Five observations from the final week of the preseason…
• Brian Rolle was a lock to make the Eagles 53-man roster before the team ever boarded the bus to North Jersey for Thursday’s game against the Jets. He had an outstanding camp, the coaches loved him, he had it made.
Yet Rolle still went out and played like his job was on the line. He was all over the field as a starting linebacker and he stayed on the field as part of the nickel package. Chances are you will be seeing a lot more of him during the regular season.
Rolle was effective on the blitz, shooting the B gap once for a sack and using his speed to come around the corner and assist on another sack. He demonstrated his strength when he took on a blocker who outweighed him by 60 pounds and drove him backwards on an end run. Rolle’s penetration forced the ball carrier deeper and allowed defensive end Chris Wilson to make the tackle for a big loss.
Rolle was an outstanding linebacker at Ohio State, but he slipped in the draft because the scouts felt he was too small. He is a shade under 5-10 and weighs about 230 pounds, but he plays much bigger. Pound for pound, he was one of the strongest players in his class at the Scouting Combine. He did 28 reps in the bench press (225 pounds).
The Eagles got themselves a steal in the sixth round. Rolle will backup Moise Fokou on the weakside and he will continue to play in the nickel package as well as all the special teams.
• Dion Lewis is another rookie who was written off by the scouts as too small, but he, too, proved this preseason that he can play with the big boys. Lewis is listed at 5-8 and 195 pounds, but that might be generous.
He looks small when he standing in a group of players, but his size is really an asset when he carries the ball. He presents a very small target in the open field and when he runs between the tackles he is hard to see behind the blockers. As you saw at the goal line, Lewis is not afraid to run inside.
He led the Eagles with 148 yards rushing in the preseason and added 102 yards on six pass receptions. In his first extended action Thursday, he had 100 yards total offense in just one half against the Jets.
No one really stepped forward as a kick returner in the preseason so Lewis may wind up inheriting the job. The question is did Lewis show Andy Reid enough for the coach to put together a package of plays – draws, screens, change of pace stuff – for the rookie to take into the regular season? He definitely brings something to the offense.
• Cedric Thornton’s name will likely be on the cutdown list, but the big defensive tackle is a guy the Eagles should try to keep on the practice squad. He played quite a bit in the preseason and played pretty well.
He isn’t ready to play a major role, but at 6-4 and 310 pounds he has intriguing tools that need some polish. He was an undrafted free agent from a small school (Southern Arkansas) that was awful last season (2-8). Still, he showed enough to earn an invitation to the Senior Bowl and he did not look out of place working against the top players from the Division One schools.
Thornton had more than 100 tackles and eight and a half sacks in the 2009 season. I’d like to see the Eagles keep him around and let coach Jim Washburn work with him for a full season. He is a little rough around the edges but I’d like to see what he could be with some good coaching.
• The Eagles had just two tight ends on the roster at the end of last season, but they may have to expand that to three. Donald Lee, the ex-Packer, had three nice plays against the Jets.
The first was a 15-yard gain on a third-and-14 play with Lee running hard and stretching for the chains. The second was another 15 yard reception that set the ball up at the one for the Lewis touchdown. The third was an inside route with Vince Young throwing a perfect pass and Lee gathering it in for a 22-yard gain.
Lee, a nine-year vet, was one of the on-the-bubble guys going into the game but he may have secured a job as the third tight end behind Brent Celek and Clay Harbor. I think he is worth keeping for his experience and his blocking ability. (He is a better blocker than either Celek or Harbor).
• Did anyone else have the same thought I did when Andy Reid decided to go for it on fourth and one after the botched field goal try? It is an easy second-guess now because Young was hurt on the play, but was anyone else thinking what I was thinking?
When holder Chas Henry bobbled the snap and kicker Alex Henery was unable to get off his field goal attempt, it was another “uh-oh” moment for the Eagles special teams. Prior to that, Henery had hooked a 43-yard field goal wide left and Chad Hall had fumbled two punts, losing one of them.
When the Jets were called for a penalty on the botched field goal, it set up fourth and short at the nine, but given what had gone before, wouldn’t you have just left the kicking team on the field and told them to try again? Wouldn’t you have wanted the two rookies, the holder and the kicker, to do it over and, hopefully, get it right?
I can’t see what Reid was trying to accomplish putting his offense back on the field. If it was the starters and you wanted to practice a fourth-and-short figuring you will be in that spot during the regular season, OK, I get it. But this was the second team. If that situation arises during the regular season, those guys will be on the bench.
Henry and Henery are your kicking game and they haven’t been exactly rock solid. I would have left them out there for the do-over. I don’t care if it is a chip shot. The first try was supposed to be a chip shot, too, but Henry couldn’t get the ball down. Doing it again against a live rush would have made more sense than running another play.
E-mail Ray Didinger at viewfromthehall@comcast.net
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