Back in the early days of training camp, Jalen Hurts used the term “calibrating” to describe the state of the offense as it installed Sean Mannion’s new system.
Hurts and his teammates have spent the past month taking Mannion’s broad playbook and putting those designs to life on the practice field. Those experiences in practice — from the touchdowns to the interceptions — have helped inform Hurts on how to approach any given play.
The Eagles held their last practice of training camp on Wednesday and will play their final preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Friday, signaling the impending end of the “calibrating” phase.
Still, it’s not time to put a label on the Eagles’ offensive identity in 2026 just yet.
“We’re very widespread in what we’re doing right now, and I think that’s good,” Hurts said Wednesday. “So when we can hone it down and see who we are, establish what exactly the identity is for us, it’ll come together. So, still very early.”
Rarely has an Eagles offense looked the same in Week 1 and Week 18. It evolves over the course of the season, and from year-to-year. In 2024, it was rooted in the highly successful run game behind Saquon Barkley and a dominant offensive line. Last year, it was less clear-cut, and in turn, the offense wasn’t nearly as efficient as it was when it won the Super Bowl the season before.
At the very least, with the season opener against the Washington Commanders just 18 days away, the Eagles offense has a foundation. Setting that foundation has been Mannion’s responsibility this summer.
Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion (left) has praised Jalen Hurts’ work in helping to evolve the team’s scheme.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Mannion has been clear with his “intent” for the offense, Hurts said. As the season gets underway, it will be on the new coordinator to shape the offensive identity for the Eagles based on the strengths of the personnel and the concepts they execute well.
“As you see who you have on your team and you begin to progress forward, you hone things down and you say, ‘This is who we are. This is how I want to lead it,’” Hurts said. “So I think that’s where Sean is. And a lot of that is, it’s up for him to mold and put together so in the end, we can go out there and be in the best position to win.”
Hurts called the offense “multifaceted” at this moment in time. Once the coaches begin game-planning for the regular season, the 28-year-old quarterback expects the breadth of the offense to narrow down to a specific direction depending on the opponent.
With all of the changes to the offense, will there be room for the Eagles to incorporate plays that have been successful in the past?
“I think that’s a great question,” Hurts said. “And it’s something that you keep in mind of when you’ve had so much success. How will it look? You don’t really know. Do you want to win? Absolutely.
“So we’ve got to figure out who we are as a team. Obviously, coaches come in with a great mindset, great philosophy and putting everything together. It brings us a bit more structure. In the end, it’s about what’s going to go out there and be the best for our team.”
The offense that Mannion is installing and some of its personnel are new to Hurts. The schematic shift isn’t a novel concept to him. Hurts has adapted to a new play-caller almost every season as a starter. This year, he has new receivers, too, in Dontayvion Wicks, Makai Lemon, and Hollywood Brown, who are expected to contribute alongside DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert.
Lemon was sidelined for three weeks of camp with a hamstring injury. He returned to action in team drills on Monday as he eyes the opportunity to play in Friday’s final preseason game. Hurts said he was happy to have Lemon back on the field as the duo continues to build chemistry.
As Hurts gets acclimated to all of the newcomers, from his teammates to his offensive play-caller, he takes the same approach.
“I think any time you’re playing with a new unit, it’s just about being on the same page,” Hurts said. “That’s no different than coaching, too. When you’ve got [a] new play-caller, you’ve got [a] new voice, you’ve got new perspective. Everybody’s chasing the same thing. Everybody wants the same outcome. Everybody’s process looks a little different. So being able to navigate how does our process look? How does this look for this unit, this team?”
Hurts said he is in a “good spot” with his command of the offense heading into the start of the season. He said it was a “good camp” overall in which he has been in “sponge mode” while learning from Mannion and the rest of his coaches.
He said the team has built chemistry over the course of camp through their time spent together, both competing on the field and spending “fun moments” off it.
Hurts can’t yet answer the question of what this iteration of the Eagles offense will look like. But the past month has offered glimpses into what the group could become, he acknowledged.
“I think this camp has given us an opportunity to come closer to [an identity], and we’ve still got time before we tee it off and it’s live ball,” Hurts said. “We just want to continue to progress every day. Keep the communication open. Being on the same page, being aligned, and going out there and doing it together as a team.”
Don’t call it a potential breakout season for Jalyx Hunt.
Hunt, the 2024 third-round outside linebacker out of Houston Christian, has been one of the standout defensive players in training camp due to his consistent disruption off the edge. His performance in joint practices against the New England Patriots, which included a diving interception of Drake Maye, provided more evidence of his stellar summer ahead of his third season with the Eagles.
But Hunt isn’t all that fond of the “breakout” label for any player who is putting in the work behind the scenes, let alone himself.
“I feel like to say ‘breakout’ is not disrespectful to any player, but the amount of work that the athletes on the field, whether it be practice squad, whether it be rotational guys, whether it be starters, the amount of work they put in … it’s no surprise when someone is able to make plays or to do anything like that,” Hunt said Monday.
After all, there’s an argument to be made that Hunt has already broken out.
In his second season with the Eagles last year, the 25-year-old outside linebacker led the team in sacks with 6½, a dramatic increase over his rookie year output of 1½. His 16.5% pressure rate was the highest among all Eagles outside linebackers, too, according to Next Gen Stats.
Hunt said he has always known that he was capable of the production. The general public is just catching up with his potential.
“Last year was just a reflection of the work I put in,” Hunt said. “So I don’t think there’s any type of breakout. I think it’s just me and y’all are starting to see the type of plays I can make and the type of player I would like to be.”
Jalyx Hunt’s play in his second NFL season was a revelation, one he’s seeking to build on. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Hunt could have plenty of opportunities to make more plays when the season begins. Jonathan Greenard has been sidelined for all of training camp with a pectoral muscle strain. Vic Fangio said on Aug. 19 that he didn’t know when Greenard would be back, casting some uncertainty about his availability for the season opener against the Washington Commanders in three weeks.
Greenard was sidelined during the offseason program, too, as he recovered from shoulder surgery earlier this year. At the time, Fangio didn’t seem too concerned about his ability to get up to speed in a new defense given his veteran status.
