August 15, 2017
Tuesday was the Philadelphia Eagles' 18th and final day of training camp. Champagne bottles were popping and reporters were doing the running man in the media house. Well, it was sort of the last day. While training camp is technically "over," the Eagles still have two more practice sessions open to the media next week because they have joint practices with the Miami Dolphins. Otherwise, this would have been our last day with access.
Today was a "10/10/10" practice, and it was raining on top of that, so notes are a little thin today. Still, there were observations to be made.
• Doug Pederson said that Carson Wentz will play about the same amount against the Buffalo Bills on Thursday that he did last week against the Green Bay Packers. Pederson also said that he was leaning toward Alshon Jeffery and Ronald Darby playing this week. Here's more on their status from our own Rich Hofmann.
• Jeffery had bad drops on each of the last two days. I don't recall him dropping anything during the spring, when he was practicing every day. I haven't really weighed in much on Jeffery's absence from practices, because I don't think it's that big of a deal, but I do think at some point he's going to have to begin practicing like he wants to be great before the season begins. I just don't see that right now.
• Derek Barnett jumped offsides today. Yes, I know that's not exactly a breaking news sort of camp update, however, it was the first time I could recall him doing so this offseason (though I'm sure he has). One of the legitimate concerns on Barnett coming out of college was that he led the NCAA in offsides penalties last season, and that he was perhaps too reliant on timing snap counts, often guessing wrong. It's encouraging that he's shown good discipline during OTAs, minicamp, and training camp.
• Nick Foles played in team drills today, although as noted, it was a less than spirited practice. Again, he is not expected to play at all on Thursday. With Wentz only slated for a series or two and Foles out, get ready for 45 more minutes of Matt McGloin. Woooo!
• Hey hey! Caleb Sturgis had a good day today, and in the rain, no less. Here were his kicks today:
| Distance | Good? |
| 32 | Good |
| 35 | Good |
| 38 | Good |
| 39 | Good |
| 41 | Good |
| 43 | Good |
| 45 | Good |
| 47 | Good |
One of Sturgis' kicks looked like it juuuuust snuck inside the right upright, but I wasn't 100 percent sure. Normally, I'd track him down after practice to confirm that he made all eight kicks, but it's Day 18 of camp, we're off tomorrow, and I want to go surfing, so I'm making the executive decision to just give it to him.
Sturgis throughout camp:
| Day | FG made / FG att |
| 5 | 7/8 |
| 11 | 7/11 |
| 13 | 11/11 |
| 14 | 3/4 |
| 16 | 9/11 |
| 18 | 8/8 |
| TOTAL | 45/53 (.849) |
• And finally, my daughter made her official NFC East picks this morning. In case you're unaware, she's usually money. Her previous predictions.
Here's who she sees taking the division in 2017:
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