All but two Eagles starters practice, but receiver A.J. Brown (knee) is absent

As the Eagles prepare for their NFC wild-card matchup against the Buccaneers in Tampa, all but two starters participated in Thursday’s practice, the first this week ahead of Monday night’s game.

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who suffered a dislocated finger in Sunday’s 27-10 loss to the New York Giants, participated in practice while wearing a glove on his throwing hand. However, safety Reed Blankenship, who is nursing a groin injury that forced him to leave Sunday’s game, watched from the sideline in sweats and A.J. Brown, who suffered a knee injury in the loss, was absent from practice.

Wide receiver DeVonta Smith, who missed Sunday’s game with an ankle injury, and cornerback Darius Slay (arthroscopic knee surgery) participated in practice. Smith told reporters during locker room availability that he plans to play against the Bucs. Slay said on his podcast this week that he will return after a four-game absence.

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Starting right guard Cam Jurgens, who suffered an eye injury against the Giants, practiced as well and plans on being available to play Monday.

The workout on Thursday, originally scheduled to be a walk-through, was changed to a practice session as a way to work through fundamentals, coach Nick Sirianni said.

“We have extra time this week and an extra day where our guys’ bodies feel good,” Sirianni said. “This time of year, you don’t get these very often because it’s late in the year and you don’t have the extra days. You want to get a lot of the walk-through reps, and we’re trying to combine both of them here by still getting a lot of walk-through reps while also getting some stuff at speed, and some individual stuff for some fundamental work.”

During an appearance Wednesday on WIP-FM (94.1), tight end Dallas Goedert suggested that the Eagles may have overlooked their last couple of games, doubling down on his comments after Sunday’s loss when he said that players were already looking ahead to the postseason four or five weeks ago.

“We lost a couple of games in the hard stretch and it’s like, ‘It’s OK, we’ll win the games at the end of the year, the three games at the end of the year that seem really winnable,’” Goedert said Wednesday. “We might have overlooked it, we might have just coasted and expected our talent to win games.”

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When asked about Thursday about those comments, Goedert said his “statement probably got taken a little bit off the tracks.”

“It’s one of those things where everybody’s looking to find a reason [for] ‘what’s happened these last six weeks?’ But I’d say I think we’re all locked in and ready to go this week. It’s going to be pedal to the metal, making sure everything gets dialed in the way it’s supposed to.”

The sixth-year tight end, who is averaging 42.3 receiving yards per game this season, his lowest since 2019, has just one touchdown in five games since returning from a broken forearm. In the Eagles’ Week 3 matchup with the Bucs, Goedert finished with five receptions for 41 yards.

The Eagles have seven players on their roster who played under Alabama coach Nick Saban, who announced his retirement Wednesday. Hurts, who spent first three collegiate years with the Crimson Tide before transferring to Oklahoma, walked into his press conference wearing Alabama shorts.

The Eagles quarterback told reporters that “Coach Saban knows I have a ton of respect for him,” after being asked what the historic coach meant to him.

“I think [it’s] a sad day for the game of football, just knowing how much he’s [meant] to the game, it’s surreal,” Hurts said. “He’s always been coaching, ever since I’ve been alive and growing up; you know what he’s been, and then knowing why I committed to that university because of the man he was and the intentions he had and the way he went about his business and his process.”

Starting left guard Landon Dickerson, who spent his final two seasons in college at Alabama after spending his first three with Florida State, called Saban a “once-in-a-lifetime kind of person,” adding that his former Crimson Tide teammate and New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones texted him about the news. The pair, along with Smith, were members of the 2020 national championship team, the seventh and final title win for Saban.

“I’m grateful that I was able to be coached by him,” Dickerson said. “I think a lot of people see his accomplishments on the football field and don’t really understand how much that he does for those players. And I think honestly, the hardest part for him is not stepping away from coaching on the field, it’s going to be how much of an influence he had on guys’ lives, just developing those kids and the young men.”