(When will we see that healthy Justice, by the way? Apparently, not as soon as Reid's encouraging progress reports have made it seem, or the team would not have done this.)
When the Eagles moved Herremans, they broke up the strong left-side tandem of Herremans and tackle Jason Peters, which the Birds ran behind during the first half of last Thursday's preseason victory over the Browns - the game in which the rookie tandem of center Jason Kelce and right guard Danny Watkins got off to a horrible start, leading to Vick taking some punishing hits.
Kelce and Watkins are still right where they were, which might be a bigger surprise than the move of Herremans, especially since offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg last week touted a "competition" between Kelce and veteran starter Jamaal Jackson.
Jackson has been very reluctant to talk about this whole, unexpected drama, brought about by new offensive-line coach Howard Mudd wanting more athleticism in the middle, but his bitterness boiled over Saturday when he was asked about that "competition."
"You can call it a competition if you want. Competition? There is no competition. Whoever's in there, they're the starter, point blank. Whoever the coaches feel can get the job done, they'll put that person in there, and right now, that's not me," Jackson said. (There was no media access to yesterday's practice, in the wake of Hurricane Irene.)
Jackson, 31, the last Eagle from the Super Bowl XXXIX team (though he was on injured reserve that season) seemed to be saying you can't compete for a job that has been handed to someone else, regardless of how they struggle. He added that he is willing to help Kelce when asked.
In fact, that's just about exactly how Hank Fraley felt during the Eagles' 2006 training camp, when he and Jackson "competed" with the coaching staff clearly preferring Jackson's style.
Kelce said he was watching film of his mistakes Friday when Mudd called.
