Andy Reid just finished his Friday news conference and he’s made it official. Kevin Kolb will start for the second week in row at the quarterback position. He’ll get the chance to add to that outstanding performance he had against the Niners.
Reid called the Atlanta Falcons the best team in football at the moment.
Michael Vick worked out with the team today on the scout team.
Reid wouldn’t commit one way or the other with how Vick would be used. He said the talented quarterback has made a tremendous progress in his recuperation but he still has some pain in discomfort in the are where he was injured.
Defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley and offensive tackle Jason Peters are officially out of the game. Reid says Bunkley has been making tremendous progress.
The Eagles head coach said he was surprised to see Peters walking around the locker room. The big fella had surgery on his knee earlier this week. Reid says he can’t say when Peters will return to action.
Eagles left guard Todd Herremans has practiced the last couple of days. He’s been splitting time with Nick Cole, who has been dealing with a knee injury.
Despite the foot problems, Herremans is expected to start and play the entire game on Sunday.
Wide receiver Riley Cooper, who is recovering from a concussion had headaches yesterday, so he was pulled out of practice. Today he practiced and felt fine.
If anybody wants to ask a question or two about Eagles, Falcons or the upcoming game. Let’s do it.
G-
Did you see anything at practice with pass protection and getting Dunlap help?
I think Vick will play a few Red-Zone/Short yardage situations..
G-Some burning questions of the past few days if you will sir.
What’s up with Austin Howard? Reggie Wells?
Where in the world is Kelley Washington?
Will RB J Harrison be dressing this week?
Any word on Asante Samuel’s concussion progress?
I don’t think he was “outstanding” Garry but hopefully he can continue to build on what he showed last week. Second half was putrid.
Couple of Updates for you WWW
Both CB Samuel and WR R Cooper have been cleared and are expected to play
RB J Harrison will not be active this week, Bukley and Joquie Bell will be activated and back-up RB’s/Special Teamers (Harrison will be ready next week as he has time to learn the Eagles system)
WR K Washington is still out there on the street as far as I know and has had no other team approach him (which is hard to believe)
O/L A Howard is nursing a sore back and will probably not be active
R Wells will be active and a back-up to G/T in an emergency..
B’o B,
Kolb played very well last week and if not for a couple of dropped passes be Celek, he would have had
even better numbers and the Eagles would have won going away by double-digits..
I think Kolb proved that he can lead his team to Victory and into the end-zone so I think last week;s perfomance bodes well for him personally and to the Eagles Team..
The way the O/Line playing, it’s going to take 2 QB’s to play and finish this season out and at least Kolb now has the confidence of moving the club in for TD’s and leading the Team to Victory and also has
the confidence and repspect from his teammates which is extremely important moving forward.
Is anyone reading into the “Reid called the Atlanta Falcons the best team in football at the moment.” I know Reid says these types of things, but this seems like a stretch to me. With Ryan being a “off and on” QB, the falcons are not even in the same stadium as the Ravens. Also, good luck Kolb! That blind side is going to be probelmatic.
Eagles no confidence in Kolb? Vick was almost broken in half against the Redskins. I cant imagine why Vick would suit up. Anyone else on the team has to practice to be eligible to play. Westbrook I think was an occassional exception. What that is telling me is that they have 0 confidence in Kolb and cant wait to get Vick back in there. Theres a difference in throwing for a whopping 250 yards against a 0-4 49er team who didnt blitz. Then against the likes of Atlanta, Giants, Cowboys etc who will be tring to knock his damn head off. If it was the other way around Kolb wouldnt be back until after the bye. AR wants Vick available to start the 2nd half. If Vick suits up Kolb has 1 half to get it done.
Mr. Cobb, how should the Eagles cover Tony Gonzales, and do you really think Gonzales is better that the 1st Kellen Winslow or Dave Casper?
Thx Paul, someone had to know. I knew about AH’s back problem but it’s been awhile and didn’t know if he’s recovered yet.
bsmvideos – They should jam Gonzalez at the line of scrimmage then mix up the coverages on him. You’ve got to beat him up at the line of scrimmage. Sometimes it could be a safety covering him other times it wiill be a linebacker. The key is delaying his release. You have to stop the run first because he’s impossible to deal with if they’re able to run play action passes. If they get the running game going, then he’ll be impossible to stop.
If I’m not mistaken last year we did an OK job or reducing TG’s role on the field. We didn’t totally shut him down but he wasn’t that effective either. Could’ve just been the fact that Matt Ryan didn’t play though.
Yeah I think we played pretty well against Gonzo last year and that was due to Macho Harris being physical with him right off the line. He was clearly getting under Gonzo’s skin because he was grabbing him and bumping him a lot but it worked and I’d take that over anyone who is just going to give him a free release. That takes me to my next point…..
Does anyone love the way Charles Woodson play the CB position? Dude is physical, can cover and isn’t scared to cover anyone and is always around the ball. Sure, he’ll get a few holding penalties here and there because of his aggressiveness but I love the way he plays the game. I wish we had a corner like that. That’s the kind we need to play against the big, physical WRs we will face for the rest of the year.
G:
I think that Matt Ryan is in the same spot as a lot of the Eagles. He’s a young man who can and should establish himself on his team as the leader. On the Falcons, it seems like he went a long way to doing just that LAST year. Whereas these Eagles have an open ballot on who the real, long-term leaders will be on this team. That’s what I see is at stake this year. Can the Eagles come up with Championship leadership,G? This is the year where that happens, or it doesn’t. Strategic leadership G, not just tactical. What are your thoughts?
Anybody who is going to be a leader has to be a good player first of all. I think Michael Vick more than anybody else has the faith of this football team. Some of the guys talk about him like he walks on water.
