Training Camp

Fletcher Cox's training with the Eagles was interrupted by tragic circumstances last week when his cousin Melvin Baker was killed in a car accident in their hometown, Yazoo City, Miss. "We grew up and did everything together," Cox said, from riding horses and four-wheelers to sharing meals with each other's families. "When I ate, he ate. " Cox, the Eagles' first-round draft pick, was back at practice Thursday after missing Tuesday and Wednesday's sessions to attend Baker's funeral.

FIVE WEEKS of onfield work the Eagles didn't get last year concluded Thursday at NovaCare, with the kind of optimism that tends to abound in the springtime, when the reality of real games and tough opposition sits safely on the far horizon. A big theme of this offseason has been how last year's disappointments grew out of having made huge changes, with no spring work possible to assimilate them because of the NFL lockout. This year, Eagles coach Andy Reid and his staff had a week with their rookies, then 3 weeks with just about everybody on hand for voluntary organized team activities, then 3 days of mandatory full-team minicamp this week.

EAGLES COACH Andy Reid talked Tuesday about why he is inverting the normal training camp schedule, planning to hold the contact workout in the afternoon at Lehigh, following a morning walkthrough. Turns out it wasn't an evil scheme to screw up the commuting plans of fans and reporters, after all. (In the latter case, that was just an added bonus, one assumes.) "I met with [head athletic trainer] Rick [Burkholder] and we talked about recovery time," Reid said. He used to run two practices a day with pads early in camp, but last year's collective bargaining agreement ended any chance of that.

Leave it to Howard Mudd, avid motorcyclist, to evoke a riding metaphor when asked if some recent time off would extend his coaching life. "There's still some gas in the tank," Mudd said Tuesday. "I want to drive fast, too, and I want to go a long ways. " Mudd made his first appearance at spring practices this offseason. With the blessing of coach Andy Reid, the 71-year-old offensive line coach skipped four weeks of voluntary workouts in an effort to stay fresh for the coming season.

Joe Banner may be out - or at least on his way out - but many questions remain unanswered after the Eagles shook up their front office Thursday. Despite the attempts of Jeffrey Lurie, Andy Reid, and Banner to put a positive spin on the former team president's exit, the organizational stance during a news conference announcing the moves didn't pass the smell test. So, as is often the case with the tight-lipped Eagles, information on what really went down within the walls of the NovaCare Complex came from sources.

Novelist and journalist Ernest Hemingway was a man's man. At age 19, Hemingway volunteered to man an ambulance on the Italian front during the First World War. He was embedded as a reporter covering the Greco- Turkish War in 1922, the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, and the liberation of Paris in 1944 (where he was known to slap on a helmet and grab a rifle himself - he earned a Bronze Star, but not for that). The man known as "Papa" was a boxer, big-game hunter, and sport fisherman, and survived two plane crashes on successive days.

Quarterback is the most important position on every football team. For the Eagles, it is also the second-most important position. Because they have Michael Vick in the most important position, their backup-quarterback job is more important than any other position on offense, defense, or special teams. And right now, that position is a bit worrisome. As the team goes through OTAs (Overblown Tackling-free Auditions) at the NovaCare Complex, there appear to be two possibilities: Either rookie Nick Foles is a prodigy and will be ready to step in and win a game or two by October, or the Eagles have left themselves more unprotected at the No. 2 spot than at any time since Mike McMahon was the mcman behind Donovan McNabb.

This time, Jeffrey Lurie was all smiles. Painting brick walls bright colors Wednesday at Comegys Elementary School in West Philadelphia, there was little reason for anything less. All around, Eagles players joined Lurie as part of the team's annual playground-building event, a point of civic pride for the organization and their owner. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Chad Hall grooved with children dancing to hip-hop beats. Jason Kelce let young students paint his massive beard pink.

COULD NOT SEE Russia from his tent. Did not meet Sarah Palin. And Jason Babin didn't make it back from the wilds of Alaska in time for last week's start of full-squad organized team activities, much to his chagrin, even though Eagles coaches didn't seem too upset that a 32-year-old defensive end wasn't present for an optional camp he has been through many times before. "I don't miss stuff. I'm not late," said Babin, who was on hand Wednesday as the OTAs resumed at NovaCare.

Howard Mudd may be a few thousand miles from Eagles minicamp, but he is only a phone call away from critiquing Demetress Bell. "Oh, he's still watching me," Bell said Wednesday. "He's still questioning me. " Mudd hasn't been at Eagles organized team activities for the last few weeks and isn't expected to be back in Philadelphia until the final minicamp, but the offensive line coach has kept up on his linemen from the practice videos the team has been sending him daily. Most of his attention, it can safely be said, has been focused on his new starting left tackle.