Eagles Injury Updates on Starters AJ Brown, CJ Gardner-Johnson
The Eagles were missing three players at Thursday’s practice: A.J. Brown (hamstring), C.J. Gardner-Johnson (foot), Johnny Wilson (hamstring). Nick Sirianni wouldn’t rule anyone out for Sunday, preferring to wait and see how all three players look during final preparations. They have parts of three more days to decide.
However, it would later be revealed during Friday’s injury report that A.J Brown will miss the game having been absent from practice all week.
Gardner-Johnson tweaked his foot at Thursday’s practice, according to Sirianni, but the coach wouldn’t provide any specifics about what happened. Brown is considered day-to-day, although initial reports claimed he could “miss a couple weeks.”
“Again, we got some time, we’ll see how today goes,” Sirianni said. “We got today, we got a little bit of tomorrow, and we got some of Sunday before we have to make that decision — and I know both guys are working their butts off to get back.”
The Eagles will likely swap Jahan Dotson in for Brown for a second straight week. Meanwhile, rookie Cooper DeJean seems primed to replace Gardner-Johnson at the safety spot in New Orleans if he’s unable to go. He’s been turning heads at recent practices, on defense, and on special teams.
Sirianni revealed that DeJean made a highlight-reel play on special teams during Thursday’s practice that the coaching staff put up on the big board and showed the whole team in their morning meeting.
“He’s had some really good reps with the defense,” Sirianni said. “He gets reps with the defense, and he also gets reps on scout team, so I think he’s been stringing together practice after practice after practice and our confidence is continuing to grow in him. And I know he’s a good football player, and I know he wants to be out there on the field and contributing to this team.”
Getting loud
Caesars Superdome can get as loud as a military jet taking off from an aircraft carrier. The raucous stadium has hit 128 decibels which, according WWLTV in New Orleans, could put spectators at risk for hearing less.
That is why noise truthers are on high alert this weekend. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni revealed that controlling and blocking out the tumultuous din has been a point of emphasis at practices this week. The team has been simulating the environment of the Superdome by playing extra loud music, in addition to piping in fake crowd noise amplified to insanely chaotic levels.
“It’ll be loud out there today,” Sirianni told reporters prior to Friday’s practice. “Our ears are ringing obviously from the crowd noise yesterday, and sometimes you try and put it up even a little bit louder, like we have it up as loud as the speakers go but to make it louder instead of music you use the crowd noise which can become annoying but that’s what we’ve done.”
The Eagles aren’t messing around this week since communications issues are already a problem. Sirianni listed it as one of his keys to winning the game.
“And, so, communicating and being on the same page in the noise is one of our keys to win this game,” Sirianni said, “and that’s really anytime you’re on the road but especially in New Orleans.”
Eagles HC Nick Sirianni: Quote of the Day
“All we can control is our habits and our habits are what is going to produce our results, or our habits are going to be the exact same as they’ve been and any process that hasn’t been what we think is up to the standard, then that’s got to get raised to, so the guys have been great. We’ve had a good week of work.”
REUTERS/Carla Carniel
