Birds Tweaking and Tweeting
Stewart Bradley says his calf "tweak" is no big deal. Todd Herremans assures us that his visit to a Charlotte foot specialist, in the middle of an OTA, is just for a routine checkup.
Actually, neither the middle linebacker nor the left guard has said a word in the presence of reporters this week. But both have offered assurances via Twitter, which is as good as gold, of course. We haven't Googled it yet but we're pretty sure promises made through Tweets are the equivalent of sworn testimony, as if one placed one's Tweeting thumbs on a cyberbible and solemnly swore.
No word from LeSean McCoy yet (that's @cutondime, in Tweetese), but an Eagles spokesman -- an actual, living, breathing person -- said running back McCoy was absent from today's Eagles OTA because he "tweaked" his ankle yesterday. (Keep meaning to look up "tweak" in medical dictionary. Has "House" ever healed one of those?) In other words, no big deal.
OT Fenuki Topou sat out with a pec injury, which was not given the "tweak" designation.
The spokesman said Bradley is getting better.
Herremans (@toddherremans) first Tweeted that he was headed to Charlotte today, didn't say why, but his visit is too late for last weekend's Coca-Cola 600 and too early for the July 2 Phish concert. Charlotte also happens to be the home base of Dr. Robert Anderson, a noted foot specialist. Herremans, sitting out this OTA with a "sore foot," underwent surgery on the same foot for a stress fracture last August, missing the first five games of the season.
The Eagles confirmed Herremans was seeing a specialist. Herremans Tweeted that it was "just a checkup. Making sure everything looks good." Herremans' surgery last year was performed by Dr. Steven Raikin of the Rothman Institute at Jefferson.
Max Jean-Gilles, slimmed by lap-band surgery, has been filling in for Herremans on an offensive line that struggled to find cohesiveness last season. Again it seems the o-line is off to a patch-and-fill kind of start; Nick Cole was already subbing for center Jamaal Jackson, who won't be back on the field after ACL surgery until well into training camp, at best.
"It might be a little frustrating, but the guys we have in place right now will get the job done," said right tackle Winston Justice. "They were there last year; it's not like they're new guys. They are guys who have been in the program for years, so it's not that big of a dropoff. I think Max or Nick or Mike McGlynn will take care of the business over there, until Todd comes back ... His whole outlook is that he's coming back. We're all looking at that, too, that Todd's going to be there, and that he's going to be an important part of the lineup, like he is every year."