Inside Training Camp: August 3

it was great to see. The fans loved it at the Novacare Complex and I think the players, particularly the defense, really energized, extremely enthusiastic love trash talking on the field. The best part there were two live drills during a practice today. You had the one best one was at the goal line of short yard situation and the defensive line just completely engulfed. The offense dominated the drill and had barking from both sides of the football. But it

just raised the level of intensity. Hear a training camp with the preseason opener just a little over a week away day, Yeah, so fun stuff. Here is the Eagles ratchet up the intensity here in preparation for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on August eleventh, one of the themes we want to explore in this Inside Training Camp presented by Xfinity the running back situation, which still is without Ryan Matthews,

still without him. He hasn't practiced without ankle injury. Also rookie Wendell Smallwood out with a quad injury that will keep him sidelined at least for a couple of days here. So in the meantime, the Eagles looking at players like Kenyon Barner and he impressed on this Wednesday, and head coach Doug Peterson in his post practice press conference talked about the running back situation and compared it to last year in Kansas City when the Chiefs lost their Pro Bowl.

Running back Jamal Charles lost the following week and then reeled off eleven straight victories before losing in Round two of the AFC Playoffs. Here's Doug Peterson post practice. You know, yeah, I've I've I've pulled from, you know a little bit from from how we handled that situation, even in training camp when when we didn't let Jamal take a lot of live snaps. Um, you know, we we got our

twos and threes and and and our fourth guy. Really a lot of time and This is valuable time, you know, with with Ryan hopefully coming back and in the next couple of days. You know, uh, this is a great time for them and Wendell not practicing right now. It's great for those guys to get so many reps and so many touches. It's just going to help the overall balance of the football team. And and put put some good film on uh, you know, on tape for for uh, for a lot of people to see. I thought it

handled it well. Um, you know, it's conditioning is good, it's improving. Um you know, he uh got a little tired towards the end of the practice, but again that's that's just the nature of the nature of the camp practice. But overall I thought he uh, I thought he did a good job. This will be a good film, good film for him to watch, who practice tape for him to watch, uh, to be able to make the necessary corrections.

But but headed in the right direction. He's an explosive guy with the ball in his hands, and and uh uh you know, pretty good out of the backfield, you know, as a receiver, that's one area that he can get he can improve their route running ability. But but I love the fact that anytime you know, you put the ball in his hand, he has the ability to h to make some big place for you. And and he's he's shown that here in the in the first week

he can't. So let's talk about this running back situation, Chris. We are used to watching the Philadelphia Eagles with a lineage of star power in the backfield, a running back that carries the load LaShaun McCoy, Brian Westbrook, although some of those carries were distributed Duce Staley, et cetera, Rick Waters all the way many many moons here, this is not the picture that we're seeing with the Eagles in twenty and sixteen. Matthews, when he gets healthy, will be

the primary ball carry. But how do you kind of see it playing out. I think you're preparing the other backs to be able to take on increased responsibility if they need be. Look, Ryan Matthews is a veteran, He's been a Pro Bowl back in the league. He knows how to handle himself. The key with him is Kaye stay healthy. Very disappointed that Wendell Smallwood is not on the field because this is the time during training camp where you want to see him. In those past protection drills.

You want to see how he handles contact because he looks so good in the T shirts and shorts portion of camp and the ot as for player like Kenyan Barner, look, he impressed last preseason with some big returns on special teams and some big plays on offense, forced his way on to the fifty three man roster and got some reps towards the end of the regular season. Now when you look at what he did this offseason, he bulked up, got much stronger, got that taste of NFL experience. He

wants to keep it going. This is a great opportunity to show the coach is that he could be trusted if he needs to be put into a bigger role later in the year and out behind him, there are some younger back the likes of Cedric O'Neill, who's a bigger back, and Byron Marshall, who is a multi purpose back.

He can catch the ball well in the backfield. You almost don't know if he's really a receiver or a running back of Oregon some young players there, but Kenyan barr is a guy Dave who I'm looking at here to really take advantage of this opportunity. And of course Darren Sprowls in the mix as well, but maybe not as much of a primary ball carrier. Looks to be a running back by committee approach that Peterson will use

this year, but that remains to be seen. Of course, Ryan Matthews has to stay healthy first of all, I get back on the field and then stay healthy in the twenty and sixteen season. We know that he's got explosive ability and that's something that this offense really really looks forward to. So we'll see how the running back situation shakes out as we move through the preseason. On the other side, here on Inside Training Camp presented by Xfinity, we are going to talk about the wide receivers, one

in particular, Jordan Matthew. Here's a guest after practice. We'll talk to him when we return to Inside Training Camp presented by Experty. Have you ever pictured yourself with Eagles season tickets, Well now you can turn that fantasy into reality. Comcast Sportsman and the Eagles are giving away a pair of tickets for the entire twenty sixteen season every week this summer brings you closer to the dream with a new chance to win these seats. It's easy to enter.

