Before the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns took the field on Thursday night, they practiced together at a joint training camp.
ABOVE PHOTO: Jalen Hurts at practice (Photos by Webster Riddick)
By Chris Murray
For the Philadelphia Sunday SUN
For all the talk about the Philadelphia Eagles having a post-Super Bowl “hangover” in 2023, the Birds’ training camp has seen its good days and bad.
After a lackluster performance on the first day of their joint practices with the Cleveland Browns, the Eagles reminded themselves of the work and the intensity they need to make a return trip to the Super Bowl.
“I think we’re here right now,” said Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. “That’s the only thing that we can control. We have our days when we come here. We just want to execute at a high level and carry out the culture that we set for this team. That’s the only thing that really matters.”
The Birds came into the second day of their joint scrimmage with the Browns with a little more pep and won most of their battles in the seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 drills as the two teams prepared for Thursday’s preseason against Cleveland at Lincoln Financial Field.
“(The Browns) did some good things on the first day, certainly threw us off guard. I thought (the Browns) had a lot of good energy and I think all of us as an offense were excited to get back out here and go to work,” Eagles center Jason Kelce said. “All of us as an offense were excited to get out here and go to work. That’s how you want to respond. Guys are fired up to get back out on the field and we had a much better day (Tuesday) …Nobody right now is good enough to win a Super Bowl. Everybody’s gotta continue to get better.”
More than likely, Eagles starters like Hurts and Kelce won’t be playing in the Birds’ first home preseason game of the season. That’s mainly because the staters have gotten more time and opportunities to sharpen their skills during the joint practices with the Browns.
“There’s a lot of opportunities here,” Hurts said of the joint practices. “You get into a set like this, and you go at it and compete. The (preseason) games are for the fans.”
In a normal preseason game, Hurts and the starters might play for a series or even for a quarter. The bottom line here is that the Eagles don’t want to risk any injuries to their starters. At some point, possibly in the third preseason game, Hurts and the offense going to have to get on the field to face a live defense.
During the time the Eagles’ first-team offense was on the field, Hurts looked sharp and completed touchdown passes in both the seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 drills. Though Hurts spread the ball around to different receivers, he got the ball out on some deep touchdown passes to A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith, who had his hands full trying to elude Cleveland cornerback Denzel Ward.
Safety Reed Blankenship and DBs shine during joint practices
The Eagles’ defensive backs had a good day during the joint practices with the Cleveland Browns. Safety Reed Blankenship had three interceptions against Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson during the seven-on-seven and 11-on-11. Blankenship’s play during the scrimmage drew praise from his teammates in the Eagles’ defensive backfield room.
“(Blankenship) makes a lot of plays and he’s smart. He was growing into last year … (Blankenship) has been doing a great job, communicating, leading the way and right now he has the most picks,” said Eagles cornerback Darius Slay.
Rookie safety playing with the first team
During Tuesday’s joint scrimmage with the Browns, rookie safety Sydney Brown got to play with the first team. The most notable play he made with the first teamers came after an interception by Blankenship when he threw a physical block on a Browns player that caused a scrum between Eagles and Browns players.
“It was a little scuffle. That’s all that it was. We’re practicing hard, they’re practicing hard. That’s what it turns into. It’s a high-intensity practice. It’s hot outside, it’s earlier in the day and we’re ready to go, ” said Brown with a smile on his face. “I want to be a feared player because that’s my mindset going into this. I just play with that intensity every single day.”
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