What can we expect this year from Reed Blankenship? An insane Don Burroughs stat. And 10 reasons LeSean McCoy should be a Hall of Famer.
Roob's 10 Random Eagles Observations is now T-minus 10 days from training camp, and can you believe this will be the 12th camp since the Eagles left Lehigh?
1. Was Reed Blankenship’s decline the second half of last year just a product of the entire defense struggling, the Eagles facing a bunch of elite teams in a row, the defensive coordinator switch and his groin injury that required offseason surgery? Or was it something more? When an undrafted player has immediate success, it doesn’t always mean he’ll be able to sustain it. A lot of undrafted guys regress after a quick start because there were usually pretty good reasons they went undrafted, and the longer he plays the more they show up. That said, there’s a lot to like about Blankenship’s game – he’s tough, physical, smart and aggressive. But his regression was glaring starting with the Bills game. In his first 12 career starts going back to 2022, he had three interceptions, knocked down 12 passes, recovered a fumble and was credited with six missed tackles. In his last seven games last year, he had one interception, knocked down one pass and was credited with six missed tackles. We always take Pro Football Focus numbers with a grain of salt, but seven of the 11-lowest PFF grades of his 19 career starts came consecutively to finish last year. Just the eye test said he just wasn’t the same guy. The Eagles like Blankenship enough to give him a modest two-year contract extension in April, and they don’t have any real options at safety. Right now, the backups are Sydney Brown – who’s coming off a torn ACL and didn’t participate at OTAs – and converted corner Mekhi Garner. My hunch is that Blankenship will be fine. Playing safety in the NFL with a torn groin is just about impossible, and I saw enough positives from Blankenship when he filled in for C.J.G.J. in 2022 as well as the first half of last year to have a lot of confidence in his game. But like so many other guys on this team, the last impression we got was not a good one. Whether it’s Dallas Goedert, Jordan Davis, Jalen Hurts, Josh Sweat, Avonte Maddox, Nakobe Dean, Blankenship and so on, half the players on this team have to prove the way last year ended isn’t who they really are. I expect most of them will do that. It's important that Blankenship is one of them.
2. When Jason Kelce retired, his remarkable franchise-record streak of 156 consecutive starts went by the wayside. Or will officially disappear when the Eagles open the 2024 season against the Packers. Kelce’s streak was 10th-longest in history by a center. So who will have the Eagles’ longest streak of consecutive starts after the 2024 opener? A.J. Brown and Jordan Mailata have both started 29 consecutive games since the Week 6 win over the Cowboys in 2022. Neither started the week before vs. Dallas – Jack Driscoll started for an injured Mailata, and Brown didn’t start because the Eagles opened with three tight ends (Dallas Goedert, Jack Stoll, Grant Calcaterra) one back (Miles Sanders) and one receiver (DeVonta Smith). At their current rate if they don't miss any games and remain with the Eagles and if the season remains 17 games, Brown and Mailata will catch Kelce's streak in 2031.
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3. Brian Westbrook is one of only six players in the last 50 years with two rushing touchdowns and two receiving touchdowns in the same game. In the Eagles’ 48-20 win over the Cards in 2008 – that was the Thanksgiving Day game at the Linc four days after Donovan McNabb got benched for Kevin Kolb in Baltimore – Westbrook caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Donovan McNabb and ran for a 1-yard TD in the first quarter, then caught a 2-yard TD in the second quarter and ran nine yards for his fourth TD in the third quarter. The only other players with two TDs both rushing and receiving in the same game over the last half century are Harvey Williams of the Raiders vs. the Chargers in 1997, the Rams Marshall Faulk vs. the 49ers in 2000, Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jaguars vs. the Bucs in 2011, Austin Ekeler of the Chargers vs. the Steelers in 2021 and Miami’s De’Von Achane vs. the Broncos last year. The only other Eagles with four TDs in a game are Clarence Peaks in 1958 against the Cards at Franklin Field and Wilbert Montgomery twice against Washington – in 1978 at RFK and 1979 at the Vet.