Still, if Greenard is sidelined for Week 1 or if he is on a snap count, that could mean more reps for the rest of the room, especially Hunt and Nolan Smith Jr. Even in training camp, Hunt is taking advantage of those additional opportunities, whether he’s going up in practice against Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata or Patriots tackle Will Campbell.
He was especially grateful to get away from Johnson and Mailata for two practices last week.
“In a very respectful way,” Hunt said. “They’re just really good at their craft, so it’s nice to go against people who are stronger in other areas, make me work different moves and different tendencies, and try to dissect the rush as I go along in the game.”
Hunt is learning from his fellow Eagles teammates on defense, too. No longer the least experienced player among the edge rusher corps, he still relies on the entire room for input, and vice versa. The group feeds off of one another, he said, regardless of age or experience.
Jalyx Hunt (58) has explicitly credited teammate Zack Baun (53) in helping to fuel his growth. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
That culture goes beyond the edge rusher room. Hunt said he has looked to Zack Baun for inspiration since both players arrived in Philadelphia in 2024. Baun had signed a one-year deal with the Eagles after spending four years with the New Orleans Saints primarily as a core special teams player.
But Hunt quickly picked up on Baun’s hardworking nature in training camp that year as he catapulted himself from a relatively unknown depth defender to an All-Pro inside linebacker and starter on a Super Bowl-winning defense.
Baun had put in the work early on, and when he earned his opportunity, he never gave it up.
“He became Zack Baun, the Bald Eagle, the superhero, the captain at the helm,” Hunt said. “So I learned that from him, too. You just have to keep putting in the work, and then when you’re put in those positions, your work will come through.”
Hunt is laying the groundwork with the aspiration of following the same trajectory as Baun. His progress in Year 3 is promising. Hunt has taken up residence in the backfield this training camp, but that isn’t a surprise to the outside linebacker given his work ethic.
Come Week 1, he will have an opportunity to replicate that performance in the regular season. He knows what he is capable of achieving, even if everyone else outside of the Jefferson Health Training Complex is just taking notice.
“I don’t think there’s any type of breakout,” Hunt said. “I think it’s just me and y’all are starting to see the type of plays I can make and the type of player I would like to be.”
Lemon’s wish was granted late last week when he was a limited participant in Thursday’s joint practice against the New England Patriots. It was his first practice as a participant in any capacity since Aug. 3.
He made more progress on Monday. The first-rounder out of USC was upgraded to a full participant in practice, taking a significant step in his preparation with the season opener against the Washington Commanders 20 days away.
Lemon took part in team drills, both in seven-on-seven and 11-on-11.
“It felt great,” Lemon said. “Definitely a blessing every time I’m able to step on the field. I never take it for granted.”
His time spent off the field helped him gain that perspective. Lemon said he injured the same hamstring that sidelined him for a portion of the offseason program, forcing him to sit out once again.
He said he felt “a little tweak” in his hamstring while bursting upfield. Lemon suggested that he hadn’t warmed up sufficiently, adding that the experience taught him to make sure that he’s being “more professional off the field” with his regimen.
“I feel like it was definitely tough,” Lemon said. “I’m real competitive. I never want to be away from this game. So, me knowing that it’s a hamstring again, just making sure I take the right precautions. I’m learning from it, so it don’t happen again.”
He also learned the importance of taking mental reps. Even though his view from the sideline wasn’t ideal, Lemon said it allowed him to see the game from a different perspective.
Mental reps are just as important as actual reps, Lemon asserted. Sean Mannion said he was “super engaged” in practice and the meeting room so he could jump back into action upon his return.
Lemon also went through his rehab process with DeVonta Smith, who missed the same amount of time as the rookie receiver with a hamstring injury of his own. Like Lemon, Smith was a full participant in Monday’s practice for the first time since Aug. 3.
Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion (right) talks with wide receiver Makai Lemon during team drills before a joint practice with the Patriots last week. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Lemon said the time he spent with Smith was valuable, as he was able to talk to the veteran about different aspects of the game.
“Any time I’m able to get some game from him, I’m doing that,” Lemon said.
On Monday, Lemon joined Smith and the starting offense in team drills. It was an unpadded practice that lasted approximately an hour. Lemon only caught a couple of short passes, but he took on a seemingly typical workload with the group.
Some of his snaps required him to run block, including one rep against Jalyx Hunt. The third-year outside linebacker said he learned a little bit about Lemon through his willingness to engage with him in the run game.
“He didn’t shy away from it,” Hunt said. “He didn’t try to just get around me. He put hands on me and tried to really block me, and I respect that and that’s cool to see, ‘cause his demeanor on the field is totally different than who he is. He’s a laid-back guy. But on the field, he’s just a different energy.”
After practice, Lemon spent extra time with Mannion running routes. The receiver called the new Eagles offensive coordinator “super helpful” as they worked on some of the finer details of the offense.
Lemon is no stranger to post-practice work, even when he was sidelined. He spent time with Jalen Hurts and some of the other receivers, too, as he took more mental reps.
“[Hurts] just wants the best for all the guys, and for him to work with me, work with all the guys, it’s only going to help the team,” Lemon said.
The team will be put to the test for the first time in the regular season in less than three weeks. Lemon said he can “for sure” get back to his normal self by the home opener.
But before the season begins, will Lemon suit up for the preseason finale against the Cincinnati Bengals on Friday? The Eagles have two more practices before the contest, including Tuesday night’s open practice at Lincoln Financial Field, and thus two more opportunities for Lemon to ramp up for game action.
He was hopeful, but noncommittal, regarding his status against the Bengals.
“Man, every time there’s a game, I definitely want to play,” Lemon said. “So I’m just taking it day by day out here just putting the work in, and then we’ll see how I feel Friday.”
Regardless, Monday was a step in the right direction for Lemon. He is eager to build on that progress.
“The team brought me here for a reason, so I’m just making sure I’m available,” Lemon said. “So it felt great to get out here with the guys, to run around. I just never take it for granted every time I step on the field.”
Five plays into the Eagles’ preseason opener against the Baltimore Ravens, Willie Lampkin introduced Ravens defensive tackle Broderick Washington’s backside to the grass — and, in turn, re-introduced himself to the NFL.
