Eagles Notes: Eagles soldier on at practice despite having minds on tragedy

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Jeremy Maclin hauled in a 20-yard strike from Michael Vick as he was running full speed toward the sideline. His momentum carried him a few yards out of bounds, quickly parting a sea of onlookers sidestepping out of harm's way.

One of those spectators along the sideline was Jeffrey Lurie, the Eagles owner who was no less than an hour removed from sharing words about Andy Reid and his deceased son, Garrett, at midfield with players before practice.

Maclin turned back to run toward the huddle again. As he ran, he passed Lurie, and his head turned slightly to the left upon recognition. Maclin gave a simple head nod to the owner. Lurie gave a slight smile back. Neither said anything, and Maclin continued on his way to the huddle.

Nothing needed to be said. Maclin's nod said it all.

There was a certain solemnity to the afternoon's practice as players and coaches tried to reconvene business as usual for two hours.

"We still managed to come out here and practice," said Nnamdi Asomugha, one of three selected players who spoke to reporters. "But it was obviously a very tough day."

Players practiced in shorts and helmets and spent a lot of time in seven-on-seven drills.

In his 14th year with the Eagles, wide receivers coach David Culley is still bringing the high doses of energy to training camp. The senior offensive assistant kept spirits high and trash talk flowing during one-on-one drills between defensive backs and wide receivers.

After DeSean Jackson juked Asomugha with a nifty double move and received a pass from Vick, Culley playfully heckled Asomugha with chants of, "Nnamdi."

Brandon Boykin, the electric rookie cornerback and kick returner, impressed in the drills, keeping a couple receivers from getting off the line of scrimmage with physical play.

Fellow rookie Marvin McNutt ran a couple of crisp routes to break open but dropped a deep ball after breaking away clean. Avant and McKay Jacobson also impressed with strong hands that were utilized on short, quick routes.

During scrimmages, Jackson broke open a couple of times, and Vick hit him in stride with two 30-yard strikes over the middle for touchdowns.

After tossing a touchdown to pass to Maclin during scrimmages, Vick limped away from the huddle.

He put his hands on his hips, then crouched to retie his cleats. When he got up, he walked away from the huddle, and Mike Kafka filled in.

Vick took a few plays off limping across the sideline. On the first play upon returning to the field, Vick rolled left and tried to launch an off-balance heave to the other end of the field. But the ball was underthrown and easily intercepted.

The injury appeared to be nothing more than a cramp, and Vick proceeded to go through a quarterback scrambling drill smoothly before practice ended.

With players out of pads, the team used plenty of time to work on special teams alignments and plays.

Kicker Alex Henery was consistent from kicks inside 45 yards before he switched to the goalpost-less side and kicked through an imaginary upright.

The kick-return team sorted out a few kinks but didn't return any balls. Boykin was the main deep man during the drills.