Yes the unthinkable has happened, We have successfully replaced Reno Mahe!

The Eagles have successfully replaced their Kick Returner and Punt Returner Positions. For a while with Lorenzo Booker as the predicted KR, it looked like Reno was gonna be getting a phone call. Former Cal superstar punt returner Desean Jackson officially has gotten his “Devin Hester” on when nearly returning one to the house early in the game that got called back by a penalty and returning one for 76 yards with no time remaining in the first half. Prior to Jackson’s punt return, Quintin Demps took a Kick Return for 101 yards after trucking the kicker and out running John Lynch.

It looks like the Eagles may have drafted two rookies that might make an immediate impact for once. They have given us hope that we have not seen since Brian Mitchell and Westbrook back there for punts.

The first drill of the day was just a simple receiver drills and running back catching drills. Donovan worked with the running backs in the flats while Feeley and Kolb were strictly throwing to the receivers on quick outs. Nothing to special happened during this drill. The drill then went into skeleton offense, where the crowd really started to get into it. Shouting “Show Me the Money” when Westbrook got his first touch of the day, and “Andy your looking good” in regards to Andy Reid’s shapely curves. During this drill, young receiver Jamal Jones seemed to get a bulk of the attention; dropping 3 passes within 30 minutes, the crowd really got onto him. After each pass he dropped, Reid pulled out his red pen and wrote into his little notepad (I wonder what that means… )

Soon after Skeleton Offense, the secondary came over with the new addition Asante Samuel(who limped off the field later in the day), and frustrated Lito Sheppard. This seemed to be the highlight of the day as we had the opportunity to watch  1 on 1’s. The 2 largest cheers came from Brian Dawkins; the first time, he tried to jam at the line as the receiver swam by him. Dawkins had a speedy recovery and quickly jumped the route and nearly picked it off. The second major cheer from the crowd came when Dawk lined up against speedster DeSean Jackson. Jackson straight up out ran Dawkins by making 2 cuts to the inside and leaving him in the dust.

The whole team came together shortly after a few other small drills and ran live. They started with the flee flicker(which they practiced at least 4 times during the morning) but it was quickly shut down and forced the untouchable Donovan to scramble. This seemed to be a majority of running plays, a few screen passes, and a reverse to Lorenzo Booker.

After the morning session, I went to go check the linebacker autograph booth for my lottery #. Only off by 60, oh well. I didn’t see Omar giving autographs any way. We then headed home after deciding to not hang around for the 2:15 session. Hopefully I plan on making one more trip to Lehigh to sit in on another practice.

Here is a list of players that impressed me and dissapointed me. For the most part this list does not include any of the teams stars. Donovan, Curtis, Westbrook, the starting secondary all had great mornings. Unfortunately, I did not get to concentrate on the lineman or linebackers much.

Who Impressed Me:

RB Lorenzo Booker – Will cause defenses confusion with a 2 back set of Booker and Westbrook.

RB Ryan Moats + RB Tony Hunt – Hunt had a huge crowd of Penn State fans, and Mighty Moats had a few nice little scurry’s.

WR DeSean Jackson – Lightning Quick

WR Greg Lewis – Had some quality grabs throughout the morning

TE Brent Celek – I believe he has great potential as a tight end, he made a few solid catches in the day

CB Therrian Fontenot – Very physical as a corner, looked tough

S J.R. Reed – Looked good out there as he received a pitch on an interception to take it to the house

S Brian Dawkins – He had more intensity from anybody on the field today, the crowd loves him.

Who Disappointed Me:

QB AJ Feeley and Kevin Kolb – neither quarterback had a good day as it seemed they were throwing away balls left and right.

WR Jamal Jones – At least 3 drops on the day. Major dissapointment, except I have never even heard of him before today…

12345►

There have some astronomical changes over the past 2 days in the NFC East. Things are heating up for the Best Division in Football and just about underway. The division consists of the Washington Redskins, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys; 3 of which reached the playoffs while the Eagles had an 8-8 record missing the playoffs.

The Washington Redskins got a devastating injury to defensive end Philip Daniels for the season on Day 1 of practice; 5 Hours later Jason Taylor joins the team and agrees with a deal. How does this happen? Taylor has been on the market for months(kind of considering Parcells lied and said Taylor will be a Dolphin at the beginning of the season) and the Redskins go from a terrible injury to bringing in a former defensive MVP in just hours! This was an unbelievable move for the organization, and the team. Now on a side note for the Redskins, as I was driving to work listening to Mike-and-Mike in the morning, Mike Greenberg GUARANTEED that Favre will be playing in Washington by the start of the season. He said this is the most reasonable location for him and that the trade will happen. I personally agree with what he said 100%(although as an Eagles fan I would hate to see this happen), Todd Collins had a magical run last year but it won’t last forever. Brett is the perfect match for this team and would thrive with all the weapons. This was a great trade for the Dolphins, because it gives Parcells the opportunity to use these draft picks for the future and build the team HE wants, not what he gets. The Dolphins have no use for Taylor this season, nor next season. But in 3 years when Parcells has the team he wants, it will have been well worth this Dolphin drought.

In New York, the Giants have parted ways with big-mouth under-producing tight end Jeremy Shockey. The Giants recieved a second round and a fifth round draft pick(2009) in the trade of the “superstar”. I think this was a great move for the Giants, it is time to move on and start giving the rock to 6′6 – 253 Kevin Boss. The guy is a giant(no pun intended) and showed glimpses of the player they have in him last season. Do not get me wrong, Shockey has been a very good player for the Giants the past few seasons, but I felt he was being held back from his potential many times(maybe because of injuries, maybe the quarterback), but this move is a great move for both teams.

In Philly, things were quiet and then could suddenly turn bad after the past week. Philadelphia’s #1 best athlete Brian Westbrook want’s more money. PAY HIM. Brian is the 13th highest paid running back in the National Football League, and is #3 in stats. Brian has rightfully deserved a new contract and rightfully deserves to be paid top 5. Lito Sheppard signed Drew Rosenhaus, but they report that Lito WILL be playing this season and looking for a contract after this year) I will be happy with this, as long as there are no problems with him in the locker room(I don’t expect any). Lastly, we signed WR DeSean Jackson on a 4 year deal who is expected to compete for the #3 receiver and the primary return-man. Jackson has deadly speed and we expect him to turn some heads this year. I am not sure if he is faster then Reno Mahe though .

Things have been unusually quiet in Dallas lately, I guess Pacman(oops I mean Adam) has not gone to a Dallas stripclub yet.