Eagles "D" line hurting

[Tommy-the-Greek]

http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/homeNewsDetail.jsp?id=3554

DE McDougle Injured

August 28, 2003

By DAVID MURPHY

A relatively injury-riddled preseason for the Eagles defensive line continued on Thursday night, as rookie defensive end Jerome McDougle left the game with a left hip/ankle injury in the third quarter. The 2002 first-round draft pick suffered the injury when fellow defensive end Ron Johnson was blocked into his knee while both players were rushing the passer.

McDougle's leg appeared to get bent beneath him. After the training staff attended to him on the field, starting defensive ends Derrick Burgess and N.D. Kalu carried him off of the field.

It is not immediately clear how serious McDougle's injury is.

The former University of Miami star is the fifth defensive lineman to suffer an injury since training camp began at the end of July.

Veteran defensive end Brandon Whiting missed most of training camp with a hamstring strain before returning to the line-up. Soon after he arrived back, third-year defensive end Derrick Burgess who had been starting in place of Whiting suffered a foot injury and missed the team's second and third preseason games.

Last week, defensive tackle Paul Grasmanis suffered a concussion in the Eagles' 24-12 loss to the New England Patriots. He did not play against the Jets.

Also last week, defensive end Ivory McCoy suffered a hamstring strain. He did not play against the Jets, either.

The most serious of all the injuries, of course, is the broken fibula suffered by rookie defensive end Jamaal Green in last week's game. Green, who teamed with McDougle at Miami, was placed on injured reserve earlier this week.

The slew of injuries means that, for the moment, Johnson is the Eagles' fourth defensive end. An undrafted rookie out of Shippensburg University, Johnson has had a solid preseason, but is very inexperienced. He made a nice play on Thursday night, stopping Jets' running back Lamont Jordan in the backfield for a loss of five yards.