Just answer this week's poll question and enter at Philadelphia Eagles dot Com, slash CS and Philly Dave Spiedero. Chris McPherson with you here at the Novicare Complex, and we have talked about the wide receiver position. Everybody wonders who will be the go to receiver in this offense? How about Jordan Matthews, who last year was terrific after a really solid rookie season. Our Alex Smith sat down with Matthews to discuss the offense and his role in it

this season. Lard Eagles fans, I'm Alex Smith here at the Novacare Complex and I am very pleased to be joined today by wide receiver Jordan Matthews. Jordan, it's hard to believe already year three for you here in the NFL. What's the mindset for you here coming into this season? You know, definitely come out here. I'd be a leader every single day for this not just the wide receiver group but also this team. But definitely by the way,

you know, come in here right this every day. The standard that I set for myself and hopefully you know, if I'm consistent with that also raised the standard of some of the guys around me. Going back to the offseason, you spend some time with Sam Bradford and Zach Ertz down in Oklahoma. What'd you learn about those two guys during that time. Um, you know, the main thing I learned about both of them is uh, you know, Uh, Sam is very very private. You know, Sam no no

social media. Uh. He lives at the far back of a neighborhood. I mean I got to the gate of his neighborhood in the uber and I was at the gate and his house was still ten minutes away on the GPS. I'm like, are we in the neighborhood? Yeah? You know what I'm saying, that's crazy and so Uh, he's very private. But it's for a reason. You know. He likes, you know, to be out in open space.

He likes to be close to his family. He's got to close knit camp when it comes to his parents, you know, his his wife, and just some of his close friends from Oklahoma. And that's how he likes it. And I think that's something that a lot of people can learn from, is being content with being with with your loved ones and being around those people. And you know, was that he's meticulous man, with the way he works, his hours, the hours that he sleeps, what he eats.

I mean, it's down to a t. And you see why he's been able to have such good success, you know in the NFL while he's been able to play through full seasons and um, you know, just just exactly just what the type of person he is, you know, a Stanford guy. And it's like, okay, yeah, I know he's smart. But at the same time he's also a hard worker too, so he makes the brains with also that type of work ethic. You know, you're always going to have a good a good person come out of there.

And that's what that kiss. And do you get the Stanford Vanderbilt rivalry going all the time all the time, We always, you know, joke about it. Obviously Stanford is what document the type of success that they've had. By always tell him, bro, it's like, dude, it's the pack twelve. They play seven on seven football. He's gonna he's gonna

get mad if for years this. By tell him, Man, Vanderbilt's got the hardest I think Vanderbilt has the hardest challenge and all the football in any level because you have the academic standards of an IVY League school, But you play in the best conference outside the AFC, in the NFC, so nobody else has to do that, nobody. So we compete against the best and the rightest Monday through Saturday, then and money through Friday, and then you gotta go play the best in the league, you know,

in the SEC on Saturday. No other school has to do that. So Vanderbilt takes the cake with the hardest challenge. So whatever. Going back to Sam Bradford for a second, you were one of the players at the end of last season who really spoke up about wanting him to come back and be here in Philadelphia. So now that he is back here, what's the chemistry like between you

two here in camp? It's great. I mean every every single uh, you know, time we're out here, where's a good player or a bad play, I'm always going back and ask the Sam what he saw, you know, what he likes, what I needs to do better, and really just how I can kind of, you know, improve my game to fit his standard of what he needs to see. The quarterbacks have so much to have to deal with, you know, so I want to make that job as easy as possible. On him, and he's been great with that.

You know, if you don't like something, he'd be like, Jordan, come on, like like almost a disappointed father or something. He's like, come here, and then he'll tell me what I gotta do. I'm like, all right, I got you. Then we go back and we corrected. We'll even come back after practice and hit some reps too, just to kind of work on it. So we're still building that chemistry. But at the same time, we're on the same page as like knowing who each other, like knowing each other

and building that close relationship. And I tell people that that's important all the time, because it's different when the guy who's upset with you because you messed up on a route is just your quarterback. It's different when that person's your friend and you know he's counting on you. So when he says that I need to get you to get to twelve yards in this play, you're getting the twelve yards because that's not just some guy that's just doing his job young at you. That's your boy.

And so that's why those relationships are so important. So I'm just trying to make sure I help him out, you know, as best as possible, so he can come out here and have a great season two. I know he deserves and that's what I'm going to work for. Let's talk about this wide receiver's group for a second with yourself rubing, Josh, Chris, what do you like about this group the way that it looks right now? Man? I like I like how he worked, Man, I like

how focused everybody is. Everybody kind of has something to prove. You know, if you look at the stories of everybody come into this year, you can always find some area where somebody says, Okay, you know this person needs to go out and prove themselves. You look at Chris, he's gone to a couple of teams, miss his chance. He's look at Rube leaving New York. You know he's got a chip. You know, Josh, he's got something to prove. Nelson coming off of a rookie year, first round pick,

