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Eagles’ Devin White handling inactive status with professionalism, explains how Buccaneers saga unfolded

PHILADELPHIA — This wasn’t exactly the way Devin White planned his resurgence with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Looking for a fresh start to his career, White signed with the Eagles following five seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. White hoped for a fresh start in Philadelphia after a rough outing in Tampa Bay, yet hasn’t played through the first two games.

Monday’s loss was the low point. White was a healthy scratch in the loss, not being on the field when the defense collapsed in the final two minutes. Perhaps White could have helped if he was active.

“Very frustrating but it ain’t the end of the world,” White said being a healthy scratch. “You know, when I look, turn on the tape I see a lot of good things about myself. I’m pretty sure they do too.

“So I just got keep working, you know, get better at the next thing and just keep going.”

White has handled the demotion with professionalism, which had to be a tough pill to swallow since he spent all of training camp with the first team. He’s been in this situation before with the Buccaneers, making this situation easier to handle.

“I don’t think I handled it the best,” White said telling the story of his benching in Tampa Bay. “You know, it was a lot going on that we didn’t expect to go on, just far as you know, starting off asking for a trade. That wasn’t like me, but I did it, you know, I had to own up to it, went to work, went to training camp, did everything right, you know, obviously getting hurt, trying to play through the injury, coming out of injury, keep playing, and then didn’t play.

“Everybody say, I got benched but I was literally inactive because of health reasons. And that’s cool, you know, got past it, came back, they worked me into the game with my foot and played nickel and did good at my role and that was the end of it.

“I’ve been in that situation before of just having to overcome adversity. Just make a man out of you at the end of the day.”

Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio won’t be making wholesale changes to the defense, but there could be a time when White is needed. Perhaps that time will come Sunday.

“He’s practicing and staying attentive and ready to roll,” Fangio said. “Special teams plays a part of it. But yeah, he’s ready and available.”

Special teams could be the ticket to get White in the game, but even he’s admitted he doesn’t have many snaps in that portion of the game.

“I mean, like when COVID was going on we was playing the Saints and Jack Cichy broke his arm and Kevin Minter was out with COVID,” White said. “Me, Lavante David, and Shaq Barrett. We rotated on punt reps, but that was just one game.”

The opportunity could come for White at some point this season. Right now, the former first-round pick has to wait for that moment.

“It’s about how you respond. How you handle yourself because that’s the only thing I can control,” White said. “You know, I can’t put myself in the game, but I can control my attitude, my health, every practice and, you know, just my swagger in the building.

“Still come here every day like a pro and handle my business. I got a son. He can cry when he doesn’t get his way. That isn’t for me to do.”

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‘He showed up for us’

PHILADELPHIA — Britain Covey finally had the opportunity to show the Philadelphia Eagles what he could do at wide receiver. The opportunity was three years in the making, a chance for Covey to prove he can play as big of a role in the offense as he does on special teams.

“I think it was awesome,” said Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore on Covey’s performance. “Great example of a guy who hops in there late in the week and is ready to roll.”

Covey was called to action after A.J. Brown tweaked his hamstring in practice late last week. Knowing his role in the offense, Jalen Hurts backed up his trust in Covey with six targets, leading to six catches for 23 yards. Covey also had a 7-yard and 14-yard catch taken away from two illegal man downfield penalties.

“The game plan wasn’t too adjusted to what position I was going to play,” Covey said. “But, I mean, we have so much experience where I come in, we put Smitty back outside, put me in the slot and it’s just working. It’s just going to work as usual.

“I pride myself on separation above all things, because I can’t afford to not have separation of myself. So my goal is to always have a yard more separation than anybody else, and I did it.”

With Brown still on the mend, Covey is going to get even more chances to catch passes in the coming weeks. The Eagles wideout has earned the trust of Jalen Hurts over the past few years, making him an easy target (pun intended) in the passing game.

“That’s what happens in NFL seasons. Guys like Covey, they’re ready and they’re available, and they never know when they’re going to have to hop out there,” Moore said. “And he jumped out there and handled it really well, converted some stuff, gave us some nice run after catch and a lot of positives.”

Covey preferred to overshadow his performance with the end result — a loss. His face in the locker room after Monday’s game said it all.

“I’m hopeful for more opportunities, but man I just want to win,” Covey said. “That was the most frustrating. Like, I wasn’t even happy after the game that I got involved. It was just so frustrating.”

The sting of the loss impressed Hurts the most, even after Covey’s big night. Covey’s a part of this offense moving forward, proving he’s more than just a really good punt returner on one of the most talented teams in the NFL.

“He showed up for us, Hurts said. “And we’ll need him to continue to do that.”

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Packers QB to be game-time decision for Week 3 game vs. Titans, Matt LaFleur says

Jordan Love’s rapid recovery from his MCL sprain has made him playing this weekend against the Tennessee Titans a possibility. While he was expected to miss multiple weeks, Love will be a game-time decision for Sunday’s game, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said on Friday.

“He’s doing everything in his power,” LaFleur said on Love’s Week 3 status. “We’ll give it to game time.”

Love practiced Wednesday for the first time since suffering the injury during Green Bay’s season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He was limited that day as well as during Thursday and Friday’s practices.

“There’s a lot of boxes (to check),” Love said of the recovery process. “What it feels like to take those drops, be in the live fire … the trainers are doing a good job of monitoring me and seeing how I’m doing and how I’m reacting to every play. They’ll be the ones to clear me when the time comes.”

Love said that, while being exclusively a pocket passer on Sunday isn’t realistic, he acknowledged that he doesn’t need to be able to do everything he can normally do in order to play.

Love was not medically cleared to play in Green Bay’s home opener this past Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. With Love looking on, backup Malik Willis went 12 of 14 that included a touchdown pass in Green Bay’s 16-10 win. Willis was aided by a Packers rushing attack that gorged the Colts for 261 yards on 53 carries.

Love was initially expected to be out anywhere from 2-6 weeks, so his practice participation this week would suggest his return may be on the earlier side of said timetable. Green Bay (1-1) travels to face Tennessee (0-2) — Willis’ former team — before hosting NFC North division rival Minnesota (1-1) in Week 4. Green Bay will head to the West Coast to face the Rams (0-2) in Week 5 before returning home to host Arizona (1-1) and Houston (2-0) in consecutive weeks.

While Love is making progress, Willis is prepared to face his former team on Sunday if he is asked to do so. Willis was unceremoniously traded to the Packers this offseason after two seasons in Nashville.

“When I got traded, it was a little bit emotional,” Willis recently said of the situation. “I didn’t know how to feel. But with the season coming, I just had to flush all that. We can worry about it later, and just understand this season doesn’t wait on anybody. … This is a results-based business. That’s just what it is. I just continued to try to work until I got another opportunity and it just so happened it came (last) week.”