Lampkin, 24, had been hidden in plain sight for the past year. The Eagles claimed him off waivers at the end of camp from the Los Angeles Rams, who cut the 2025 undrafted free agent out of North Carolina with an injury designation due to knee and ankle injuries he suffered in their second preseason game. Two days later, the Eagles placed Lampkin on injured reserve for the remainder of the season.
The 5-foot-11, 290-pound interior offensive lineman returned to game action for the first time in 364 days like a wrecking ball, and Broderick was his first victim.
After snapping the ball at center, Lampkin quickly latched on to the 6-2, 315-pound defensive tackle and blocked him 10 yards downfield in pass protection before disposing of him into a pile of bodies.
Later at right guard, he sealed off 6-foot, 300-pound Aeneas Peebles on a Tank Bigsby run, taking him for a ride five yards downfield until the whistle before patting him on the helmet. That love between whistles never lasts longs, as his Eagles teammates know. Lampkin’s preseason excellence, which continued Saturday night against the New England Patriots, has been an extension of the effort they’ve witnessed in training camp this summer.
“I call him a bowling ball of knives, ’cause he’s so short, he’s so small, he’s so stubby, but he is so quick and powerful and precise with his hands that for a taller guy like me, it gives me a lot of trouble,” Jordan Davis said. “It gives me a lot of fits. That’s one of the things that keeps me up at night with Willie.
“He has a certain tenacity about him when he goes and plays a game.”
That tenacity, according to Lampkin, is rooted in his wrestling background.
Willie Lampkin was a star wrestler at Lakeland High School in Florida.Courtesy of Winston Phan
Lampkin began wrestling as a freshman at Mulberry High School in Mulberry, Fla., a city in central Florida with a population of roughly 4,000. Within three years, he was the state tournament runner-up at heavyweight, and within four, he was a champion.
He ultimately chose to pursue football over wrestling in college, playing three seasons at Coastal Carolina and two at UNC before moving on to the NFL as an undrafted free agent. But as he vies for a depth spot on the Eagles’ initial 53-man roster as an undersized, undrafted interior offensive lineman, Lampkin continues to channel the mentality and the skill set he cultivated through wrestling.
“I feel like wrestling just helped me to be more gritty and just try to get after everybody,” Lampkin said.
Wrestlers the ‘ultimate combatants to deal with misery’
Former Mulberry wrestling coach Anthony Cerullo learned about Lampkin from Kyle Jones, one of the assistant football coaches at the school. Jones, who once wrestled for Cerullo in addition to playing football, wanted Lampkin to start wrestling, too.
Cerullo also played both sports. He understood that wrestling taught its athletes about balance, hand usage, and body positioning — all of the fundamentals that apply to sound play in the trenches.
He figured that Lampkin, a varsity starter on the offensive line as a freshman, was a 6-5 “behemoth” who grew faster than his peers. When he met him in line at the concession stand at a junior varsity football game, he quickly learned he was mistaken.
Willie Lampkin stands atop the podium after winning the 2020 2A state wrestling championship as a heavyweight.Courtesy of Winston Phan
He still made his recruiting pitch.
“Coach Jones says you’re going to be on the wrestling team, and I’m the wrestling coach,” Cerullo said.
“Ah, I don’t know about that,” Lampkin said. “He hasn’t said anything to me about it.”
At the end of the football season, Lampkin had his exit interview with his coaches. Afterward, Cerullo grabbed Lampkin as he was leaving for the school bus. Wrestling season was already underway.
“Hey, the wrestling room is not on the bus,” Cerullo said.
Lampkin obliged and followed Cerullo, even though he wasn’t entirely sure why he was there. Early on, Lampkin said he stuck with wrestling because a few of his football teammates had also decided to try it out. Plus, he didn’t want to just go home at the end of the school day in the football offseason.
Cerullo had a plan for Lampkin. In addition to the fundamentals of wrestling that would translate to football, he said he knew the O-lineman would benefit from draining practice sessions on the mat in the long term.
“Wrestlers are the ultimate combatants to deal with misery, right?” Cerullo said. “So we have a saying as wrestlers called ‘embrace the grind.’ So that means that it’s going to suck, it’s going to be hot, it’s going to be sweaty, it’s going to be nasty. You have another person acrossfrom you for two-and-a-half hours a day that’s trying to kill you, and you have to embrace that lifestyle to be great.”
Willie Lampkin has brought wrestling principles to the Eagles practice field. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Cerullo ensured that Lampkin got that work in by serving as his practice partner. He learned firsthand of Lampkin’s athleticism. Lampkin, a heavyweight at roughly 230 pounds as a freshman, wasn’t going to run a 4.4 40-yard dash or jump over a building. But Lampkin was ultra-competitive, which drove his desire for improvement as he figured out how to use his hands and his body to his advantage.
He hated giving up a takedown. He hated not getting an escape. He hated losing. After all, Cerullo said, one person holding another down against their will is something to be taken personally, and Lampkin took every win for his opponent as a slight.
At the beginning, wins in practice were hard for Lampkin to come by against Cerullo, who was 20 years his senior and approximately the same size. Lampkin would ask Cerullo to stay after practice every day to work on different sequences, takedowns, and escapes. Those requests were particularly prevalent if Lampkin didn’t get an escape during practice.
“So we sat there for an hour-and-a-half one practice, and me just breaking him down to his stomach and to his face until he finally exploded up and was able to get an escape,” Cerullo said. “And then to his credit, he’s like, ‘OK, I want to do it twice before I leave.’
“‘Like, Willie, I’ve got to go to work in the morning, buddy. I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow.’”
It took about three weeks for Lampkin to embrace wrestling and the pain that came with it, Cerullo said. Pain turned to pride when he began to win his matches. According to Cerullo, there is something euphoric about the referee grabbing the winning wrestler’s hand at the end of the match and raising it for everyone to see.
Willie Lampkin was unfamiliar with wrestling but embraced the grind it took to become a champion. Courtesy of Winston Phan
Lampkin chased that feeling. He won 50 matches as a freshman, but he was one win shy of qualifying for the state tournament. That shortcoming fueled his offseason development. For the first time, he was lifting with intention to improve at both wrestling and football. He worked in the wrestling room to sharpen his skills, especially his hands.