One player told me that if you think they’ve got a good team now, wait until 7 gets back. They believe in him.
G – thanks for reminding us about this team believing in Vick. You could almost sense a different energy and confidence about them when he was on the field. With him healthy and playing against Green Bay and Washington we could have won both games. Nothing against Kolb, but the running threat Vick brings and the big plays thanks in part to his ability to extend plays makes a difference and makes everyone else around him better. Hopefully Vick is fully healthy and ready to play against Tennessee. It will be interesting to see if they still use Vick these week. I know some people argue inserting him when Kolb is starting disrupts the flow, but that’s too bad – on 3rd & short and near the goal line he is dangerous.
I was reading something about how great Atlanta is at rushing. Did anyone notice the Eagles are 7th in the league in rushing yards? And they are only about 90 yards behind Atlanta. If Vick had played the full Washington game and last week against the Niners I bet he would have more than 90 yards. I’d love to see McCoy and the team out rush Atlanta and beat them down on defense.
Why hasn’t this team signed Kelly Washington? I know that means letting someone else go, but isn’t there some player that is only playing on special teams and that Washington can contribute more than them?
Has anyone noticed if the Eagles are consistently jamming tight ends or not? I’ve not paid attention to that. It seems like Fokou should be able to do that. He has long arms and likes to hit people.
With Kolb we really don’t know what to expect week to week but with Vick we’re dangerous and can beat anyone. Right now there’s really no team in the NFL that really scares me and with Vick we can be a team to reckon with. Now, of course that’s barring a major leap in our special teams play but give me Vick, Along with the young Guns maximizing their gifts with a strong armed QB and a defense that can play with a lead…We can compete on a high Level. when Vick returns the Eagles need to keep him healthy by telling him to slide before he goes into traffic.
If we can get through this week and squeeze out a win that would be more than we expected with Kolb…Let’s see if we can get through and then hand the reigns over to Superman.
Kolb was made for the clipboard
I think Vick shouldn’t play until he’s 100%. I would hate to watch him play without the intensity & electrifying pace we have already become accustomed to. GCobb is right, MV7 has a certain aura about him – only superstars have this & he makes the team explosive & instils fear in other team defenses. A lot of man hours are spent by oppositions trying to counter his double threat & thats an Eagles advantage. Kolb is a decent QB but he’s not yet superstar status & the NFL is all about winning NOW !
Even healthly Bunkley, would be “out of the game”
To edogma
The Eagles are very poor at this (Jamming the TE or WR at the line of scrimmage)
If yuo look at the formations, the LB Corp is lined up about 3-4 yards behind the line of scrimmage in
many instnaces. I wish they would play more press coverage and get in the TE’s/WR’s faces more
Most of the defensers have the speed and athleticim to recover, but be aggressive and challenege
these receivers/tightends.. You just let them run thru the secondary with a free,clean head of speed
Wonder who among the walking wounded on the O line gets injured this week ?
I swear the football gods have it in for the Eagles
Herremans and Jackson come off and injury shortened season and get hurt right out of the gate
Then Peters
The O line is the most important element in FB and the Eagles have 11 games to go and are one injury away from total disaster
Edogma
Yeah If If If
Vick’s rushing is what got him hurt in case you didn’t notice
I think Coach AR will look back and see what a mistake it was to have J Jackson play in that 1st game
when he obviously not 100% and not even in football shape, he should have been kept on PUP list and would have had 5-6 weeks to fully recover and then been activated after week #6.
N Cole has not been right all summer camp and early season with his knees that keep swelling up which prevents him from practicing and again is not in the best of football shape and has not been able to get his timing down… McGlynn and MJG have really stepped up and played pretty godo football in my opinion and the Eagles would really be in pinch if these guys weren;t ready and playing at the level they are..
It’s also apparent that the Eagles erred again in not addressing the O/Line with some of the dozen draft picks they had… (Teo Neisham in 3rd was a reach at best, Harbor, Kafka and Clayton could have been picked later in the draft by most obsevors and Sapp is a 2 year project and is a great athlete who has most likley has no position to play at the NFL level.)
When you look around the leauge, very few team are locked in stone with their O/Lines, lot of injuries and Lots of good teams have issues across their O/lines (Colts,Steelers,Patriots,Giants,Redksins,Eagles,Packers,Chargers.Bears are some of the good teams that have their own health,quality of depth issues..It will get down to Coaching to devise good game plans where the guys you do have can execute and be consistent with..
Also on the FB situation,
I think O Schmitt is playing well and will only get better as he learns and plays more and was a pretty godo pick-up I believe for injured L Weaver whose playing days with the Eagles may be done..
I think the TE position is still a weakness where no real depth has been added and if something were to happen to Celek, they would basically be playing minus a position for Mills/Harbor are not really at an NFL everydown type of players at this stage of their careers…
Well i hope kolb can lead this gm. I hope the line protects for him so he can have some time to do what he do . I hope andy calls another gm like the niners gm cause this gm is huge and we need it. Its the difterence in between a 10/6 or 8/8 type of yr. Huge gm
I agree PW
Kind of like our Fantasy Game matchup this week.. you ready ..
McCoy needs about 20-22 Carries for 85+ yards ,anything less means that the game plan and playcalling has Kolb passing too much…
G:
If Michael Vick has most of the team, that’s enough. Bring on Mars
G:
If Michael Vick has most of the team, that’s enough. Bring on Mars! He has to inspire this team all the way down to the defense, and that’s tough to do. We’re understaffed on this defense, but a real leader can demand manhood. This is the kind of thing that makes me want to watch this team.