Eagles Will Follow Similar Script Against the Jets

The Eagles will finish off the 2021 preseason portion of their schedule on Friday night when they take on the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in North Jersey.

The Eagles will enter the game without many injuries to key players to speak of and that is seemingly a prime objective of new head coach Nick Sirianni. The team will instead rely on joint practice sessions with the Jets this week to get a better look at their top talent, saving the preseason tilt to watch younger players who are battling for roster spots.

The only real injuries the team is dealing with happened before either before the preseason games started in training camp or during practices.

Get our free mobile app

The team had joint practices with the New England Patriots last week ahead of their preseason matchup in Philadelphia, which by many accounts were dominated by the home team.  However, once the two teams stepped on to the playing surface at Lincoln Financial Field, the domination flipped over to the Patriots, who won the exhibition game 35-0.

The Eagles and Jets will now follow a similar schedule when they meet for joint practice sessions ahead of their preseason finale on Friday night.

"I actually felt really good about the schedule and the organization of joint practices," Sirianni said on Sunday. "So much so, that we're using a very similar format against the Jets this week. I really liked what we got out of that work against the Patriots and looking to duplicate that this week."

For those who worry that the starting level players aren't getting enough reps in the games, Eagles running back Miles Sanders explained that that No. 1 grouping is getting plenty of reps during this controlled, joint practices.

"The starters, we are all getting a lot of reps in these joint practices," Sanders explained. I know you guys might not see all of us play in the preseason games, but we're definitely getting a lot of work in the joint practices."

Teams like the joint practices because they are a more controlled environment. They can control the down and distance, they can control where the ball is placed and what they want to work on.  In a preseason game, you may never get to work on a goal line situation third and short, third and long, short yardage situations.   In a controlled setting the coaches can make sure they see the situations they want to see their players perform in, in a preseason game, that situation may never come up.

The Eagles and Jets face-off in their annual preseason finale on Friday night on 97.3 ESPN.  Coverage begins at 6:30 with Merrill Reese and Mike Quick calling all the play-by-play action starting at 7:30.