As our beloved GK Brizer reminds us so often, training camp injuries usually happen early, like in the first week or so…then there is a lull as the preseason games finally kick into gear.
It sucks for any player for any team to get knocked out of the season too early with a training injury…but it happens often and is a fact of roster life.
We’ve seen it already here this summer in Philly with Travis Long’s untimely repeat tear of his ACL… and now LB Kiko Alonso’s apparent concussion suffered during a very hard practice earlier in the week.
The alarm over those two mishaps only underscores the unspoken fear that most real Eagles fans already had— that Sam Bradford is going to crumble into a hundred shards of glass the first time he gets hit by a pass-rushing tackle in the heat of official battle.
Welp— you either break out as a team from that potential adversity—- or you break down.
Guys have to be ready to step up.
If you want to really keep your EYE on a likely candidate to break out under adversity, then keep watching wide receiver Josh Huff. This kid has the natural talent in him to overcome the bad breaks which he’s been through already and which may come down on the Eagles this season due to unforeseen injuries to other players.
Never forget his 107-yard kickoff return against Tennessee (which was the longest in Eagles history) and his 44-yard catch and run against Dallas in December 2014… There is something very special and very explosive just waiting to come out big time within Huff.
And meanwhile, the quarterback group had a very good practice on Thursday:
Sam Bradford:
Thursday’s Reps: 25 reps (24 with first team)
Thursday’s Stats: 15/19, 2 TD, 0 INT
Overall Stats: 109 reps (nine with second team), 67/83, 3 TD, 1 INT
(Bradford showed he could throw deep with the best of ’em—but struggled a little in the red zone…)
Mark Sanchez:
Thursday’s Reps: 27 reps (one with first team)
Thursday’s Stats: 17/22, 4 TD, 0 INT
Overall Stats: 106 reps (nine with first team), 55/77, 4 TD, 0 INT
(Sanchez looked confident and was extremely efficient in the red zone…)
Tim Tebow:
Thursday’s Reps: 16 reps
Thursday’s Stats: 8/9, 1 TD, 1 rushing TD, 0 INT
Overall Stats: 60 reps, 33/46, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 rushing TD
(I’m shocked, but Tebow, despite that crummy hitch in his release, threw the ball extremely well— I mean, on target…)
Matt Barkley:
Thursday’s Reps: 22 reps
Thursday’s Stats: 12/15, 1 TD, 0 INT
Overall Stats: 67 reps, 37/51, 1 TD, 1 INT
(Matty Barks did okay… but he threw a couple of clunkers that stood out like sore thumbs…or perhaps better described, missing JPP index fingers…)
But back to the Kiko Alonso injury— at least it’s not his knee or another joint that was affected— but a concussion is a serious thing as we have learned to appreciate over the past 10 years. Apparently Kiko got popped pretty hard in the Tuesday drills. The only good thing I can say about that is the team as a whole was not only practicing hard but with velocity.
Alonso will most likely pass his concussion protocol within the next week. His desire to keep going from there is up to him. I would never presume to tell a concussion victim to “suck it up”. But Alonso needs to consult with his own physician on that issue. I don’t think Kiko has a history of multiple concussions, but caution must be taken regardless— sometimes one concussion is one too many.
Running back DeMarco Murray was also absent from practice on Thursday, but it isn’t a replay of the hydration issue that kept him from getting on the field for the first practice of camp last weekend. Murray didn’t practice because of an “undisclosed illness”. Now don’t get me started on the prospect of losing Murray for an extended part of the season!
“Somebody goes down, everybody has to step up,” rookie Jordan Hicks said. “It adds to everybody’s reps. I just see it as an opportunity, but again, I’m just trying to improve every single day. That’s what the whole thing is about.”
Candid remark there by Hicks— basically reassuring our fans that even the youngest players on the team know the ultimate score.
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