“Willie has very large hands, and he learned how to make an impact when he put them on you going into that sophomore year,” Cerullo said. “When he would grab you, he had intention behind it. Where before, he was kind of just placing them and being … I’d say a big baby about it to some degree. Not understanding how strong he was. Sophomore year, he definitely knew what to do with his hands and when he put them on you, he meant to put them on you.”
Cerullo estimates that Lampkin took him down his freshman year twice in practice. In the summer leading up to his sophomore year, Lampkin took Cerullo down four times in one practice.
“He started moving his feet much better,” Cerullo said. “I think that he understood some more of the nuances of wrestling and not to put himself in those negative positions.”
That year, Lampkin would qualify for the state tournament, but he was eliminated early after being pinned. He transferred from Mulberry to nearby Lakeland High School the following year, helping the football team win a state championship as a junior. But leaving Mulberry didn’t mean he was leaving wrestling behind.
After the football season, Lampkin would lose weight quickly as he got in wrestling shape. He may have been the biggest wrestler on his team, but according to Lakeland assistant wrestling coach Winston Phan, he was a relatively light heavyweight compared to his peers. That weight class can be very one-dimensional, Phan said.
“A lot of times, they fall on top of each other, and whoever lands on top wins, right?” said Phan, who is now the head coach of the program. “But what Willie had going for him was his technique and his ability to learn all [this] new stuff that we were able to give him and allow him to use in his matches.
“Because people will tell you he didn’t wrestle like a heavyweight. They said he wrestled like somebody that was 106 pounds the way he knew how to do moves and the way he knew how to control somebody on top.”
Lakeland wrestling coaches Winston Phan (left) and Michael Farley visited Willie Lampkin while he was playing college football at North Carolina in 2023.Courtesy of Winston Phan
Phan and the other coaches would teach Lampkin a little bit of everything, even moves that weren’t typically performed by heavyweights. Among them were leg attacks, Phan said. One of Lampkin’s favorite moves that he honed in practice was a single-leg sweep. He kept it in his back pocket until he reached the first-place match at the 2A state championship his senior year.
The prior year, Lampkin lost the state final in sudden-death overtime. He wouldn’t lose it twice. After he went 47-0 during the regular season, Lampkin faced Mason Arnold of Tampa Jesuit in the heavyweight state championship match. They were tied, 1-1, toward the end of the third period.
With 34 seconds remaining, Lampkin pulled out the single-leg sweep. Lampkin swung his body around his opponent’s leg, then flung him onto his back, switching off to a double leg to take him down and go up, 3-1. Lampkin rode Arnold out until time expired. He popped up, his headgear askew, and let out a roar before pouncing on top of Phan and assistant coach Chad Kirkman near the corner of the mat.
“It was like a potato jumping on a toothpick,” said Michael Farley, former Lakeland head wrestling coach.
That match marked the end of Lampkin’s wrestling career. His wrestling coaches still kept in touch with Lampkin as he continued on to college and attended his games when they could.
In some ways, the two sports couldn’t have been any different. Lampkin is one of 11 on the football field. In wrestling, he was alone against his opponent on the mat. A play in football lasts a matter of seconds within an hourslong game, while a wrestling match lasts at least six minutes over three periods. But whether Lampkin was wrestling or playing football, Phan saw the same athlete.
“He’s not doing anything differently,” Phan said. “They call the moves different things, but in the sense of it, the name of the game is manhandling your opponent, right? And he knows that that’s what his job is, and that’s what he’s looking to do every time he steps on the line, whether it’s on a wrestling mat or on the football field.”
Willie Lampkin took down Mason Arnold in the 2020 2A heavyweight state championship within the final seconds of the match to win.Courtesy of Winston Phan
In both sports, he used his relatively small size to his advantage. Both Cerullo and Phan said Lampkin’s best asset was his brain, as he was capable of understanding leverage and positioning. Combine that with fast feet in a small area of space on the gridiron, and Lampkin can get his leverage and change direction quickly to seal off bigger, taller defensive tackles.
He never lets up, either, whether he’s mustering a takedown in the waning seconds of the state title match or he’s blocking a defensive tackle into the next zip code through the whistle.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in front of him,” Phan said. “He’s ready to take their heads off and protect the quarterback and do what he has to do to be successful on the line.”
Farley had seen the headlines coming out of Eagles camp about Lampkin. Those labels about his size are nothing new.
“‘Five-11′ or ‘little secret weapon,’” Farley said. “But we know that for Willie, it’s real when the pads come on, and that’s when he can show his true value.”
After two standout preseason performances, the Eagles’ so-called little secret weapon might not be so secret any more.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It would’ve been a heartbreaker for the Eagles, but alas, it’s the preseason.
The Eagles gave up a four-point lead in the final minute of their second game of the exhibition slate against the New England Patriots. Patriots quarterback Behren Morton completed a 37-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Nick DeGennaro over the head of Eagles cornerback Isaiah Bolden to win, 24-21.
Here’s our instant analysis from the Eagles’ second game of the preseason:
Tanner McKee did a good job engineering the Eagles quick passing game on Saturday. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Tanner Time?
Two games into the preseason, the momentum in the backup quarterback competition could be shifting.
Andy Dalton started for a second straight week, seemingly an acknowledgment that he’s ahead of Tanner McKee in the competition for QB2. But again, Dalton failed to impress through three possessions.
On 21 plays, Dalton went 3-for-10 for 44 yards. He was nearly intercepted twice by Patriots cornerback Kindle Vildor. The ball hit the ground on one of Vildor’s would-be picks, and on the same play, outside linebacker Gabe Jacas was flagged for roughing the passer.
On the ensuing play, Dalton had another close call when his pass for Quez Watkins over the middle of the field almost ended up in Vildor’s hands.
Meanwhile, McKee improved upon his performance in the preseason opener against the Baltimore Ravens. On 36 plays, he went 16-for-22 for 173 yards and two touchdowns, good for a 125.8 quarterback rating.
He was nearly perfect on the Eagles’ scoring drive just before the end of the first half, completing three of four passing attempts for 44 yards and a touchdown. Each of his three completions — 16- and 14-yarders to Carson Steele and a 14-yard touchdown pass to Britain Covey — were short passes in which the receivers picked up ample yards after the catch.
