The Eagles will start the regular season two days earlier than most teams in the NFL and that means preparation for the Green Bay Packers on Friday in Sao Paulo, Brazil had to start at the NovaCare Complex on Labor Day weekend, something that essentially mimicked a Wednesday of a normally scheduled game week.
The Eagles practiced on Sunday, and will again on Labor Day and Tuesday in South Philadelphia before jetting to South America on Wednesday. The team will have a walkthrough at the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo on Thursday as the final preparation for the game.
There was some good news on Sunday, including the return of tight end Dallas Goedert to practice after missing the two session last week with an oblique injury. Also back was cornerback Isaiah Rodgers (undisclosed), rookie receiver Johnny Wilson (concussion) and rookie edge rusher Jalyx Hunt (oblique), who had all been sidelined.
Because of the unusual work week, the Eagles and Packers will not be required to release official injury reports until Tuesday so the exact practice designations of the players returning is not known but they all worked in individual drills with helmets indicating that each of the players were at least limited.
The only players noticably absent were a couple of practice squad players, tight end Jack Stoll (undisclosed) and safety Caden Sterns (knee).
Stoll was practicing last week after being brought back to the organization in the aftermath of being waived by the New York Giants and was a candidate to be elevated for Frisay's game because the Eagles only have two tight ends on the 53-man roster: Goedert and Grant Calcaterra. The Eagles so have two addidtional TEs on the PS: E.J. Jenkins and Kevin Foelsch.
Before practice Nick Sirianni refused to name Mekhi Becton as the starting right guard and the big man followed suit by refusuing to acknowledhge his status in the locker room before practice. Becton continued to work at RG between Cam Jurgens and Lane Johnson in combo blocking drills, however.
"Obviously don't have to name any starters at any position yet, so you guys will see who rolls out there for Game 1," Sirianni said. "Mekhi had a good camp."
