Wearing a brace around his surgically repaired left knee Jordan Howard Jersey Youth , Carson Wentz participated in all of the Philadelphia Eagles‘ first training camp practice Thursday.
About seven months and two weeks removed from tearing two knee ligaments in a December game against the Rams, Wentz took a handful of reps, mainly leading the second-team offense.
”I thought he was comfortable,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. ”He did some nice things today. It was very, very limited obviously, but we didn’t do too much. I think we had 30 offensive plays. It was good. It was a good first start for everybody.”
The Eagles practiced for about two hours and weren’t in pads. None of their drills involved serious contact or tackling. The team doesn’t usually practice in pads or tackle for the first three days of practice.
Nick Foles, who replaced Wentz and led the Eagles to the Super Bowl, worked with the first offense Thursday in Wentz’s place. Foles said he doesn’t need any commitment at some point from the coaches that he is or isn’t the starter for the Sept. 6 season opener against the Atlanta Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field.
Wentz said he hasn’t yet received medical clearance for contact. Pederson offered no timetable for when the team expects Wentz to be cleared for contact practices and also didn’t say if Wentz would play in the preseason.
Also undetermined, or just unannounced: How far along Wentz is right now toward full recovery and whether Wentz can expect to be cleared to start on Sept. 6.
”I’m not going to push him or get him out there sooner than he has to Mike McGlinchey 49ers Jersey ,” Pederson added. ”I want to make sure that he’s 100 percent. He looked good today, and we’re just going to continue to progress.”
Wentz said any decision to clear him for contact practice or a preseason game would be made in conjunction with Pederson and the team’s medical staff. Wentz, who set the team record for touchdown passes in a season last year with 33, didn’t specify if he believes it’s necessary to play in the preseason.
”My goal is Sept. 6,” he said. ”We’ll see what happens with all that. But when I’m ready, I’ll be ready.”
Pederson sidestepped questions about the long-term plan for Wentz, or even a plan for when Wentz would take snaps with the first-team offense.
Asked when he needed to switch from a rehab mindset to a season preparation approach for his quarterback, Pederson said that he wasn’t in any hurry to make that decision.
”We got a lot of time,” Pederson said Michael Gallup Jersey Elite , when asked about shifting from rehab mode to season preparation. ”Six weeks is a lot of time. A lot time. We’re still evaluating everybody. I can’t tell you exactly when that’s going to be during camp, but … I’m not going to push him. He and I are married to this deal, you know what I’m saying?”
—
The Indiana Pacers felt cheated – by LeBron James and the officials.
Moments before James beat them with a game-winning, step-back 3-pointer at the buzzer, the Pacers were poised to take the lead in Game 5 on Victor Oladipo’s driving layup. However, James came from behind and blocked Oladipo’s shot, which appeared to hit the backboard before Cleveland’s star touched it – a goaltending violation.
Instead, there was no call and James then dropped his 28-footer over Thaddeus Young to give Cleveland a 98-95 win and a 3-2 lead in this tight Eastern Conference first-round series.
The Pacers didn’t complain on the floor. But later in their locker room they were angry about the game-swinging play. Several of the Pacers shook their heads while watching replays.
”Of course, I thought it was goaltending Lamar Jackson Ravens Jersey ,” Lance Stephenson said. ”We should’ve got the ref’s attention. When you look at it on the replay, it’s clearly goaltending.”
Under NBA rules, goaltending is only reviewable if the call is made on the floor.
Oladipo thought he was fouled by James before the non-call.
”I got a step on him,” Oladipo said. ”I felt like I even got grabbed on the way to the rim, tried to shoot a layup, it hit the backboard, then he blocked it. It was a goaltend. It’s hard to even speak on it. It just sucks, honestly. It really sucks. Even though we fought our way back, we tied the game up Uchenna Nwosu Chargers Jersey , that layup was huge.
”Give him credit where credit is due. The three was big-time. Definitely huge. But who’s to say they even run that play? We don’t know what happens. It’s unfortunate. It really sucks that they missed that.”
James smiled when asked to describe his block, which was reminiscent of the one he made on Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.
”I definitely thought it was a goaltend,” James said with a laugh. ”Of course I didn’t think it was a goaltend. I try to make plays like that all the time and I mean he made a heck of a move, got me leaning right and he went left and I just tried to use my recovery speed and get back up there and make a play on the ball. And I was able to make a play.”
Even if goaltending was called, the Cavaliers would have gotten the ball in frontcourt, giving James a makeable shot in the final seconds.
Said Pacers center Myles Turner: ”It’s clearly a goaltend, but that doesn’t change the fact that they made the game-winning shot.”
.