McKee almost made it a second touchdown pass in the third quarter. He attempted to find E.J. Jenkins in the left corner of the end zone on fourth-and-3 at the 9-yard line, but the 27-year-old tight end dropped the pass.
He completed his second touchdown throw late in the fourth quarter to Steele, a 20-yard catch-and-run that put the Eagles up, 21-17. He helped bail the Eagles out from a pair of penalties on the drive — an Erik Ezukanma illegal crackback block and a false start — by completing two passes to Ezukanma for a total of 24 yards and the touchdown pass to Steele.
After the game, Nick Sirianni said that “everything is accounted for” in the competition for the QB2 gig, not limited to preseason performance. Dalton is taking fewer snaps in the preseason, Sirianni said, because he has more experience in similar systems to Sean Mannion’s.
“I think both the guys are battling,” Sirianni said. “I’m really confident in both the guys. And we’ll see where that goes. Again, like I said, that’s still a competition.”
Cole Payton, the rookie fifth-round quarterback out of North Dakota State, took over with less than a minute remaining in the game. He was strip-sacked on the third play of the drive, with the Patriots recovering the fumble to secure the win.
Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. sacks Patriots quarterback Tommy DeVito in Saturday’s preseason game. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Back-to-back sacks
Another week, another standout performance from a pair of young defensive players.
Jeremiah Trotter Jr. may not be poised for a starting role behind Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell, neither of whom played on Saturday. But the 2024 fifth-round inside linebacker out of Clemson continues to make an impact in the preseason on minimal snaps.
On the Patriots’ second possession of the night, Trotter gave Patriots quarterback Tommy DeVito fits. On third-and-3, DeVito fled the pocket with Smael Mondon and A.J. Epenesa in the backfield. Trotter ran from the defensive left hashes to the right side of the field outside of the numbers to tackle a scrambling DeVito, limiting a would-be double-digit-yard gain to just seven yards.
Two plays later, Trotter blitzed the “A” gap unblocked and sacked DeVito seemingly in an instant for a loss of four yards.
“As far as my career, that was probably the fastest [sack],” Trotter said. “I was surprised how it split open like that. But I was able to get good timing on that blitz. So it worked out nice.”
Defensive tackle Ty Robinson also reprised his strong preseason performance against the Ravens. Last week, he had one sack. On Saturday, he notched two on DeVito.
Halfway through the second quarter, Robinson beat Patriots left guard Mekhi Butler on the first sack for a loss of nine yards. Later in the second, the 2025 fourth-round defensive tackle out of Nebraska had another sack, this time on a stunt with Jose Ramirez on the right side of the line.
“That was Coach Vic [Fangio]’s play call,” Robinson said. “Jose’s an awesome person to run those types of games with. And he really did a great job coming in there and picking the guard for me to wrap around and that tackle stayed on him. So I told him I owed him one, especially since we ran two in a row. So I told him I’ve got him next time.”
Will Shipley and the Eagles running game posted an encouraging effort in Foxborough. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Sail the Ship, Steele the show
After Eagles running backs combined for just 31 yards on 11 carries (2.8 yards per carry) against the Ravens, the entire rushing unit fared better on Saturday.
Will Shipley and the game’s starting offensive line — which included left tackle Fred Johnson, left guard Drew Kendall, center Willie Lampkin, right guard Jake Majors, and right tackle Markel Bell — dominated the Patriots defensive front.
On the second Eagles possession of the game, the offense rode Shipley into the end zone. He had seven carries for 30 yards on the drive, including a 5-yard touchdown run up the middle behind the stellar blocking of Kendall and Lampkin that put the Eagles up, 7-0.
Shipley finished the night with 11 carries for 56 yards (5.1 yards per carry).
Steele, the 2024 undrafted free agent out of UCLA who spent the last two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, picked up where Shipley left off. He had some solid runs, but he was particularly eye-catching as a pass catcher.
After the two-minute warning in the first half, Steele caught a check down three yards behind the line of scrimmage on first-and-10 from the Patriots’ 28. Steele scurried downfield, hurdling Patriots cornerback Brandon Crossley in the process.
Late in the fourth quarter, Steele scored the go-ahead touchdown on another short pass from McKee. Steele turned two yards into 20 with his legs, bolting into the end zone and pulling the Eagles ahead, 21-17.
Steele had 12 carries for 33 yards (2.8 yards per carry). He was also the Eagles’ leading receiver with six catches for 84 yards and a touchdown.
“I had a blast,” Steele said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win, but we executed a lot more things. Definitely took our game up a level from last weekend. Just got to keep progressing from there.”
Eagles running back Ja’Quinden Jackson is taken off the field in a stretcher after suffering an injury on the opening kickoff Saturday night. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Injury report
Eagles depth running back Ja’Quinden Jackson was stretchered into an ambulance on the field after going down during the opening kickoff. The team announced later in the first quarter that he had strength and movement in all extremities and he was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.
Mac McWilliams, the 2025 fifth-round cornerback out of Central Florida, visited the medical tent in the first half. He eventually headed indoors and did not return to action.
Bell, the 2026 third-rounder out of Miami, also visited the medical tent in the first half. He remained on the bench but did not return to action.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Eagles running back Ja’Quinden Jackson was stretchered into an ambulance on the field after the opening kickoff of Saturday night’s preseason game against the New England Patriots.
Jackson, 24, went down on his back during the play and appeared to go into a fencing position. Medical trainers placed Jackson onto a backboard, and then a stretcher, before he was wheeled into the back of an ambulance that drove onto the field.
Later in the first quarter, the Eagles announced that Jackson has strength and movement in all of his extremities. He was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.
Early Sunday morning, the Eagles said Jackson returned to Philadelphia with the rest of the team.
“It’s always a tough thing to [see] and we’re always praying for him,” Eagles running back Carson Steele said after the game. “But he was supposed to be out there a lot tonight, too, as well. He’s a great athlete, great player. Just had to go out there and do it for him and do it for the rest of the team as well.”
The Eagles signed Jackson on Aug. 10. The 2025 undrafted free agent out of Arkansas spent his rookie season on the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice squad.
