My Take On The Birds First Pre-Season Game

The biggest question revolving around this Eagles team in training camp was, can this team translate the speed and intensity from training camp to a game? Now of course the game does not count but, it was great to see the young players use what they were taught in camp. The defense took the field first, and gave up a quick score but the unit quickly adjusted and held the steelers offense from being too effective. Here are a few players on the defense that impressed me: Joe Mays LB- The rookie LB was very impressive in his first ever game, recording 6 total tackles and showing nothing but hustle. He should serve the special teams well this year. Akeem Jordan- Continuing to grow as a player from lastyear. If you can remember towards the end of the 07 season Jordan opened many peoples eyes when he got the oppertunity to play and showed consistency in tonights game recording 6 tackles. Andy Reid and the coaching staff should take a harder look at Jordan the next following weeks. Andy Studebaker- The young man hustled hard this game recording 3 tackles and a pass deflection. He has a lot of potential, an unpolished diamond that will get better within time. Keep your eyes on him. Trevor Laws- Very impressed on the sack he recorded and it's clear to see that he has worked hard in camp and for a first year starter I liked how he got off the line of schrimage. Jerome Mcdougle- This guy is playing his heart out this training camp, Although him making the team will be tough I saw him pushing the pile this game and if he stays healthy this pre-season i'm pulling for him. The offense was very solid, the first trip towards the end-zone was unsuccessful however, on the second drive they got the job done. QB Donovan Mcnabb played very well, he played clean football and completed his passes effectively. The offensive line faired well for Mcnabb only allowing one sack, not so bad when you have your stud gaurd Shawn Andrews out of action. Here are a two players who I enjoyed watching on the offense: Desean Jackson- Played exceptionally well as a wr tonight. Recording 5 catches and 51 yards, now understand they were not deep bomb passes they were passes he caught in traffic, which many so called experts said that he would have tough time doing. Desean showed the potential he has to improve and cannot wait to see this guy get more playing time. If he continues working hard I promise this guy will get a lot of playing time in the regular season, he has the talent. Kevin Kolb- Although he has had a tough camp, he played fairly well and is starting to show more command with the offense. Judging him as a second starter I can only say that he is learning and playing solid football. Although they lost the game, I look more at the positive factors of the game. The defense had key touch-down saving stops, our young defensive players (i.e Mays,Studebaker,Jordan) played hard and it will be interesting how they play in the following weeks. Mcnabb looked great out there, and everybody on the offense is being a contributor to getting down field. Here is what I will be looking for in week 2's game in Carolina: -Better special teams, I beleive we can do better than what I saw tonight. It would be nice to see Jackson to some punts. -Run the ball more. I would like to see Booker get more carries so we can see how effective he can be. Same goes for Tony Hunt, I want to see how he can pace himself with an increased amount of carries.