That’s it for Eagles minicamps in 2012… now it’s “see you at Lehigh in late July”… let summer vacation begin!
The Eagles completed their three-day minicamp Thursday feeling more confident than ever about their chances of going deep into the playoffs this season.
“This year is our year,” Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson said. “We all have one common goal. At the end of the year, we’ll be standing tall.”
By the time the camp ended on Thursday, the upbeat attitude had spread througout the offense, defense and coaching staff.
Even coach Andy Reid, who generally takes a glass-half-empty approach to just about everything, was pleased with the intensity level on the field and the synergy that seemed to be quickly developing among the rookies, veteran newcomers and returning players.
“I loved the energy,” Reid said. “I loved the mindset. There’s no pads on, so they really can’t compete, but the guys are still challenging each other and trying to get better. It’s a good atmosphere. We’re finishing up a nine-week stretch here (of offseason workouts) and it’s been high octane all the way through.”
Center Jason Kelce, 2nd year out of Cincinnati, 6-3, 295, has already established his “playoff beard” for 2012…
I didn’t get much in the way of Twitter support from press-credentialed reporters yesterday. Jeff McClane did send me these few feeds:
“Eagles signed LB Ryan Rau and DE Frank Trotter, who were tryouts this week. Roster now stands at 89, one shy of maximum.”
“Reid also said that he expected DE Vinny Curry (ankle) should be ready by camp.”
“Andy Reid said S Colt Anderson (ACL) was ahead of schedule, that he didn’t know yet if DT Mike Patterson (brain arterial surgery) would be ready for camp.”
“Fletcher Cox has returned for the last day of minicamp….still not signed.”
“5-9 Brandon Boykin has ups but does he have what it takes to leap over Joselio Hanson for the nickel CB job?”
“Kelce said Vick is trusting him more…”
Speaking of center Jason Kelce, Eagles offensive line coach Howard Mudd set up an offseason meeting between his current and previous centers, sending the Birds’ Jason Kelce on a February road trip to spend a few hours talking shop with longtime Indianapolis Colts starter and five-time Pro Bowl pick Jeff Saturday.
“I’m not trying to be the next Jeff Saturday,” said Kelce of the two-time All-Pro, who signed with Green Bay in March after spending 13 seasons with the Colts. “I’m trying to be Jason Kelce. I’m trying to be the best player I can be. But I’m going to take every single piece of advice Jeff gave me – let’s put it that way.”
Kelce, an unheralded sixth-round draft pick who went on to start every game last year, was a key piece in Mudd’s line makeover in his first season in Philadelphia.
Mudd termed Kelce’s development “remarkable,” and at first said he couldn’t think of another rookie he coached who had played so well. Mudd then reconsidered and put Kelce in some pretty exclusive company by comparing him to Kevin Mawae, whom Mudd coached as a rookie in Seattle in 1994. Mawae went on to play 16 NFL seasons, earning eight All-Pro awards.
Mudd thinks Kelce’s potential is such that he wanted him to pick the brain of another great at the position, which is why Kelce was dispatched from his Cincinnati home to Indianapolis in February for a sit-down with Saturday, who started for most of Mudd’s 12 seasons with the Colts.
“They’re so much alike, I thought that he would really be able to help Jason with his outlook, doing it from a player’s perspective,” said Mudd.
“It was intimidating at first,” said Kelce. “But Howard told me right off the bat, he’s going to make you feel at home right away. He’s got that personality where anybody can sit down and talk to him, I’m sure. He’s that type of guy. Here’s a guy who’s been playing at an All-Pro level for a long time, won a Super Bowl with arguably one of the best quarterback-center pairings ever to play the game (with Peyton Manning).
“Being able to pick his brain and sit down and talk with him, I don’t think too many other young centers have had that opportunity.”
Kelce did enough as a rookie to earn more responsibility from Mudd, who has Kelce making protection calls at the line of scrimmage. That’s something quarterback Michael Vick did last year.
“He’s taking on more responsibility because he understands what we need,” said Mudd. “He’s taking some pressure off of Mike, making some calls; maybe the same calls that Mike would have made. In fact, Mike was telling me after practice that he comes up and talks to him at the line: ‘What do you think?’ He wants to take all of that on, and that’s really good.”
“Just having a year under my belt, having a year in the film room with Mike, having a year with this unit, I feel much more comfortable with this unit and I think the guys feel much more comfortable with me making the calls,” said Kelce.
Kelce also feels more comfortable following his talk with Saturday. The two discussed different techniques, ways to study film and what Saturday got from meetings with Manning.
“I wanted to kind of pick his brain apart that way,” said Kelce.