The entire Eagles sideline came on the field to support Ja'Quinden Jackson before he was stretchered into the ambulance. pic.twitter.com/XQ78dIgmIL
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Jordan Mailata succinctly summed up the reasoning behind the offense’s inefficiencies in its second joint practice against the New England Patriots on Thursday.
“Less boxing and more football,” Mailata said.
No, neither team channeled its inner Muhammad Ali and let the punches fly. Pushing, shoving, and grabbing characterized the handful of skirmishes between the Eagles offense and Patriots defense on the final day of joint practices.
Nonetheless, those quarrels quashed the Eagles’ momentum, especially on the ground, according to Mailata. Their inability to run the ball effectively on Thursday paled in comparison to Wednesday’s performance, when Saquon Barkley & Co. seemingly exploited every seam.
“The run game had a better flow yesterday,” Mailata said. “There were less fights. The fighting, we’ve got to cut that out, ’cause it kills momentum. And then both sides are now amped up, and now we’re not thinking about our assignment. We’re thinking about roughing the next guy. Which is great, but again, not effective in our scheme and concept of things.”
Barkley didn’t mince words, either, about how fighting can derail the intent of the practice with another team.
“I hate joint practices, to be honest,” Barkley said. “I think one day’s good. But we play in an ego-filled sport with a lot of men.”
He continued: “It’s just more times than not, nothing good comes out of it. When you have the work, it’s good, but then you get the pushing, the shoving, and someone says this about you, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, but I’m not that. You’re this.’ It’s immature when we get to that level. I’ve got to do a better job, too, ‘cause I’m a little troublemaker sometimes. But I was good this week.”
“The run game had a better flow yesterday,” Eagles tackle Jordan Mailata said after Thursday’s joint practice with the Patriots. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Barkley got involved in a scrum at one point during 11-on-11s when the backups were on the field. Earlier, tensions also flared between Lane Johnson and Patriots linebacker K.J. Britt. They exchanged shoves after Barkley ran up the middle, picked up just a few yards and tight end Johnny Mundt was blocked to the ground.
The Eagles running backs failed to rip off long gains all morning. Tank Bigsby nearly had one with the starting offense as he bounced outside to the left, but the play was brought back due to a holding penalty.
The one step forward, one step back nature of the run game’s progress throughout joint practices wasn’t concerning to Mailata as the Eagles nail down the new scheme under Sean Mannion. Even though the run game wasn’t at its best on Thursday, Mailata said he still sees the potential in the group as Week 1 looms just 24 days away.
“The running backs are doing a great job, Saquon’s doing a great job of getting to his reads on the run,” Mailata said. “The beautiful thing about our scheme is you can hit anywhere and, again, it’s not just all on Saquon. It’s got to be on us up front. We’ve got to get to our landmarks and win our block up front. Some of that today wasn’t there.”
But that execution was there on Wednesday from the entire rushing unit. Mannion’s vision for the run game, rooted in the wide-zone blocking scheme typically incorporated among offshoots of the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay scheme, is beginning to take shape, Mailata said.
“We were able to see with the misdirections and the way the concept is designed where the ball can hit anywhere,” Mailata said.
Barkley said he is excited about the potential of the run game, too. That excitement is unrelated to the performance of the offense in training camp, though, and more rooted in the process.
“I’m super excited, because I know how great this team will be and how great we can be,” Barkley said. “I know what it looks like when we’re all on the same page and we’re playing at a high level. But right now, this whole portion of camp and this part of the season, it’s really about just grinding, putting the little things together.
“The kind of mindset I’m going to have for the rest of the season, just be process-driven. Don’t really get too caught up in the results of what it can be or what it can look like. And just let the process take care of the rest.”
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — A.J. Brown’s path from the New England Patriots’ facility to their practice field bisected the Eagles’, where his former teammates were beginning to warm up ahead of Wednesday’s joint practice.
As he jogged by those familiar faces, he beat his right hand over his heart, which was shrouded by his new-look No. 1 navy blue jersey.
“It was love, man,” Brown said after practice. “I know I’m on an opposing team right now, but I still felt some love.”
Brown may have felt some love, but he didn’t show the Eagles any mercy once practice began.
The 29-year-old receiver was back to his dominant self in the first of two joint practices of the week, hauling in all six of his targets from Patriots quarterback Drake Maye in the seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 team drill sessions.
Wednesday’s practice marked the first time Brown has faced the Eagles as a member of the Patriots, the team that acquired him on June 1 in exchange for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder. It turned into somewhat of a reunion late during the two-hour practice. At one point when the starters were on the sideline, Brown spoke to members of the Eagles offensive line and Saquon Barkley.
Once the final horn sounded to conclude practice, Brown chatted with Quinyon Mitchell, Jordan Davis, and Darius Cooper. He spent time with Eagles receivers coach Aaron Moorehead, gave reserve quarterback Tanner McKee a hug, and fist-bumped Nick Sirianni.
But after practice, Brown acknowledged that he hasn’t spoken to Jalen Hurts since the trade, although both were photographed at DeVonta Smith’s wedding in the days following the deal. Brown also declined to explain the driving force behind his desire to change teams.
How did Brown leave things with Hurts before he left Philadelphia?
“Philly, man, y’all tough, man,” Brown said with a laugh. “Man, it’s love. Listen, listen. Honestly, guys, none of that stuff even matters. You all should want to report something positive. You know asking the question is going to turn negative. So let’s not get into that, and let’s keep everything positive. It’s love my way, and just move forward. That’s all.”
A.J. Brown was a media focus on Wednesday but he let his play do most of the talking. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Brown expressed that he was open to catching up with Hurts if he saw him this week.
“I’m sure if our paths run across, yeah, sure, yeah,” he said.
When Brown lined up on the field, though, he wasn’t doing much talking. Mitchell, who exchanged his fair share of trash talk with Brown in practice during their two seasons as teammates, said the receiver wasn’t in his ear between reps Wednesday.
“We just kept it businesslike, and just competing,” Mitchell said.
Brown handled his business during team drills, namely against starting outside cornerbacks Mitchell and Riq Woolen. But Mitchell got the better of Brown in wide receiver-defensive back one-on-ones to open practice.
