Ty Robinson turned the corner and had a straight route to Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning.
What was he thinking?
“Get there quick because they’re going to try to get the ball out or try to scramble,” the rookie said. “As soon as I saw it, I just make sure to do a beeline. They kind of told us all the rules with the quarterbacks, roughing the passer and all that. I also made sure. I didn’t want to ruin it by landing on him or doing something crazy. It was exciting though.”
Robinson, 24, picked up his first NFL sack in Thursday’s preseason opener. The fourth-round pick took care of his responsibility on the play but made sure to spread around the credit.
While Robinson finished the play, he didn’t get that sack on his own.
“We had a twist game on and I thankfully got to be the guy selling the pick game,” Robinson said. “Gabe (Hall) had an awesome pick on the center, allowing me to wrap him. And then (Josh) Uche had a great level rush to allow the quarterback to step up right into me. I’m the lucky one that gets to get the sack but that sack was earned by everybody.”
The Eagles drafted Robinson in the fourth round out of Nebraska and he figures to be a part of the defensive tackle rotation as a rookie. The top three players in that rotation are Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and Moro Ojomo but the Eagles traded Thomas Booker last week, which likely means more opportunity for Robinson and Hall.
On Thursday night, Robinson started against the Bengals and finished with two tackles, a sack and a team-high three pressures. He also sniffed out a screen play.
Robinson said he saw his work in training camp translate into game action.
“Most definitely,” he said. “I’m still going to have to get better at a lot of things, technique-wise. The competition here is elite, it’s next level. Besides going against our guys in practice, going against an opponent like that, getting a real taste of what a real game is like, real game speed.”
A break from blocking
Johnny Wilson contributed to the Eagles’ offense as a rookie last year — as a blocker. The 6-foot-6 wideout saw just 15 targets all season but was asked to block for A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Saquon Barkley.
With all of those guys sitting for the preseason opener on Thursday, Wilson made the most of his chances to catch the ball.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to make plays like that and it felt good,” Wilson said.
The second-year wideout finished the game with 3 catches for 73 yards. Two of his catches came on 50-50 balls and the other was a back-shoulder throw. Wilson and Tanner McKee get a ton of practice time together and that showed in this game.
“Definitely just pays huge dividends,” Wilson said. “Just putting in that work during practice, after practice, it shows out there in the games. You’re a lot more comfortable, a lot more confident. You know where he’s going to place the ball, you know when to expect the ball. It just comes from that work and that repetition.”
McKee commands the huddle
Eagles backup quarterback Tanner McKee played very well in the Eagles’ preseason opener on Thursday night but that wasn’t what really impressed veteran free agent addition A.J. Dillon.
Dillon was really impressed by the poise McKee showed in the huddle.
“He handled that QB1 role and demanded everybody be on the same page in that huddle, which I was really impressed by,” Dillon said.
What are the signs Dillon wants to see from a quarterback commanding the huddle?
“I’d say a lot of the delivery,” Dillon said. “It can be really loud in the huddle. Sometimes you’re trying to scramble. I remember we had that 2-minute drive right before half and you’re trying to hurry and there’s a lot of intensity behind it. But to be able to deliver to everybody, ‘Hey, this is the play,’ in a calm, easy way and everybody’s locked in, dialed in. When you see guys kind of looking around, it’s not that they don’t respect the quarterback or anything like that. But you demand a presence.
“I always think of it like a dad voice. I have a 2-year-old son. So when I’m like, ‘Hey, no!’ He’s looking at me. I think Tanner did a really good job of being in there, delivering and then obviously playing a really accurate and efficient game.”
Seeing more confidence from Q
During this training camp, Quinyon Mitchell has been one of the Eagles best players and it’s clear how confident he is in Year 2.
Jalen Hurts has noticed that confidence too.
“I even took the time to ask him,” Hurts said. “I said, ‘What do you feel like the difference is for you in Year 2?’ He said confidence. Just want to continue to see that develop and see that continue to grow. He’s been very sticky in coverage, he’s been challenging all of those guys on the offensive side from a 1-on-1 standpoint. It’s been good, it’s been competitive and we’ve all been getting better for it.”
Mitchell, 24, had a really great rookie season but expectations are even higher for him in Year 2. The league took notice last year and players voted him as the 49th best player in the NFL.
If Mitchell’s training camp is any indication, this could be a huge year for him. Pro Bowl and All-Pro are certainly not out of the question.
Keep an eye on Gabe Hall
The Eagles last week made a trade to acquire CB Jakorian Bennett for DT Thomas Booker. That was probably pretty good news for Gabe Hall.
Booker was on the 53-man roster last season and played 166 defensive snaps. With him out of the way, there’s a much better chance second-year defensive tackle Gabe Hall can make the team this season.
Hall, 24, went undrafted out of Baylor last year and signed with the Eagles. He was waived at final cuts but spent the entire season on the practice squad without playing in a game. But this summer, Hall has been disruptive and looks like a much-improved player.
Vic Fangio on Saturday said Hall is “a poster child for what practice squad is supposed to be.”
“I think he just kept getting more confident coming off the injury he had in college,” Fangio said. “He needed some confidence in that regard. He needed to get stronger, needed to adjust playing against men, not college players. It was a great learning experience for him.”
From 2021-23, Hall had 12 1/2 sacks and 16 1/2 tackles for loss for the Bears. He was projected by NFL.com to be drafted in the fourth or fifth round and projected to be a fourth-round pick by The Athletic.
Here’s what The Athletic’s Dane Brugler wrote about Hall in the pre-draft process last year:
“Overall, Hall boasts disruptive traits (explosiveness, power, length) that jump off the screen, but he is too much of a flash player and needs further development to better impact the game on a down-to-down basis. He projects as a rotational three- or five-technique with starting upside, if he finds better consistency with NFL coaching.”
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