Eagles Bounce Back Well in Practice Following Thursday Night Debacle

PHILADELPHIA – After the threat of inclement weather, brought on by the outer bands of Hurricane Henri, forced the Eagles to cancel their final open-to-the-public practice at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday night, the team went across the street to their indoor practice bubble for a spirited session in full pads.

If coach Nick Sirianni was looking for a response to the horror show his team put on at Lincoln Financial Field some 72 hours earlier, he got it during a practice that spanned just more than 90 minutes.

“We had a great practice, a very high-energy, competitive practice,” said Sirianni.

There are going to be games for this team, this season, where the ability to bounce back, to show resiliency in the face of adversity, will be required because there will be growing pains for the rookie head coach.

But the ability to respond will determine just how many wins Sirianni’s bunch will be able to produce in his rookie season.

Thursday night in that 35-0 blasting they absorbed from the New England Patriots in summer’s second preseason game, was one of those moments. Which made Sunday so important. It was the first time the team was back on the field, not counting Saturday’s walkthrough.

“We didn't play well, as we all know, right?” said Sirianni when asked what he saw after watching the film. “We didn't block well enough. We didn't tackle well enough. We didn't get off blocks well enough. We didn't catch well enough. We didn't teach our fundamentals well enough as coaches. So, it wasn't pretty, as we all saw.”

Also on Sunday, the Eagles released WR Jhamon Ausbon and CB Lavert Hill to bring their roster to 83 players. They have to be at 80 players by Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Sirianni pointed out “a couple of the linebackers” and “a couple of the tight ends played well” against the Patriots.

He was likely talking about T.J. Edwards and Alex Singleton in the linebacker department and take your pick of tight ends, but those who played most were Richard Rodgers and Jack Stoll.

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There were some good plays and some bad.

Cornerback Josiah Scott had a strong practice and John Hightower made some nice catches, including a touchdown catch that ended the practice, though earlier he dropped a beautifully thrown ball from Joe Flacco at the 1-yard line.

Running back Miles Sanders had another dropped pass as well, which is about what he’s been averaging in camp.

Jalen Hurts had a deep hook up with Zach Ertz and Singleton would have had a sack if Hurts wasn’t wearing the red, don’t touch jersey.

Sirianni stuck by his assertion that he has not made a decision on who will or won’t play on Friday night when the Eagles visit MetLife Stadium to play the New York Jets, who will play host to a pair of joint practices on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The coach said how those practices go will determine who sits or plays.

The front office will also have input, just as they have all preseason long, and Sirianni said that, together, they will make those decisions, as well as when it comes time to putting the final 53-man roster in place next week.

“Everything is a group effort, from - especially when we talk about who is going to make the roster,” said the coach. “We all talk through everything, and that's the same thing, we talk through everything together. What we want to see, who we want to see play, because we all have to help make that decision.

“Both of those things are no different. We talk through everything, whether it's the draft, whether it's, you know, practicing, and talking through all that stuff, but it's a group decision in everything that we do.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.