The Pro Bowl receiver had a step on the All-Pro cornerback on a deep ball from Maye down the left sideline. Mitchell latched on to Brown’s towel that hung behind him from the top of his pants.
Mitchell pulled himself back into the play, and while Brown got his left hand on the ball, he couldn’t get his right hand around quick enough to make the catch. The ball bounced off Brown’s hand and fell incomplete. Brown asserted that Mitchell got away with holding, but he took accountability for the incompletion.
“That’s on me,” Brown said. “Attention to detail, catching the ball high, not letting it get low. So those are the little things. It was never about who I’m going against.”
Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown drops the football while defended by Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell on Wednesday. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Brown was sharper as practice progressed. On his first target in 11-on-11s, he motioned from the left side of the formation and inserted into the B gap on the right side. Brown ran a deep crosser over the middle back to the left side of the field, then caught a pass from Maye with Woolen trailing in his wake.
Later, Jihaad Campbell had a would-be sack of Maye on a blitz up the middle. But Maye still got the deep pass out to Brown on a fade, and the receiver made the back-shoulder grab with Woolen on his heels again.
“He gave me a good ball,” Brown said. “It was a quicker throw, and I just know I had to win at the line of scrimmage, and I was going against Tariq, and I know he’s very fast, and I know he was coming, so I just had to hold my line of scrimmage and just keep going vertical and fade at the last second.”
According to Mitchell, Brown didn’t look like the same player he had grown accustomed to competing against on the practice field the last two years. He asserted that Brown looked “better” and “faster.”
The last time Brown shared a field with the Eagles, he was suited up in midnight green for the wild-card game against the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 11. He had three receptions on seven targets for 25 yards in the 23-19 loss.
It was an underwhelming performance to cap off a relatively underwhelming season, in which Brown finished with 1,003 receiving yards, his lowest total since 2021 with the Tennessee Titans.
When asked for his message to Eagles fans, particularly in the aftermath of that game, Brown acknowledged his shortcomings. He also expressed a desire to move on from the past.
“I love you, and I’m not looking in the past,” Brown said. “It’s a game. That game, no, I didn’t play my best, but I’m not going backwards.”
A.J. Brown looked “better” and “faster,” according to cornerback Quinyon Mitchell. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Instead, Brown said he is fixated on his opportunity in New England. He lauded Maye as an “incredible leader” who is making his job as a receiver easier with his arm talent and his vision. Brown also raved about Josh McDaniels, the Patriots’ offensive coordinator, as he excels at creating advantageous matchups for the receiver.
As he moves on with his new team, Brown said his love for Philly persists. Still, he didn’t view joint practice as an opportunity to get closure on his departure.
“No, it’s not about no closure or anything, man,” Brown said. “It’s love. I won a Super Bowl ring with them, and [it’ll] always be love, no matter how anyone feels. I love Philly, and I will always love Philly.
“But I’m here now, and that’s where my feet are, and that’s where I’m focused on.”
Tensions between the two had been festering during team drills. They eventually quarreled on back-to-back snaps, with Ojomo lunging at Johnson’s lower half not long after their teammates attempted to separate them following the second play.
Football is an aggressive sport, Ojomo said. But he expressed an understanding that he crossed the line.
“Emotions, and you fight with your brothers,” Ojomo said Monday. “It was just over football. Got a little heated. It was wrong. It’s not a standard that we set out here, and it was a mistake, and I messed up.”
After three weeks of practicing against his teammates in training camp, Ojomo is ready to direct his aggression at someone else.
Enter the New England Patriots.
Moro Ojomo is among the Eagles projected starters ready to hit someone from another team. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The Eagles will head to Foxborough, Mass., for a pair of joint practices against the defending AFC champions on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of Saturday’s preseason game. For Ojomo, the joint practices are welcome opportunities to compete against another team in a controlled environment, especially for the starters who are unlikely to play in the preseason.
“We’ve been hitting each other so much,” Ojomo said. “We want to kind of create that camaraderie and go versus someone, and ultimately we want to get the train rolling. We’re trying to have a great season, and you start it off with a great joint practice with [the Patriots].”
Foxborough is familiar territory for the Eagles. The Patriots hosted them for a single joint practice ahead of the 2024 season. On that day, the Eagles defense — in its first summer under Vic Fangio — dominated the Drake Maye-led offense that went on to rank 30th in the NFL in scoring that year.
This week’s practices should be a little more evenly matched for Ojomo and his defensive teammates. Maye, who finished second in MVP voting last season behind Matthew Stafford, is now headed into his third season and his second under head coach Mike Vrabel. The Patriots have invested in Maye’s supporting cast, from the offensive linemen who protect him to the receivers — including former Eagle A.J. Brown — who catch his passes.
Brown won’t be the only former Eagle in attendance. Milton Williams, the 2021 third-rounder out of Louisiana Tech, signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the Patriots in the offseason that followed the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory.
Ojomo had a theory regarding why Williams got paid by the Patriots that year.
“He had a great, great practice up there,” Ojomo recalled of their joint practice.
Ojomo acknowledged that the Eagles have a history of defensive tackles, including Williams in 2025 and Javon Hargrave in 2023, playing their way into paydays with other teams.
He could follow the blueprint that Williams and others set forth. Ojomo, the Eagles’ 2023 seventh-rounder out of Texas, is in the final year of his rookie deal. If Ojomo builds upon a breakout 2025 season in which he registered six sacks, he could be in line for a hefty raise with the Eagles or elsewhere.
Ojomo said earlier this month that watching Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter sign extensions to stay in Philadelphia this offseason is serving as motivation in Year 4.
But he is driven by Williams’ trajectory, too, which ultimately landed him with a different team.
“I think everyone’s encouraged by that,” Ojomo said. “Everyone’s encouraged by seeing when someone [balls] out and ultimately gets to that second contract, which is kind of that big, abstract goal for players as a rookie.”
That abstract goal will become more tangible for Ojomo once the season gets underway. But first, after weeks of going head-to-head with his own teammates, he’s eager to compete in joint practices with an outside opponent.
“At the end of the day, that’s a Super Bowl team from last year,” Ojomo said of the Patriots. “You’re not going to get much better competition than that, right? So, we’re very excited, and we’re going to try to give them our best shot. And I feel like, likewise, from their part.”