he's got something. And I always feel like I have a chip on my shoulder. So it's one of those things where you have all that in the room. But then the best part about it is you know everybody's even killed about it. You don't want to have a whole bunch of egos bouncing across the room and everybody being upset. You want guys to be able to come in, be focused, and be the best person that they can be, and then also not let those things that guys sometimes

feel like they have to prove disrupt friendships and chemistry. Yesterday, we actually went out to go eat as a wire receiver unit. And I don't think you know how rare that is that on your one off day during camp, guys still want to hang out with each other. That's extremely rare. Like that stuff does not happen in the NFL. Trust me. When we get to the season, okay, maybe, but during camp, you're one off day, guys. The last people guys want to see are people that they see

every single day in this locker room. And all the receivers decided that we wanted to go eat together, you know what I'm saying. And the rookies aren't paying all of us sponsor the rookie to take care of their meal, so that servant hoood. That's the type of room you want. That's the type of guys that are going to go out there and when somebody has a play and guys have the block for them they're doing it willingly, and they want that guy to do well. When somebody scores,

everybody's genuinely happy for him. And that's how you build camaraderie, and that's how you build team that's actually going to go out there and win games. And my final question for you, what do you want to prove this year? I know you've put up really impressive numbers in each of your first two seasons, but what's there to prove for you this season? Oh? I don't. I don't go

out to prove nothing. I do the work. You know, if a person that if you go out there and you do the right thing, you know what I'm saying, the right outcomes always going to come about it, you know, to all the all the other stuff. If I if I put a goal, even sometimes you put a certain goal somewhere, then you can still end up limiting yourself. So it's infinite. I feel like, you know, I have the ability to go out there and have a great season, but if I sit and focus on, you know, the

overall outcome, then I can still shorten myself. So I feel like, no, the main thing I want to do is come out here in every single rep, every single second, every single day that I can come out here and do something I want debt to the best of my abilities. That's it. And when we look up at the end of the season, you know, our whole team and especially me individually, I know I'm going to look back and say, Okay, there's something I can be proud of. But I just

gotta go hard every single time. I get your ans to Jordan Matthews, thank you very much for joining us and could luck with the rest of camp, no doubt, and thank you all for joining us right here on Philadelphia Eagles dot com. So where do we see Jordan Matthews this year? More in the slot, some outside. I say, primarily in the slot where he can use that big body and box out and catch a lot of passes. And I believe he will be the go to wide receiver in the offense in the passing game with Zach

Ertz the tight end catching a lot of passes. Yes, indeed you see him getting a thousand yards I do. I mean he was really close last year. He's been more explosive this year. He's good in this offense. It's more for quick routes, but I think Jordan works so hard, and some of these inside defensive backs are small. I think Jordan Matthews for a pretty good season. Agreed very much so, so I'll durn this quick break here on

Inside train cat presented by Expanity. We'll give you a rundown of what to look forward to tomorrow, including a one on one with a defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz. You say crazy, I say crafted. You say savage. I say practice, crazy, crafted, savage, practice. Let's run that whole thing back. You say unbelievable. I say achievable. You say incredible. I say inevitable. Unbelievable, achievable, incredible, inevitable. Let's run that whole thing back. Carps to compete, electrolys

to replenish. Have you ever pictured yourself with Eagles season tickets, Well, now you can turn that fantasy into reality. Comcast Sports met and the Eagles are giving away a pair of tickets for the entire two thousand sixteen season every week this summer brings you closer to the dream with a new chance to win these seats. It's easy to enter.

Just answer this week's poll question and enter at Philadelphia Eagles dot com slash cs in Philly We're back here at the Novicare Complex, Dave Spidero, Chris McPherson as we get closer to the preseason opener against the Tampa Bay Buck And here's Chris. What do we have coming up on Thursday? Here on Inside Training Camp presented by Externity Well First and Foremost or recap of which should be

another tough physical practice. Doug Pearson loving these hard hitting training camps and we'll definitely see more of that action on Thursday. If you miss any of Alex Smith's one on one with Jordan Matthews, that will be available Thursday morning on demand following practice at a round I'd say eleven o'clock or so. Sam Bradford will meet the media. We will broadcast live for you here online as well

as on our app. And Dave, you got a chance to spend some time with Director of High Performance Sean Holes, and you're gonna take fans inside the sports science programs, something that has carried over to a certain sent from the Chip Kelly era, but you're gonna show exactly what

it means to the players and how they've benefited. Yeah, the players speak about it, then they speak lowly about it in terms of how it's helped correct some of their injuries, their hydration, making their bodies feel right, and Brent Selleck one of the leading proponent proponents of the sports science program, that performance sports science program. Brent Selleck going strong with the new contract and will be a

key player for the Eagles in this offense. Look forward to that tomorrow and also one on one this man right here day Spadea will welcome Jim Schwartz inside the studio here on inside training camp, presented by its face, so definitely you don't want to miss the action. For Christ McPherson, I'm Dave Spidero. We thank you for joining us. Have yourselves a great Eagles Day.