Sights and sounds from Eagles practice: OL Brandon Brooks will be available for Sunday’s opener at Atlanta, Nick Sirianni stresses focus
Brooks previously appeared on the report with a knee injury, which limited him during the first two practices of the week.
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Eagles offensive lineman Brandon Brooks was no longer listed on the team’s final injury report of the week, which means the starting right guard will be available to play in the season opener Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.
“He’ll be up and ready to go,” coach Nick Sirianni said Friday.
Brooks previously appeared on the report with a knee injury, which limited him during the first two practices of the week. The only starter who will miss Sunday’s game is safety Rodney McLeod (knee). Rookie offensive lineman Landon Dickerson is also out with a knee injury.
“I’ve really been pleased with Landon,” Sirianni said. “I’m getting to see Rodney even more since he’s working on the scout team a little bit for us.
“I’d just like to take a second to brag on Rodney, because every day I see more and more why the guys have voted him a captain. He is a team player, he’s a good player and he just leads by example over and over and over again. It’s been a great look for our offense this week because Rodney was running the defensive scout.”
» READ MORE: Eagles beat writers make their predictions for the Falcons game in Week 1
Other sights and sounds from Friday’s practice:
Friday’s session was extremely short, only lasting 40 minutes. But Sirianni made sure to maximize each second. At the beginning of practice – before individual drills and right after the stretch period – Sirianni huddled the team together and said a few words. He could be heard from about 50 yards away repetitively shouting the phrase, “Focus Friday.” Sirianni later explained: “Focus Friday. A lot of people say, ‘Fast Friday.’ I would like to think of it as Focus Friday. My experience is on Friday, I always think it starts with the coaches. You’ve been here working 6 a.m. to 10 p.m every night. You do that Monday to Thursday. Then Friday, I get to go home and see [family] at a decent hour, maybe pick the kids up from school, this and that. There’s a tendency to be [relaxed]. You can’t do that in this sport. No – you have to be completely focused at the task at hand. That was my message to them.”
Quarterback Jalen Hurts has been recently experimenting with different gear. A couple of weeks ago, he sported a long-sleeved armband on his throwing arm. Last week at practice, he started wearing long-sleeved bands on both arms. On Friday, he switched up colors from white to black and sported bands again on both arms. This is quite a switch up from his rookie year, when he wore no additional gear on his arms besides the play-calling sheet on his wrist. During his college career at Alabama and Oklahoma, Hurts wore half-sleeves that showed from underneath his jersey. We’ll have to wait and see what Hurts rolls out with on game day as the franchise’s third-youngest opening-day starter.
Energy was buzzing during the team’s final practice before the Eagles departed for Atlanta. Center Jason Kelce revealed a new hairstyle, showing off his bright blonde hair as he stood next to tight end Zach Ertz, who’s also currently blonde. In between stretches, Dickerson was spotted executing a cartwheel, while practice squad wide receiver Travis Fulgham jokingly did a few handstands. Both moves resulted in a mix of laughter and applause from nearby teammates.
Sirianni has preached his core fundamentals and his “1% better every day” mantra throughout the summer. He’ll make his NFL debut as a head coach Sunday as the franchise looks to improve from its disappointing 2020 record of 4-11-1. “I’m excited about this team,” he said. “I see a team that is really close together. I see a team that has continued to improve their fundamentals. I thought yesterday’s practice, I was watching third down on the offense, we were just really crisp in the fundamentals, in the pass game. Every play I was watching with the guys, I was like, ‘This is exactly how you do it, this is exactly how you do it.’ That is a good feeling as a coach to really feel like we’re getting better.”