4. Most Eagles fans remember the 43-yard Rodney Peete Hail Mary TD pass to Rob Carpenter just before halftime to give the Eagles a 38-7 halftime lead over the Lions on the way to a 58-37 wild-card win at the Vet. But did you know that Carpenter only scored one other touchdown in his career and it was a seven-yarder three years earlier for the Jets in a 31-14 loss to the 49ers? And that it was longer than any TD Peete threw during the 1995 regular season? And it was 14 yards longer than any other catch of Carpenter’s career? And at the time it was the 3rd-longest TD pass in Eagles postseason history but it wasn’t Peete’s longest TD pass of the day?
5. Since Jeff Stoutland became offensive line coach in 2013, the Eagles have had six offensive linemen make a total of 22 Pro Bowls. During the same span, the Giants haven’t had any offensive linemen make a Pro Bowl.
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6. Over the past three seasons, Jalen Hurts has 33 wins, and only Patrick Mahomes (36) and Josh Allen (35) have more. And that’s with three play callers, two offensive coordinators and two quarterbacks coaches. And Quez Watkins, Jalen Reagor and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside starting a combined 40 games.
7A. The most rushing yards in a game by an Eagle who only had one 100-yard rushing game as an Eagle: 137 by Leroy Harris against the Packers in a 21-10 win at Lambeau Field in 1979.
7B. The most receiving yards in a game by an Eagle who only had one 100-yard receiving game as an Eagle: 152 by Travis Fulgham in a 38-29 loss to the Steelers at Heinz Field in 2020.
7C. The most passing yards in a game by an Eagle who only had one 300-yard passing game as an Eagle: 400 by Vince Young in a 38-20 loss to the Patriots at the Linc in 2011.
8. A big part of who wins the Eagles-Packers opener in Brazil is going to be who deals with the travel challenges, sleep and diet disruption and general schedule upheaval the best. It’s hard enough having a game like this in the middle of the season, but opening a season with a game half a world away against a very good opponent on a Friday night on another continent is something no team has ever had to deal with before. Anybody who’s ever taken a 9- or 10-hour flight knows how much it takes out of you. You get dehydrated faster, your body gets sore sitting on a plane that long and you can feel drained by the time you land. Now deal with that and then go open your football season. I’m sure the Eagles’ training staff will get the players extra fluids, make sure they’re up and walking around or stretching every hour or two and doing everything possible once they land to minimize the effects of an endless flight to Sao Paulo. But this is uncharted waters. Nobody has ever opened a season a few days after a 10-hour flight. There’s no guidebook for this. And the challenge isn’t just getting the proper rest, hydration and nutrition before the opener while still preparing as well as possible from a football standpoint but also focusing on recovery after the game so even with the long week you can be 100 percent recovered for the Falcons. The opener is going to set the tone for the rest of the season, and the Packers won’t be the Eagles’ only opponent.
9. Don Burroughs only played 64 games as an Eagle but had 29 interceptions. That’s an interception every 2.2 games.
10. Since Friday was his 36th birthday, here are 10 reasons LeSean McCoy should be a Hall of Famer once he’s eligible in 2026: 1) One of only five RBs in history with 11,000 rushing yards and 500 catches. The four others (Emmitt Smith, LaDainian Tomlinson, Marshall Faulk, Marcus Allen) are all Hall of Famers; 2) One of only six backs with 11,000 rushing yards and at least a 4.5 average per-carry; 3) His 10,434 rushing yards in the decade from 2010 through 2019 was most in the NFL and 648 more than anybody else; 4) His 13,923 scrimmage yards during the decade of the 2010s was most in the NFL and 1,680 more than anybody else; 5) His 38 rushing TDs during the decade of the 2010s were most in the NFL; 6) Only eight running backs in NFL history have made more than McCoy’s six Pro Bowls. All eight are in the Hall of Fame; 7) McCoy’s eight career touchdowns of at least 40 yards in the fourth quarter are the most in NFL history, and only eight other backs have half as many; 8), McCoy’s 518 catches are 12th-most ever by a running back; 9) McCoy’s 15,000 career scrimmage yards are 18th-most in NFL history by a running back, and 12 of the 15 backs with more who are eligible are already in the Hall of Fame (all but Tiki Barber, Warrick Dunn and Steven Jackson); and 10) The Pro Football Monitor has McCoy with a 79.55 career score. All 19 eligible running backs who are over 79 are already in the Hall of Fame.
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