What is it with all the sudden outrage about the Eagles and their offensive line, linebackers and defensive tackles? Relax, people. They're going to be just fine.
Better to endure the inevitable hiccups in the preseason than when the games start counting next month. Besides, there's been no major injuries yet, which is the best sign of all that they have a chance to get through a minefield of an abbreviated training camp and actually make it to the season opener in better shape than when they started training camp.
Can't even remember the last time that happened.
Right tackle Winston Justice (knee) is expected back on the practice field this week. So is wide receiver Jeremy Maclin (illness) and defensive tackle Antonio Dixon (back). The team also believes wide receiver Steve Smith (knee) will soon be ready to be activated from the physically unable to perform list.
Besides, things weren't as bad as they looked in Thursday night's 24-14 preseason victory over the Cleveland Browns. Yes, rookie offensive linemen Jason Kelce and Danny Watkins looked lost at times, particularly during the first two series. But by halftime, when they were pulled along with all the other starters, they had made great strides.
Rarely, if ever, have rookie offensive linemen in the NFL been able to function at a high level or with any kind of consistency by Week 3 of the preseason.
Quarterback Michael Vick, who took a lot of extra shots because of it Thursday night, reminded us all about the process after the game. For example, he has no reason to believe Kelce, who's being given a chance to win the starting center job, won't be a special player as early as this year.
All Vick asks is for everyone to just give Kelce room to breathe.
"You can't expect a guy to come in and be a Pro Bowl player in two games," Vick said. "That's just not the way this thing works. You've got so many responsibilities on offense as a center, so many things you have to learn, so many defenses and different looks that you're going to see, and that's just part of the growing pains that we all have to go through in this league.
"You can't expect somebody to come out and perform at a high level when they've only had two or three games under their belt. It's going to take time. It's going to take plenty of reps, it's going to take mistakes. We all learn from our mistakes."
Bad as Kelce and Watkins, who started at right guard, were in the first two series, they operated as part of a well-oiled unit on the first-team offense's final touchdown drive of the evening, a 10-play, 77-yard march in which they converted three third downs.
That the Eagles used 10 relatively small plays (and were helped by a ghastly roughing-the-passer penalty that never should have been called) to reach the end zone rather than one big one is an even more encouraging sign.
"I don't know that I got better as the half went on," Kelce said, "but we communicated better as a group as the game went on. When we first got out there, a few plays right off the bat put us down because they didn't necessarily pan out the way we thought they were going to pan out. The veterans did a good job of saying, you know, 'just push through it.'
"And I think as the game went on, we definitely got better and started scoring some points."
On defense, rookie middle linebacker Casey Matthews also demonstrated the value of game repetitions to play infinitely better against the Browns than he did at Pittsburgh the week before.
"I definitely felt more comfortable this week and knew what to expect," he said. "I felt like it slowed down a lot. That's what I feel was the biggest change from last week to this week — and I was getting off more blocks and making plays."
More importantly, the defense dialed down its blitzes, staying more basic in this contest, and still put more pressure on the quarterback than it did against Pittsburgh.
New right cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha appreciated that most of all.
"And the communication from last week to this week was night and day," he said. "So I think it was a great step for us."
The Eagles still aren't close to being a finished product with the season opener looming just two weekends from now. But they're moving faster than anyone could have reasonably hoped, given the circumstances of the NFL lockout and the massive amount of new faces they're trying to assimilate.
Remember: Even if Kelce isn't ready for opening day, the Eagles still have Jamaal Jackson. And even if Danny Watkins isn't ready, they still have Mike McGlynn.
So even though they don't have Bobby McFerrin, don't worry, be happy.