The 6-3, 295-pound Kelce figures he can do well by following the lead of the 6-2, 295-pound Saturday, who went undrafted out of North Carolina.
“I think what has enabled Jeff to play for such a long time and at a very high level is his mental capacity,” said Kelce. “I think that he’s one of the smarter guys in the NFL, and that’s something I’m going to have to develop. I’m not one of the bigger guys, so if I’m going to stick around for a long time after I start slowing down, I’m gonna have to be able to be smarter than anybody else.”
After the Eagles wrapped up their minicamp on Thursday, DeSean Jackson fielded a dizzying array of questions without flinching. All of the answers seemingly pointed back to his high hopes for this season and the almost unlimited potential of the offense he empowers with his pure speed and instincts.
“This year is our year, we feel,” Jackson said, “and as long as everyone puts in the work and we start fresh and start fast and finish strong, I think this is a team at the end of the year that will the last team standing.”
Jackson believes everyone is putting in that effort, starting with him. This, coming off a season in which his concentration and dedication came into question due to the uncertainty of an expiring contract, potentially leaving the relatively tiny 5-foot-10, 175-pounder with no financial security. Jackson in the offseason finally was rewarded with a five-year $47-million contract with more than $10 million guaranteed. Because of that, he said Thursday, “I’m able to focus on football, and that’s what I always wanted to do. I don’t have to worry about contract issues and just be a leader and help this team accomplish the goal that we want at the end of the year.”
Jackson taking on a leadership role would be a welcomed development by Reid and general manager Howie Roseman, who have assembled an extremely talented but extremely young team. Jackson, who is going into just his fifth season, actually has logged more time with this squad than all but four of this year’s projected starters. According to Jackson, who has bought into the company line of Reid, the downtime the players now enter before reporting to training camp in late July will be just as crucial as what they were able to accomplish on the field in these offseason camps.
“Now it’s time to get off our feet a little and relax and still work hard at the same time and come to training camp prepared,” Jackson said, “because we all know how important this year is for us. He’s going to be working our tails off in camp. So I think everybody on the team has to be accountable to still work out during this time and come to training camp prepared.”
Like many of his teammates, Jackson senses a different attitude that can carry this team a long way.
“The additions we were able to pick up in the offseason, a couple of the defensive players, strengthening up our offensive line, things like that, I think it’s a special team for everybody,” Jackson said.
Whether Jackson will remain the primary punt returner is unclear, but on Thursday he said he is ready to handle any duty required. “Once my number is called, whatever it is they need me to do, I’ll do,” he said. “… Whatever it comes out to be, that’s what I’m here for, that’s what I’m paid to do, and I’ll do it.”
PROGRAMMING NOTES for EAGLES EYE—
Livefyre (the comments engine folks out of San Francisco) have told me the problems we have recently been experiencing with the bogging down of loading and posting of Livefyre data are probably due to some of us still being on Internet Explorer version 7 or 8… They recommend we upgrade to Internet Explorer version 9. I am not convinced of that simple answer yet… I have submitted a request to Bloguin Network for a second opinion….Since it is a free upgrade to IE9, I will try it… But like I said, I’m still not convinced yet. (Seems like folks on Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browsers are not experiencing too many problems with Livefyre… but Broz says even his smart phone is bogging down at times… So I take his words seriously… We’ve got to get this thing under control again, or we lose most of what makes this Eagles blog special, which is—youse!)
Les Miserables— I am sick and ashamed about the hurt feelings I may have enabled to be suffered by one of our celebrity posters, Nathalie from France… I know I probably just made things worse by trying to be Dr. Phil in all of the brouhaha, validating her anger and encouraging dialogue among us and all that… But after all, Dr. Phil is a Texas boy who played football in high school and college, so I thought I was doing the right thing. I know things got out of hand when we offended Nathalie’s sensibilities as a French liberal and intellectual feminist with some untimely Anglo-Saxon references that also included homophobia to boot… It’s sad to think I just made things worse by declining to censor comments that only inflamed the controversy. I discovered I am incapable of censorship. In that discovery I failed to come to the rescue of a sister member of our community. Nathalie just wanted to be our sister. Yeah, I know, she can fight her own battles with the best of them. And yes, I know, a woman can hear terror or disgust in a comment you or I as a guy might think funny. But in the end, she was family… and sometimes you’ve got to cut your family some slack. It works the other way, too. But for now, I just want to thank Nathalie for the time and energy she gave to us here, and I hope she knows I for one am sorry for the hurt feelings. There’s an album from the ’60’s called Free Wheelin’ Bob Dylan… we all do a lot of free-wheelin’ here at Eagles Eye and also at PE.com, and I never want to discourage that freedom… but if you go back to that old album, there’s a lot of tenderness in the songs, too.
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