Eagles OC Pat Shurmur: Sam Bradford Has All The Things We Need To Get It Going
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — Eagles' offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur has a history with Sam Bradford. They were together briefly in St. Louis, and apparently the small period of time carried some weight, because when the Eagles traded Nick Foles in the off-season to the Rams for Bradford, they consulted Shurmur about what he thought.
"Certainly I had experience with Sam in his first year in St. Louis and I knew a great deal about him," Shurmur said Friday, prior practice. "I was able to give some insight about what Sam is all about as a player, and all of the other stuff came down the hall from me. He's the same player. He's a guy who takes great pride in his work, whether it's calling the play and making sure the guys get lined up right, to cadence, to dropping back and throwing, his ball handling and decision making. I saw the same player.
Unfortunately, he just had some injuries, and some of those things you can't control. I think experience makes us all better, and it's not always pretty. I like to think that sometimes when things do go wrong, it ends up being sort of a blessing, because you do learn from them. Just in the time we've been together here in Philadelphia, I think [Bradford] has gotten his body and his knee right, you can see he's executing here at a high level.
"When he's out there playing, everything is always designed to drop back and throw, or play-action and throw. He's had a handful of plays where he's had to scramble and make a play, where it's a little bit uncontrolled to his right and to his left. We're sort of checking off the boxes as we go. We do know he's a very accurate passer, and in the progressions we're running, he's displayed an ability to throw the ball accurately and on time for us. I think we're moving forward with him and he has all the things we need to get it going."
Shurmur on Ryan Matthews: "He's showing out there that he's a real, solid sturdy guy. I wouldn't call him a downhill runner, but he has really good vision and he catches the ball well. We're very fortunate to have him. Again, you can't control [injuries]. I've spoken to Norv Turner about him and he had a lot of great things to say."
On the open right guard spot (between Andrew Gardner, Matt Tobin and John Moffitt): "We're working a small handful of guys there. We're only at the end of our first week of competition out there. It's still a little early to tell, but we feel good about the progress we have there."
On Josh Huff's development: "He's made huge improvements. I think when you look at his game as a receiver, he's done really good things with his release technique. He's making plays down the field and he's a quick, powerful type of guy who does a nice job in the run game as well. He's developed his total game. It's a well-rounded improvement. We're expecting good things from him."
