By Art Beitchman, DOCBLOG
The Eagles first pre-season game is in the books — a 34-28 loss at Chicago — and it was littered with penalty flags. But it also allowed both the Bears and Eagles 60 minutes to get a whole offseason of rust off with their first real NFL action since last January’s playoff game.
Backup quarterback Mark Sanchez passed his biggest test. He looked comfortable in running coach Chip Kelly’s up-tempo offense, flicked a couple of nice completions to TE Zack Ertz, a very talented player who looks ready to increase his receptions and overall production in the 2014 season. Sanchez’s shoulder is completely healed and his integration into the Birds offense looks seamless.
Starting QB Nick Foles had a rough start with a couple of picks, but some more work the next three games should help him look like the Foles of 2013.
On defense newcomer Malcolm Jenkins was flying around and looked good; LB Mychal Kendricks played the run nicely and looks poised to have a break-out year in his third NFL season.
Rookie Josh Huff (photo above) electrified the Soldier Field crowd with a 102-yard TD kickoff return in his first NFL action — very impressive.
Rookie nose tackle Beau Allen also impressed; he resembled a caged rhino wreaking havoc. As Allen said later, describing his first ever NFL action, “I was pretty fired up so I kind of blacked out for a second, I guess we’ll see it on film.”
The Eagles next game — at the Patriots this Friday @7:30PM on ABC-6.
