideline for a touchdown over Avonte Maddox and also connected with Alshon Jeffery for a TD on the left side in the same series.
Toward the end of practice, Wentz found DeSean Jackson in a seam down the right sideline for a long gain.
The Eagles worked on their goal-line defense with a six-man front for a portion of this practice. The first six were Brandon Graham, Vinny Curry, Treyvon Hester, Malik Jackson, Kevin
Wilkins and Barnett. Sort of odd they would do this for the first time in a non-padded practice.
Safety Rodney McLeod and center Jason Kelce were given veteran maintenance days off. Isaac Seumalo moved from left guard to take Kelce’s place, with Stefen Wisniewski taking over at left guard.
L.J. Fort made an acrobatic interception of a tipped pass by Sullivan late in practice. Sullivan will need to keep making plays like this to make the team after missing a couple tackles in the preseason opener.
Another player who will need to flash a lot more to have any chance of
even sticking with the practice squad is tight end Alex Ellis, who did not have a good debut last Thursday night. But he made a great catch Monday when he fully extended on a dive to haul in a pass from Clayton Thorson.
Go Birds® has replaced mango as the best of the available Rita’s water ice flavors available at the complex every day. The color is not appetizing at all, but the flavor is out of this world.
On a side note, Sheetz is still better than Wawa.