PHILADELPHIA — For the first time in 15 days of training camp, the sun went down and the sky opened up. It rained for part of practice, as if the sky was crying about, technically, the end of training camp.
That’s a “technically” because next week the Eagles will have joint practices against the Baltimore Ravens leading up to Week 3 of the preseason, which will be open to the media.
Anyway, the Eagles wrapped up their 15th practice of training camp on Tuesday afternoon on a day where it seemed like the defense had the upper hand.
As the season nears, that’s bound to happen — the defense has seen everything the offense has to offer over the course of two-plus weeks.
Here are six thoughts about the 15th practice, with throw-by-throw tracking for Carson Wentz, Cody Kessler and Clayton Thorson, as well as a tally of carries for each running back ...
1. Don’t forget about Zach Ertz: It’s easy to fall into a habit of focusing solely on the quarterbacks, new players and guys fighting for roster spots in training camp, but the expected stars still deserve some attention too. Especially Zach Ertz, the tight end who has been one of — if not the — best players in training camp. That’s especially true in the red zone, where he seems to be unstoppable.
Tuesday, Ertz had a stellar catch at the back of the end zone past linebacker Alex Singleton where Carson Wentz threw it to the back of the end — couldn’t have been more on the money — and Ertz both reeled it in and dragged his toes to complete the catch, much to the chagrin of nearby defensive backs coach Cory Undlin.
He also easily scored a touchdown over cornerback Sidney Jones in the corner of the end zone too.
Watching Ertz, it’s easy to forget that not too long ago scoring touchdowns was a knock against him. He had 13 touchdowns combined his first four years. The last two: 16 touchdowns.
His targets will likely go down in an offense with Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, Nelson Agholor, Dallas Goedert and Darren Sproles, but he’ll likely still lead the team in targets/receptions, and maybe even touchdowns, too.
2. Bumpy Wentz Day: As has been the case for the latter days of training camp, it was an up-and-down day for Wentz full of MVP-level throws and mixed with inconsistency, though as mentioned in past observations, the defense deserves a lot of credit. The secondary has consistently done a good job of defending Wentz in camp, especially Malcolm Jenkins, Avonte Maddox and Rasul Douglas.
Wentz did have that aforementioned throw to Ertz, and followed that up with another great throw to a jumping Nelson Agholor in the same area.
Another positive: Wentz’s mobility looked impressive for most of practice with a few designed roll-outs, even after a scary moment where Jason Peters blocked Timmy Jernigan into his leg. He was fine.
There were a couple of plays in a row during red zone drills where Wentz and the intended receiver — Joshua Perkins and Nelson Agholor — ran a different route than Wentz was expecting, so the ball went nowhere. That happens.
Final stats: 13 of 25, 4 TD
3. Feisty Andre: For the second straight practice, there was a minor dustup involving rookie tackle Andre Dillard. Monday, he angered safety Johnathan Cyprien and, more notably, scuffled with defensive end Derek Barnett. Tuesday, it was rookie defensive end Shareef Miller who went after him during O-Line vs. D-Line drills. Of note, Miller has also gotten into a fracas of his own earlier in training camp when he went after since-released offensive lineman Casey Tucker.
This is likely just a product of Dillard being an intense player in what are supposed to be lighter practices. That’s not a bad thing.
4. Malcolm Jenkins’ play: Speaking of team stars who don’t get enough attention in camp, Jenkins has been simply stellar. He had an impressive play in red zone drills that I could best describe as him sneaking past the offensive line for a sack, and ater had a pass breakup on an attempted red zone pass from Wentz to Alshon Jeffery — not an easy player to defend in tight spaces.
He has shown no signs of slowing down, even though he quite literally never misses a play.
5. Cody Ks: Kessler hasn’t really shown all that much to get you excited since taking on a heavier workload, though he’s never going to be the type of quarterback who airs the ball out, either in practice or games. It was one of his more inefficient days on Tuesday, though.
He threw an interception to veteran cornerback in the end zone on a bad pass attempt for receiver Marken Michel, and earlier overthrew J.J. Arcega-Whiteside in the corner of the end zone.
Final stats: 6 of 12, 1 TD, 1 INT
6. Quick hits
- Per the request of a certain former NJ Advance Media writer, I tracked running back carries at Tuesday’s practice. Jordan Howard (6) and Miles Sanders (5) got the first-team carries, while Corey Clement (3), Wendell Smallwood (3), and Josh Adams (1) got the second and third-team totes.
- Clayton Thorson was fine again — with no interceptions — completing 6 of 8 passes. Thursday night’s game will be important for him.
- The Eagles’ decision to release safety Blake Countess to sign DT Aziz Shittu was slightly surprising, though I think many were overhyping Countess’ stance on the roster from the get-go, even if injuries were the biggest factor. He was far from a lock.
Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at zrosenblatt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZackBlatt. Find NJ.com on Facebook.