by Jordan Raanan from www.eaglesville.com
8/12/2008 AM Practice
Now we seem to know a little bit more about cornerback Asante Samuel. He not only spoke to the media for the first time this training camp after practice on Tuesday, he appeared on The Morning Show with Angelo Cataldi before the morning workout.
Samuel sure has his timing down. He just returned to practice Sunday—when hitting was a thing of the past—and spoke just in the nick of time as the Birds prepare to depart Lehigh University on Wednesday.
The Pro Bowl cornerback seems to know how to work the crowd well. Now if he can only work so well on the field. The offseason free agent signing missed almost all of training camp with a hamstring injury. Still, camp has gone pretty well for the former Patriots star. Samuel, who is expected to play Thursday against the Panthers, believes he’s progressing and quickly assimilating with his teammates.
“I pretty much got the basics down,” he said. “I’m coming along good and definitely these last couple of days helped me.”
When the Eagles signed Samuel, Lito Sheppard lost his starting left corner job and was shoved to the bench. It hasn’t stopped the newest Eagles cornerback from striking up a nice friendship with the unhappiest Eagles cornerback.
So far, Samuel likes what he sees, especially from his coach, Andy Reid.
“He’s a good coach,” Samuel said. “He’s led this team to the Super Bowl before and they’ve been to NFC Championships. He definitely knows what he is doing.”
Plus, compared to his previous boss, Reid is a bundle of fun. Hard to believe but true.
“You know Bill doesn’t have a personality. Andy wins that one,” Samuel said. “[Andy’s personality is] not much, but Bill doesn’t give you anything.”
As for the practice, Samuel looked good, knocking down several passes and shutting down receivers in one-on-one drills. Cornerback Sheldon Brown also looked solid. Neither were matched against tight end L.J. Smith, who made several good plays as the Eagles worked on their red zone passing offense.
But it wasn’t Donovan McNabb throwing the ball. McNabb and the rest of the “Over-30 Club” had the morning off. Surely that’s not what the fans wanted to see in the final real practice of training camp. No McNabb, no Brian Dawkins, no Kevin Curtis, no Jon Runyan, etc. At least the fans in attendance were treated to the annual last-practice tradition of getting handshakes and high fives from the players and coaches as they walked off the field.
Just one light afternoon session and a walkthrough Wednesday morning left before it’s back to Philadelphia for the Birds.
Afternoon
8/12/2008
If you wanted to watch the Eagles practice this year and you didn’t get the opportunity to check out Lehigh before this afternoon, it’s too late. Fan access to practice ended Tuesday afternoon when the Birds went through a 10/10/10 at Lehigh University that included plenty of special teams and red zone work.
The Eagles have a walkthrough Wednesday that is closed to the public before returning to Philadelphia for their preseason home opener the following night against Carolina. When they get back to practicing on Saturday, it will be once a day at the NovaCare Complex, and they will not be open to fans.
No more two-a-days at Lehigh. No more sleeping in dorm rooms for the players. No more eating cafeteria food. Everybody will be back at their homes sleeping in their own beds. Ah, the comfort of home.
In the meantime, the Eagles still have plenty of work left to do. They are admittedly nowhere near ready for the start of the season on Sept. 7 against St. Louis. Two areas that probably need a little more polish than anything else, special teams and red zone, were focus points Tuesday afternoon.
In the red zone, tight end L.J. Smith was especially busy. His return, after struggling last season with a variety of injuries that severely limited his effectiveness, is going to be vital to the Eagles’ success in scoring points. Smith has looked progressively better the last week or so since returning from a minor calf injury.
“The tight end is normally a big factor because of the matchup situations. Normally they’re on safeties and linebackers. [Smith and Brent Celek] tend to do a nice job there,” offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. “They’re important down there in the red zone. They’re important all over the field, but especially the red zone.”
Special teams also needs to improve from last year when, according to coach Andy Reid, the units were “horrendous.”
They weren’t much better Friday night in Pittsburgh during the preseason opener.
“We didn’t do nearly as well as we’d like there,” special teams coach Rory Segrest said. “We were trying to get a lot of guys reps and, as a matter of fact, we had the starters in for the first kickoff and then we started subbing from that point. We got a lot of young guys some reps; a lot of new guys in there. We’re just trying to get some talent evaluated. It was a good opportunity to get that done.”
Tuesday was an opportunity to fine-tune some of the deficiencies. After addressing the special teams in the offseason, the Birds don’t believe it’s anything to get overly concerned about right now. Players such as punt returner DeSean Jackson and kick returner Lorenzo Booker are among the new players. Neither have returned kicks at the NFL level. Booker had never done any kickoff returning.
“It was the first time he’s ever had a kick return in a game, so [struggles are] to be expected,” Segrest said. “He’s trying to do a little bit too much. He wants to get that big return. He’s just got to trust the scheme and get up behind the wedge and get going with it. I think he will his next time out.”
The hope is all after this extra practice the entire special teams will be better the next time out.
