The first joint practice between the Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins is over. As always, there is no such thing as a true “winner” or “loser” when teams come together to have joint practices: the main focus should be on improvements and getting better.
That being said, for the first time in the Nick Sirianni era, it appears that a team looks better than the Eagles through one practice.
It wasn’t a total waste of practice though. There were several players that stood out for Philly, and plenty to talk about.
Eagles Practice Recap
Haason Reddick Dominates
Much has been discussed about the potential usage of Haason Reddick. A 10+ sack player over the last two years, Reddick was brought in to feasibly increase the sack total that was one of the lowest in team history over the last few years.
The first day of joint practice with Miami gave a small glimpse into what has been missing for the team over the last few years.
Reddick got to the quarterback twice during practice and was a force when blitzing from the inside, or outside rush. Reddick comes with a lot of pedigree and is expected to be a major force on the Eagles defense.
It’s good to see he’s already close to that point.
Offense Sputters
According to all reports, the Eagles offense wasn’t terrible, but they didn’t do anything special or stand out in a way like they did against the Browns last week.
Jalen Hurts reportedly was solid and made some nice throws, but ultimately the group as a whole struggled against the Dolphin’s defense.
In fairness, this can be attributed to a few things. First, Miami is extremely hot and humid during this time of year. The team’s having joint practices in Florida has a major adjustment to make with the humidity. It happens every year to every other team. Some of the players reportedly acknowledged that the heat played a part in practice today.
Second, the Eagles quite frankly just traveled the day prior from Cleveland to Miami to have joint practices and haven’t been home. We can argue that they should perform better, but we’re also talking about practice and a combination of not being home, and the heat can certainly play a part in that.
Slay and Secondary get humbled
There are not many receivers that have repeatedly beaten Darius Slay in 1v1 matchups.
Of course, there aren’t any receivers like Tyreek Hill in the game today. Hill reportedly beat up Slay in 1v1 matchups while the team defense was repeatedly beaten by Tua and the Dolphins offense.
It’s also worth noting that Slay reportedly exited practice after multiple run-ins with Hill in their matchups. He just couldn’t keep up with Hill’s speed.
While the Eagles offense could argue they had a mediocre day, it’s safe to say the Eagles defense was bad in the morning.
Again, this isn’t grounds to have sirens blaring or panicking. The Browns are considerably different than the Dolphins in the way they run their offense and the players they have. Tyreek Hill is better than Amari Cooper. It’s ok to get humbled a little in practice and grow from those experiences. A bad day against the Dolphins doesn’t mean that people should be panicking.
Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire
