FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Eagles‘ first practice against the New England Patriots is in the books.

Here are our observations from all the action, including A.J. Brown vs. Quinyon Mitchell and an encouraging day for Jalen Hurts and the offense:

Right on Q

The literal first snap of practice between the Eagles defense and Patriots offense was the matchup many had come to see: A.J. Brown across from Quinyon Mitchell in wide receiver/cornerback one-on-ones with Brown running a go route down the sideline against his former teammate.

Mitchell had good coverage (perhaps assisted by a tug ofonBrown’s jersey after a burst of speed from the Patriots wideout), and was in a strong enough position to interfere with Brown as he bobbled and dropped an attempt at a one-handed catch.

This may have been the most intense moment of practice between the two sides, egged on by the fans in attendance as the volume around the field reached a fever pitch with the ball in the air.

Afterward, Brown said Mitchell would have probably drawn a defensive holding penalty in a game scenario on the rep.

“Q got away with a little holding,” Brown said, laughing. “I won and he pulled himself back in the play. I’ve just got to finish the play. My right hand didn’t get to the ball quick enough. My left hand got to the ball.”

The last laugh

Although Mitchell won the early rep, it was generally a shaky day for the Eagles secondary against Brown and the rest of the New England receiving corps. By my count, Brown had five catches and a handful came downfield. He got by Riq Woolen (much more on him momentarily) on a deep crossing route in the first team session of the day, beat both Woolen and Mitchell on respective slant routes and made a catch along the sideline downfield against Woolen later in practice, although the last catch was likely null and void with Jihaad Campbell bearing down on Drake Maye on a blitz.

Woolen in particular had a tough day even when spared the matchup against Brown. Romeo Doubs got by him early in a situational move-the-ball drill at the end of practice but dropped the pass over the middle of the field. A few plays later, Mack Hollins got massive separation against Woolen on a dig route for a chunk gain.

Overall, the Eagles secondary seemed to have the hardest time transitioning from what has generally been an encouraging summer. New England’s talent at receiver is an easy thing to point to and likely a primary factor, but I’d also argue that the Patriots’ approach in the pass game probably makes the group look worse in practice than you’d expect in a game. There were a handful of plays where Maye held onto the ball for three or more seconds, inviting some pressure before targeting someone downfield. My guess is the Eagles’ defensive coaching staff would argue a few or those deep completions, like the one to Brown over Woolen, would have been sacks or at least key pressures in game.

Barkley turns heads

From Bo Wulf on the offense:

This was a run-heavy day for the Eagles offense in team periods. Naturally, that made Saquon Barkley a standout. One source told me the Patriots scouts were noticeably blown away at the supernatural ability of the Eagles running back. Barkley’s ability to teleport from hole to hole was on display on a few sizeable runs, though the Patriots defense had their share of tackles for loss or short gains as well. Call it something like five big runs out of 15. 

The most memorable Barkley play, though, came on a nifty running back screen to Jalen Hurts’ left, which left Barkley with just one man between him and a 40-something yarder. Needless to say, he made the defender miss. 

Hurts’ quick read

From Bo Wulf on the offense:

Joint practices are an interesting exercise because while the Eagles are playing a different team, they don’t spend much time scouting that opponent as they would in a real game. One of Hurts’ best throws of the day came when a Patriots blitzer was left unblocked up the middle, but Hurts quickly flicked the ball on a wheel route to Will Shipley, who was wide open after being left one-on-one with a defensive end. It was a monster play, even if not the ideal design. 

“Not a happy accident,” Hurts said. “It’s definitely a part of the play. When you coach it up, you don’t coach it up in the unideal looks, and we got a lot of unideal looks today. So, just us being able to respond to when we’re hot and hit that as the end’s peeling off is a really big play, one that we’d be excited about in the room, but obviously still something to learn from right there because we want to avoid having a free guy coming with pressure. So, we get it off, but there’s a process to it and we buy into the process of it.” 

Hurts’ other big completion came on a long touchdown pass to Elijah Moore on under-center play-action, leading to a demonstrative celebration by Moore who tossed the ball into the air. Jordan Mailata also celebrated with fervor. Lane Johnson also tossed a defender into next Tuesday who was coming around the edge with eyes on Hurts. 

Hurts’ day was not perfect, though. He threw multiple interceptions during seven-on-sevens. And at the conclusion of practice, during a two-minute move-the-ball drill, the offense failed to get into field goal range, thanks in part to some pre-snap penalties. 

Campbell’s up

For as much as the back end struggled for most of the day, I thought the Eagles’ front seven had a generally solid practice. The defensive line was out of eyeshot for one-on-ones against the Patriots offensive line, but I did catch a glimpse of Jalyx Hunt getting by Will Campbell early in the period.

Hunt got in the backfield during team drills as well and overall I thought the Patriots run game was mostly held in check by the Eagles defensive front with Zack Baun, Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, and Campbell each going down in my note book for stuffing a run.

WR/DB one-on-ones

From Bo Wulf on one-on-ones between the Eagles’ pass catchers and Patriots’ defensive backs: 

* Great day for Tay Wicks, who twice embarrassed cornerback Charles Woods with nifty footwork at the line of scrimmage. Wicks was also active during team drills. He has looked very good lately. 

* Ditto, Darius Cooper. In addition to the nifty route against Kobee Minor below, he also beat Minor for a long touchdown down the left sideline. In team drills, he caught an on-time out route from Hurts against Carlton Davis during the two-minute drill. That was an encouraging rep after his drop from Andy Dalton in the preseason opener. 

* Dallas Goedert and Kevin Byard each got the better of one another on a rep. Hollywood Brown beat Carlton Davis deep. Eli Stowers got open over the middle against Dell Pettus for a short gain though John Saunder Jr. had him smothered on a longer route, essentially running the route for Stowers. 

* Some appreciation for down-the-roster receiver Samori Toure, who has had a very good camp given his expectations. He caught a long touchdown against Marcellas Dial Jr. and drew a flag later in the drill in his rematch with Dial Jr. Toure also had a long catch with the twos during team drills. 

OL/DL one-on-ones

From Bo Wulf on the one-on-ones between the Eagles’ offensive line and Patriots’ defensive line: 

* Four out of five wins for the Eagles’ starters, with Lane Johnson stoning Elijah Ponder, Tyler Steen holding up well against Christian Barmore, Cam Jurgens settling in on Cory Durden and Jordan Mailata shepherding Dre’Mont Jones to the outside. The only loss came from Landon Dickerson, who was bull-rushed into oblivion by Milton Williams, the ex-Eagle who frankly looked like the best player on the field at times Wednesday. 

Re: Steen, Johnson spoke after practice about the right guard’s impressive summer. He said it’s clear the daily work against Jalen Carter has served Steen well and he believes this will be “Steen’s best season yet.” 

* The backup offensive line did not fare as well. Willie Lampkin went 2-1, with an early loss against Isaiah Iton before settling in. But the likes of Jake Majors, Cam Williams and Myles Hinton (working as the second-team left tackle with Fred Johnson having suffered an apparent injury early in practice) were all held to the fire. Williams and Hinton, especially, were victimized. Micah Morris, who has had a solid summer, fared worse than he has of late as well. 

Play-by-play

The teams went through a situation two-minute period at the end with each offense getting a chance to get into field-goal range. Here is every play from the Eagles’ defensive unit in what was an unsuccessful series:

• Doubs drop after beating Woolen in the middle of the field
• DeMario Douglas catch on a crossing route against Cooper DeJean
• Zack Baun nice pass breakup against a Rhamondre Stevenson wheel route
• Mack Hollins dig route against Woolen for a chunk gain.
• Drake Maye scrambles. Ty Robinson pressure, but not given the sack.
• Woolen encroachment penalty
• Hunter Henry catch on an out route against Michael Carter to get the Patriots into field-goal range
• 52-yard field goal made by Andy Borregales

Final notes

From Bo Wulf, watching the offense:

* I thought this was Tanner McKee’s best day of the summer until the final two-minute drill when he settled for three straight checkdowns before throwing a practice-ending interception to Kindle Vildor. During team drills, he completed a nice out route to Quez Watkins, another deep completion to Watkins on what looked like his third or fourth read, a deep crosser to Eli Stowers (the rookie’s best play of the summer, perhaps) and a solid intermediate throw to Will Shipley. 

* Shipley also probably had his best day of the summer, with a few big runs paired with his long receptions. 

* The most interesting moment of friskiness on this field actually came with friendly fire, when during a team drill right tackle Cam Williams and right guard Michael Jordan exchanged minor shoves following a disagreement about assignments on the previous play. 

* The third-teamers will get most of their work in the game on Saturday, but the one developmental team period featured Wednesday did include another Cole Payton interception. 

* Vic Fangio gave us the quote of the summer on Ty Robinson’s impressive preseason game Saturday. “Yeah, he showed signs of life. He’s been on life support since he got here.”