BALTIMORE — The end zone was nearly as elusive for the Eagles as the intrigue that surrounded the game.
The Eagles dropped their preseason opener, 24-7, to the Baltimore Ravens, a contest in which most of the starters on both sides rested. But while the Ravens offense managed to move the ball, picking up 440 net yards, the Eagles mustered just 159.
The Ravens picked up 31 first downs. The Eagles had just six.
The Ravens incurred three penalties. The Eagles were slapped with 10.
Here is our instant analysis of the Eagles’ first game of the preseason:
Plight of the passers
It’s preseason for everyone, including the Eagles’ veteran depth quarterbacks.
With Jalen Hurts and the rest of the Eagles offensive starters scratched, Andy Dalton was the first quarterback up. He had a shaky showing through three possessions, completing three of six pass attempts for 20 yards, good for a 57.6 quarterback rating.
His longest completion was to camp darling Darius Cooper on an 8-yard out-breaker on the second play of the game. But Cooper and Dalton also had a pair of failed hookups. On the second drive, Dalton’s pass on third-and-6 from the Eagles’ 43-yard line sailed incomplete over the middle of the field in an apparent miscommunication with the 24-year-old receiver.
On third-and-5 from the Eagles’ 36 on the third drive, Dalton’s pass for Cooper on a vertical route deflected off the receiver’s hands.
Dalton and the Eagles offense failed to pick up a first down in those three possessions, going three-and-out on each occasion.
“It’s preseason still,” Dalton said. “There’s a lot of vanilla looks. So I think that played a little bit of a factor into it. Now, we got ourselves in some tough situations with some penalties and some negative plays that affected it. … Just not getting that first first down. We never got into a rhythm.”
Tanner McKee took over for Dalton halfway through the second quarter. He suffered the same fate as Dalton on his first drive — a three-and-out — but fared better on his second.
Andy Dalton was unable to generate much offense for the Eagles. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
The Eagles failed to score on that possession, but McKee completed two of his three passing attempts, a 13-yard in-breaker for Cooper and a 6-yard screen to Britain Covey. The 13-yarder to Cooper earned the Eagles their first first down of the game with 8 minutes, 24 seconds remaining in the first half.
Still, McKee wasn’t much better than Dalton. On 19 plays through five drives, McKee went 6-for-10 for 35 yards (66.7 quarterback rating). He was sacked once.
“I think whenever a game goes like that, yeah, it’s disappointing,” McKee said. “It’s good to get reps like that to learn from. A lot of times in camp, you make a mistake and obviously you want to play perfect. You never want to make mistakes. But if you can never make that mistake again, then it’s worth the mistake.
“We had a lot of mistakes that we put on film. Obviously, I’m included as well. And as long as we don’t make those same mistakes, I think it’s going to be a positive.”
Cole Payton, the fifth-rounder out of North Dakota State, took over early in the fourth quarter. He led the lone Eagles’ scoring drive of the game just before the two-minute warning, connecting with wide receiver Erik Ezukanma on a 6-yard scramble-drill touchdown pass.
The most exciting play of the game occurred six plays before the touchdown, when Payton converted a fourth-and-3 with his legs, picking up 17 yards on a scramble.
Payton went 4-for-9 for 37 yards and a touchdown (93.3 quarterback rating) on 14 plays.
Despite the final score, a slew of Eagles depth defenders showed promise with almost all of the starters sidelined.
Jihaad Campbell was the only projected starter who took snaps, playing alongside Jeremiah Trotter Jr. for the first two Ravens possessions before returning to the sideline for the night. But it was Trotter Jr. who turned heads, especially on the Ravens’ opening drive.
Ty Robinson (left), Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and the Eagles defensive reserves had their moments in the preseason opener. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
On first-and-10 from the Eagles’ 28, Trotter Jr. blitzed the A gap and overwhelmed left guard Emery Jones Jr., tripping up Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley at the line of scrimmage for a sack.
On the ensuing play, Ty Robinson took advantage of the same guard, using him as a turnstile on his way to sacking Huntley for a loss of seven yards. The back-to-back sacks forced the Ravens to settle for a 49-yard field goal attempt, which kicker Tyler Loop missed wide right.
The secondary had standouts, too. Late in the second quarter, Kelee Ringo was flagged for defensive pass interference while grabbing at Ravens receiver Xavier Guillory in the end zone. But on the ensuing play, Ringo stuck with Guillory on a deep crossing route, and as Ravens quarterback Joe Fagnano rolled to his right, Ringo jumped in front of the receiver in the back of the end zone and made the interception.
Members of the secondary continued to make plays on the ball. Late in the third quarter, cornerback Shaun Wade forced a fumble on Ravens receiver Elijah Sarratt, which was recovered by cornerback Ambry Thomas at the Eagles’ 24-yard line.
Smael Mondon and Joshua Weru also had back-to-back quarterback hits in the third quarter. Their plays led the Ravens to settle for a 42-yard field goal, which put them up, 10-0.
Get in the (outside) zone
Despite the overall ineffectiveness of a very vanilla Eagles offense in the first game of the preseason, there were some encouraging moments, especially in the run game.
On McKee’s second possession, third-year running back Will Shipley had a strong series, picking up 22 yards on four carries (5.5 yards per carry). The outside zone carries were effective. Shipley picked up eight yards on his first rush of the drive, bouncing to his right and running behind tight end E.J. Jenkins before he got tripped up by Ravens safety K’Von Wallace.
Eagles running back Will Shipley found some daylight on outside zone runs during Saturday night’s preseason game.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
The Eagles lost some momentum late in that series when center Jake Majors was called for holding, wiping out a Shipley 8-yard run.
“I think that drive was a good one, in terms of being able to put the ball on the ground and just run the football,” Shipley said. “Those boys up front were doing a great job. I think you saw the momentum. We were carrying it on and, again, we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot with a penalty and weren’t able to get back on track.”
Shipley relieved Tank Bigsby, the likely backup to Saquon Barkley. Bigsby had just two carries for five yards.
Injury report
Jakorian Bennett, who started at outside cornerback opposite Ringo, was injured early in the first quarter and did not return to the game.
