Eagles practice observations: Offense strikes back; Reed Blankenship impresses; Sydney Brown sparks scrum

The Eagles held their 12th open practice of the 2023 training camp at the NovaCare Complex on Tuesday and it was the second of two joint workouts with the Cleveland Browns. Here are my observations from Day 12:

The Eagles had a couple of significant additions to their injury report: guard Landon Dickerson (foot) and outside linebacker Haason Reddick (thumb). Neither player practiced. Dickerson watched the workout. As for Reddick, the team plans to be conservative with his return and don’t expect him to miss any time during the regular season.

Receivers Quez Watkins and Britain Covey, meanwhile, remained sidelined with hamstring injuries, as did outside linebacker Patrick Johnson with an ankle injury.

The one notable absentee for the Browns was defensive end Myles Garrett, who utterly wrecked left tackle Jordan Mailata and the Eagles offense on Monday.

By no sheer coincidence, the Eagles offense — especially the first unit — performed better than it had the day before. Garrett is that kind of difference maker. Jalen Hurts & Co. took advantage of more than just the missing All-Pro D-lineman during red-zone team drills. But on the Eagles’ first play, Hurts kept on a zone-read play and rushed around the left end, where Garrett normally lines up, for a nice gain.

With Dickerson out, Sua Opeta and Josh Sills split first-team snaps at left guard. Running backs Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell had solid pickups on the ground in the first period before Hurts found receiver DeVonta Smith open in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

Later, when both teams gathered on one field, the Eagles’ first-unit offense got off to a slow start. Receiver A.J. Brown stepped out of bounds on a fade into the end zone before cornerback Martin Emerson tipped a jump ball incomplete. A busted rush and a throwaway bookended a short pass to Gainwell. But Brown had his revenge when he skied over Emerson in the end zone for a score.

Brown may have benefited from a slight push-off, but there weren’t any flags. He then rolled the ball past Emerson, who wasn’t pleased by his demonstration. I’ll have more on the second unit down below, but when I asked coordinator Brian Johnson if he felt better about his offense’s performance after practice, he said, “Yes, better.”

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Reed Blankenship earned a subhead on Monday after an interception and other standout plays, but he was even better a day later. The second-year safety notched two picks off Deshaun Watson and made downhill plays against the Browns run game. His first interception came again after Zach Cunningham — and how about some props for the new linebacker? — deflected a pass.

The second interception was more impressive. Blankenship, covering the deep middle, jumped a Jordan Akins route to the post and stretched for the ball to end the Cleveland drive. He then jumped up, flexed, and was mobbed by his teammates.

» READ MORE: ‘I’m seeing confidence’: Eagles’ Reed Blankenship embracing newfound opportunity at safety

Sydney Brown has been making the best of his time with the first-unit defense in joint practices. After Blankenship’s initial interception, the rookie safety blocked Browns running Demetric Felton out of his cleats on the return. Felton popped up and clearly thought the rookie was too aggressive, as did several other Browns, and there was a brief scrum.

Sydney Brown, afterward, said he thought the block was legal. He then added this: “I want to be a feared player,” to the likely pleasure of Eagles fans everywhere.

There was only one other brouhaha worth mentioning and it involved – you guessed it – Derek Barnett. The defensive end mixed it up with a couple of Browns linemen after a run play, and kept chattering even though he was pulled from the defense for the next play.

» READ MORE: ‘I want to be a feared player’: Eagles’ Sydney Brown makes an impression with his fast-paced style of play

A couple of second-unit defensive backs, not to be outdone by Blankenship, had interceptions of their own. Josh Jobe put an exclamation mark on team drills with his pick having come at the end of practice. Browns backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs tried to hit Cedric Tillman on a fade, but Jobe positioned himself in front of the receiver and caught the ball before landing on his back before the pylon.

Zech McPhearson, likewise, was able to box out receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones on a Watson pass in the back of the end zone. I’m not sure if he got his feet inbounds, but he did well to deny the receiver the ball. McPhearson spent most of early camp learning the slot, but he was back on the outside for joint practices.

Jalen Carter continued to make his presence felt. First, in one-on-one drills, he steamrolled guard Michael Dunn and kept driving him back past the point where it’s normally acceptable. A few other Browns players seemed ready to jump in, but Carter eased up just in time.

The defensive tackle was part of the second rotation of D-linemen with the first unit, which allowed him some snaps vs. All-Pro left guard Joel Bitonio. It was a good way to gauge the rookie, and while Bitonio had more than his share of wins, Carter pancaked him with one bull rush. My guess is that Bitonio got his left leg tangled up with the left tackle during his vertical set, but he was clearly under duress before falling.

He hasn’t gotten nearly as much press having been a seventh-rounder, but rookie defensive tackle Moro Ojomo continued to impress. He scored a victory with an outside move in one-on-ones, and during team drills, used a straight arm to hold off a guard before making a run stop.

» READ MORE: Jalen Carter’s welcome to the NFL was brief but explosive in the Eagles’ preseason opener

Tyrie Cleveland led the Eagles in receiving in their preseason opener and the former Bronco capitalized on that performance this week in joint practices. He has clearly become a favorite receiver for the backup quarterbacks, and had maybe the catch of the day when he stretched for a Marcus Mariota strike in the back corner of the end zone.

To cap it off, Cleveland caught the two-point conversion on a sprint-out.

With Reddick sidelined, defensive ends Brandon Graham and Josh Sweat had several notable moments. The former, during one pass rush, drove the right tackle back on skates into Watson, who couldn’t complete his throwing motion. Later, the latter karate-chopped the quarterback for a strip-sack.

Quarterbacks are off-limits and some Browns players seemed visibly upset at the time. Afterward, Bitonio was asked about the contact. “In our practice you don’t want to come close to the quarterback, you don’t want to take cheap shots,” he said to Cleveland-area reporters. “Things like that, where there might have been a couple questionable plays both ways.”

» READ MORE: Josh Sweat sacks the Browns’ Deshaun Watson in joint practice as the Eagles DE grows into a veteran role

Cornerback James Bradberry cross-trained again at the quasi-linebacker role in dime personnel. … Linebacker Christian Elliss recorded a would-be tackle for loss against the run. … Blankenship was flagged for pass interference at one point, but he seemed to break up the pass before making contact with the receiver. … Tackle Dennis Kelly’s struggles continued with multiple shaky blocks. The veteran’s attempt to secure a roster spot could be in jeopardy.

Practice lasted just 1 hour and 6 minutes, 14 minutes shorter than Monday. The workout was supposed to start at 5 p.m. but was moved up to 1:45 p.m. because of the weather forecast. … The Eagles will have a closed walk-through on Wednesday before Thursday’s preseason game with the Browns at Lincoln Financial Field. Players will have off on Friday before reconvening for practices on Saturday and Sunday. There will be a walk-through on Monday. And on Tuesday the Eagles will practice with the Colts ahead of their preseason finale Aug. 24.

Following their one-point loss in the preseason opener, the Philadelphia Eagles return home to host the Cleveland Browns in their second exhibition game of the summer. Join Eagles beat reporters Josh Tolentino, EJ Smith, and Olivia Reiner as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Lincoln Financial Field.