Jordan Mailata, Andre Dillard Both Appear Ready to Play Against Cowboys
PHILADELPHIA - Five weeks into the NFL season and the Eagles’ bumps and bruises are starting to show. Never mind the injury reports.
Just open your eyes in the locker room and you’ll see them, especially on Jordan Mailata and Andre Dillard. The two left tackles showed up on Friday afternoon with ice bags strategically placed.
Dillard had one strapped to his left forearm.
Mailata had one wrapped around his right shoulder.
“I don’t think any of our players are 100 percent when we go out there and play,” said Mailata in Friday’s locker room.
Which one will play on Sunday night when the Dallas Cowboys pay a visit to test Lincoln Financial Field?
Based on Friday’s injury report, it looks like it will be Mailata. He was a full participant in the practice held at Lincoln Financial Field, as was the rest of the Eagles' starting line, CB Avonte Maddox, kicker Jake Elliott, RB Kenny Gainwell, and edge rusher/LB Patrick Johnson.
The only two players listed as questionable were special teamer Josh Jobe (shoulder) and defensive end Janarius Robinson (ankle), who hasn’t been active since being signed off the Vikings’ practice squad last month.
So, draw your conclusions.
In the locker room following practice, both players professed that they would be ready to go.
“I’ve been hungry for (playing again) for a long time,” said Dillard, who remains on Injured Reserve after suffering a crack in his forearm during a practice last month.
“I’ve been working my tail off every day to get back and healthy, stay strong, in shape. I had a good couple weeks of practice now, so I’m ready for whatever they got for me.”
Mailata said he feels great but added that it would be up to the team’s medical staff as to whether or not he plays.
“Those are decisions I can’t control,” he said. “I can’t control whether I’m going this week. I can only tell them 50 percent of the answer. They have the other 50 percent.”
It’s a good sign he was a full participant in Friday’s practice.
It may also help the Eagles to wait another week on a decision regarding their 53-man roster. Dillard is still on IR and has one more week to either be activated or shut down for the rest of the year.
Ande Dillard spoke to the media during Friday's locker room session leading up to Week 6 game.
Mailata said he felt “80 percent” further along this week than he did last week.
“I want to say it was a simple injury, but it wasn’t,” said Mailata, who suffered his injury while diving in vain to make a tackle during a pick-six interception against Jacksonville’s Andre Cisco in Week 4.
“Just doing simple, daily actions with your right hand, you couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it, anyway. So, that was probably the hardest part not being able to use my right hand.”
Dillard played in last year’s game at Dallas and graded out well.
Mailata has yet to face Cowboys star rusher Micah Parsons, but believes he has been prepared for this moment by players on his own team.
“It’s the same as going up against Haason (Reddick), Haas,” he said. “It’s just getting to your spot and stick to what you’ve been coached to do and rely on your training. If I can’t do that, you’ll see me on the bench.
Dillard is just eager to feel a part of a game again.
“Obviously, when I’m on the sideline, I’m helping out however I can, but just being suited up, being out there ready to go whenever and just getting out there and making some blocks, and really being with the team in that way,” he said.
“I’m really excited to do that again. Watching either on TV or the sideline, I’m like, man, I really miss it.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
