The Eagles held their first of two joint practices against the New York Jets on Tuesday, a nearly two-hour session that featured plenty of starter-vs-starter drills at the Jets’ facility in Florham Park, NJ.
Here are some observations from the practice:
Defense Dominates: If the Eagles are going to compete for the division this season they are going to need strong play from their defensive line. Going up against a bad Jets offensive line the Eagles did exactly what they should do — they dominated.
The Eagles defensive line lived in the backfield on Tuesday, consistently “sacking” Jets quarterback Zach Wilson and killing most plays before they could even get going. During one sequence of an 11-on-11 drill the Eagles defensive line “sacked” Wilson and then on the next play Brandon Graham stripped the ball from Wilson before he was able to get rid of it. Javon Hargrave also came away with a “sack” on back-to-back plays.
The defense really stepped up at the end of practice during a full-field, 11-on-11 drill. The Jets first drive against the defense ended on just the second play when the Eagles forced a fumble and recovered it. The second drive, which likely only took play because the first one went so poorly, didn’t go much better for the Jets as the Eagles forced a three-and-out.
There is no denying the Jets’ offense isn’t exactly a super talented unit. Dominating them is exactly what a veteran defense like the Eagles’ defense is supposed to do.
Still, it was eye-opening how the Jets’ offense was able to get absolutely nothing going against the Eagles.
Jalen Hurts: While the Eagles’ defense dominated, the Eagles’ offense had much more of an up-and-down day.
Hurts missed a few throws he should have made, sailing a number of passes over his receiver’s heads, including a pass to Devonta Smith that should have been an easy completion. Hurts missing high is concerning, as high passes often lead to interceptions, but to his credit he didn’t turn the ball over on Tuesday. Hurts seemed to hold onto the ball too long for stretches of practice, something Nick Sirianni and the coaching staff seemed to remind him at the end of a few team drills.
One of Hurts’ better throws of the day was to tight end Dallas Goedert, who he hit about 40-yards deep in stride, allowing him to run the rest of the way into the end zone.
Hurts’ day did end on a positive note, however. While the Jets’ offense wasn’t able to get anything going during the full-field, 11-on-11 drills, the Eagles offense went down the field on a nine-play, 75-yard drive. Hurts went 3-of-6 on the drive, with two of his incompletions coming as the result of pass interference on the Jets, both of which were flagged by the officials. The drive included a long run by Hurts, who looks much quicker running the ball this year than he did last year.
The drive ended with Hurts hitting Reagor for a touchdown from about five-yards out.
Hurts finished the day 13/18 with two touchdowns, and while he had some very positive moments on Tuesday, it was not a great showing from Hurts overall.
Receivers: There is no denying the Eagles receivers will have to prove in a regular-season game that they can be impact players. That will come in Week 1.
For now, however, the unit continues to look good in practice.
DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins and Jalen Reagor all had a good day on Tuesday, dominating in one-on-one drills and looking good during the team sessions as well. Watkins had the catch of the day when he left up and pulled down a 30-plus yard completion from Hurts, winning a 50-50 ball in the air. Reagor had the only touchdown of the day from the receivers and Smith caught his first pass in a team drill since coming back from a knee injury that sidelined him for most of camp.
One receiver who didn’t have a good day was Travis Fulgham. Fulgham dropped a pass along the sideline that he absolutely should have caught, and spent the majority of the practice running with the second-team offense instead of the starters. Fulgham has dropped down the depth chart as camp has gone on, and at this point, it is fair to wonder if he is a lock to make the team.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!