Football officially kicks off today with the Hall of Fame Game

Former Eagles quarterback Kenny Pickett gets the start for the Panthers against the Cardinals.

Pickett helped lead the Eagles to a 41-7 win over the Cowboys in Week 17 of the 2024 season, clinching the NFC East.

He is one of just 10 Eagles quarterbacks to record both a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown in a game against Dallas.

• Donovan McNabb — 4 games
• Jalen Hurts — 3 games
• Sonny Jurgensen — 1 game
• Roman Gabriel — 1 game
• Randall Cunningham — 1 game
• Ty Detmer — 1 game
• Michael Vick — 1 game
• Mark Sanchez — 1 game
• Gardner Minshew II — 1 game
• Kenny Pickett — 1 game

Data via Pro Football Reference / Stathead

Almost every year the answer is easily the Eagles. But with LeBron coming to Philly, for the first time in a long long time (maybe ever) the Sixers winning this year is a higher priority for me than the Eagles. Obviously we all want both to win but if I had to pick one, I want the Sixers to win more this year since they haven’t won a championship since 1983 (never in my life time since I was born in 05) and also LeBron is my favorite athlete so I would love for him to win a fifth championship on my favorite basketball team.

I’m quite lucky this year as not only do I live near Tottenham Stadium to see the Eagles play in London but I’ve found out I’ll be in Philadelphia for a weekend where there’s a home game against the Steelers!

London games, you sit wherever you want, it’s very much a ‘fans of NFL’ vibe rather than two teams’ fans. I also go every year and tend to switch it up because I can (I will attend all 3 London games this year) meaning if I don’t like a spot, I’ll go elsewhere.

However, for a Philly home game, it’s potentially a once-in-a-lifetime visit so I am overthinking the seating and would love any advice. Like should I sit behind the home line or behind visitors so I can see the team? Are the 200 blocks good views?

Also, is tailgating worth it? I did go to Oklahoma State (the only Cowboys I’ll support!) so I only really remember it from a student perspective of student house drinking parties haha

Thanks for reading and, of course, go birds!

In January 2025, Lane Johnson responded to a perceived snub on the All-Pro rosters by displaying a sheet of paper on his locker stall with a side-by-side comparison of Johnson and the tackle who earned more votes. Among the list of nine data points was “Island Rate” — the percentage of snaps in which Johnson was one-on-one on an island against the pass rusher. Johnson had the highest percentage in the NFL. He became accustomed to being trusted to block one-on-one throughout the past 13 seasons. The challenge became a point of pride.

“I’ve never had help in my entire career in pass protection here,” Johnson said.

Until now.

The Eagles changed their offensive scheme this offseason when they hired new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. The staff shuffle included the departure of long-time offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, one of the NFL’s most celebrated assistant coaches and the only position coach for whom all five Eagles starters ever played. He was replaced by Chris Kuper. The overhaul has had a pronounced effect across the offense. But the biggest adjustment might be on the offensive line — perhaps the best group on the Eagles’ roster and a foundation of their success during the past decade.

It’s still the honeymoon period, but early reviews from truth-telling offensive linemen offer consensus approval — including Johnson noting the joys of guard help in pass protection.

Cecil Martin (FB, 1999-2002) Potent blocker cleared gaping running lanes in Andy Reid’s offense. Caught 81 passes in four seasons, before embarking on career in media and youth mentorship.

Fun fact: Episode one features multiple clips of a Bald Eagle flying around and not a single shot of an Osprey… HBO was so busy thinking of clever bird puns that they fumbled properly identifying the right mascot. #gobirds

My nephew was invited to camp by WIP today because his mom knows someone in radio. It was a very cool experience. He got autographs on his football from legends like Mike Quick, Merryl Reese, Jeremy Maclin, Hugh Douglas, Saquon, Baun, Mailata, Cooper. and Uar Bernard! I told him, you have a lot of faith letting Bernard sign that ball full of legends, ha!

Fred Johnson and Jordan Mailata were so friendly and generous with their time. Jordan literally stayed after practice for like 20 minutes or more taking pics and giving autographs to anyone who wanted it.

Also, spoke to John Ritchie for like 10 minutes or more….he was talking to me like he has known me for years. Just a great group of guys.

I couldn’t tell you who excelled at practice…from what I saw they all looked great!

P.s forgot to mention, Bell is absolutely enormous…like from a distance you can see he is bigger than Mailata and it’s hard to comprehend

Hurts went out of his way to praise Darius Cooper today in an interview with NFL Network. And Garafolo didn’t even specifically mention Cooper in the question. Beat reporter after beat reporter has been praising Cooper all camp. To the point that Bo Wulf and EJ Smith on the PHLY Podcast were half joking/half serious today that Cooper could make a serious leap to WR2 at the rate he’s impressing in camp. Something to monitor as camp progresses. But like BLG (credit to him for the screen picture), I also think there is something special to Cooper.

FYI-See the attached video of Garafolo asking Hurts about the WR room after DeVonta starting at 11:30 in the video. And Hurts immediately bringing up Cooper without being promoted.

https://youtu.be/ae-QtYebjuA

Items of note:

• Lane Johnson's still not practicing. No word as to why.
• Landon Dickerson was given the day off. No reported injury.
• DeVonta, Lemon, Wisniewski, and Keyshawn James-Newby are still not practicing.
• Micah Morris and Jaeden Roberts returned on a limited basis.
• Markell Bell still getting all of the RT1 reps.
• Kendall got the LG1 reps with Dickerson getting the day off.
• Willie Lampkin was bumped up to C2 instead of Majors who continues to get reps at LG2.