Lane Johnson solid right out of the blocks

AS CHIP KELLY'S first NFL draft pick and last year's No. 4 overall selection, Lane Johnson started every game for the Eagles a season ago. There were some growing pains, many positives and, behind him and his four cohorts on the offensive line, a heckuva a lot of yards and points.

But despite having a season under his belt, yesterday's Week 5 Eagles win over the St. Louis Rams, Johnson said, was "probably the toughest" he has played in his professional career. His first game of the season after serving a four-game PED suspension, the second-year right tackle reassumed his spot at right tackle, returning to game action after just a week of practice, rejoining a unit still missing a pair of mainstays.

After the dust had settled on the Eagles' 34-28 victory, Johnson assessed his performance in his first Sunday back as "pretty decent." It took him a few series, he said, to get into the rhythm of the game, and a couple of times St. Louis' William Hayes and Ethan Westbrooks got the edge on him.

But for the most part, Johnson's return stabilized the right side of the offensive line. His presence allowed veteran Todd Herremans to move back to right guard, where he plays best, and pushed the Eagles one step closer to full strength in the trenches. Seeing big No. 65 lined up to Nick Foles' right provided an increased sense of normalcy up front.

"It's definitely a different feeling being out there than sitting on the couch watching it," said Johnson, who while serving his suspension trained in Frisco, Texas at the Athletes' Performance Institute. "This game was good to get under my belt. Next week, [I just need to] keep building and get in game rhythm."

Johnson, the 10th offensive lineman to start for the 4-1 Eagles, seemed to improve as the game wore on. His position group didn't allow a sack for the third time this year. Though there is still plenty to iron out with the ground attack, the 145 rushing yards tied a season high and nearly doubled the output of the previous 2 weeks combined.

So, there was progress.

"I thought [Johnson] held up pretty well," Kelly said. "Concerned, obviously; he was away training and getting ready for this, but he wasn't playing football. But I didn't see anything glaring like, 'Oh my God, there's someone on the right side that just came in clean' or 'Lane went the wrong way' or whatever.

"I thought he played a clean game, didn't have any penalties and I didn't see any big pressure coming off his side, looking and seeing from our perspective. I thought for the first time back, he felt solid in terms of what we had up front."

Following a trend of Eagles opponents thus far, the Rams often stacked the box in an effort to take away the inside zone runs that were such an important part of last season's offensive success. LeSean McCoy's 81 rushing yards on 24 carries were actually a season high, but the offense, with three turnovers, left plenty of plays on the field.

With Johnson back, Kelly was able to utilize an offensive wrinkle we saw in 2013 for the first time this season. At least four times yesterday, the offense featured an unbalanced line. Three times, left tackle Jason Peters flipped sides, lining up to Johnson's right. Once in the fourth quarter, Johnson lined up to Peters' right, where the left guard would typically position himself.

It's the type of look the offense can occasionally employ, when both Peters, a six-time Pro Bowler, and Johnson, a mobile 6-6, 317-pounder, are in the linep. McCoy's longest carry of the day, a 19-yard run in the second quarter, came behind an unbalanced line. So did his 5-yard rush to open the fourth quarter.

On Darren Sproles' crucial 25-yard run on third-and-3 late in the fourth quarter, both Herremans and Johnson made key blocks to help spring the speedy back to the second level. That was an inside zone call the Rams failed to thwart.

"Lane has always been the type of player who gets it done," McCoy said. "He is fast, physical and very intelligent. So I was happy to have him out there."

Johnson said yesterday's game was challenging because of his lack of recent reps with his teammates. He spent training camp working with the second-team offense so that Allen Barbre, his would-be replacement for the first four games, could get ready with the first-team unit.

Once camp ended, Johnson temporarily relocated to north Texas, going through football-specific drills in the mornings and focusing on weight lifting and conditioning in the afternoons. He rejoined the team last Monday, a day after its road loss to the 49ers.

Another week of first-team reps in Kelly's fast-paced practices will only help Johnson as he prepares for Sunday's prime-time game against the New York Giants.

The offensive line - and certainly the offense as a whole - still has plenty of room to improve, especially considering center Jason Kelce (hernia) and left guard Evan Mathis (sprained MCL) are expected to be out until around Week 10.

But for the Eagles' most-discussed position group 5 weeks into the season, Johnson's return marked the first step toward getting the band back together.

"It felt good for his first game back," Herremans said. "I think we can still improve quite a bit in some areas of the game. I think as an offense as a whole we need to improve. But it was just good to have Lane back."