Eagles notes, quotes and tidbits: Torrey Smith owns up to not falling on fumble

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It didn't look good and Torrey Smith knows it. 

As the ball rolled on the grass just in front of the 50-yard line at FedEx Field, and as players from both sides, including Carson Wentz, tried to jump on it, Smith stood and watched. 

That's when Washington linebacker Mason Foster grabbed the loose ball to give his team great field position in a game that still could have gone either way. 

"Oh gosh," Smith said when asked Thursday about what happened on the fumble. "First of all, I didn't know it was a fumble and that's why I didn't jump on it, which is pretty stupid because everything tells you, you pick it up regardless of what the situation is."

After the play was over and after the ref signaled that it was Washington's ball, replays show Smith standing over the play as a bunch of Washington players celebrated around him. 

"Yeah, you feel stupid," Smith said. "Like, 'Come on, man' type. It goes against everything you're coached to do. I just thought that it was high and [Nelson Agholor] dropped it. I didn't realize it was a fumble." 

A part of the reason the play even resulted in a fumble was that Smith wasn't able to block cornerback Kendall Fuller at the onset of the player. He explained that Thursday too. 

Smith said he was watching the ball for the snap because, being in a loud road stadium, he couldn't hear the cadence. Just before the snap, Fuller shifted to his left and while Smith saw it out of the corner of his eye, he didn't want to move and get called for offsides.

"And by the time I looked out, he's flying, ready to blow right by me," Smith said. 

At least Smith owned up to his mistakes because it certainly didn't look very good at the time. 

Bringing in a spy?
When the Eagles signed former Kansas City cornerback De'Vante Bausby this week, it was nearly impossible for everyone who heard the news to not roll their eyes.

They signed a spy? 

Bausby smiled before the question was finished. He knew it was coming and couldn't help but laugh. 

"They actually didn't even need me, honestly, " he said Thursday. "Because our assistant DB coach (Dino Vasso), he was like the brainiac over there in Kansas City. He knows everything. And Doug Pederson used to be the OC. I wasn't needed. They already had that figured out."

Still, Bausby said the coaching staff did ask him a few questions about specific receivers, but he didn't ask him any technical questions about the Chiefs' defense.  

The Eagles actually gave Bausby a workout last week and then decided to sign him this week, perhaps brought on by the injury to Ronald Darby. After spending training camp with the Chiefs, Bausby has spent the last couple weeks without a team and without actually playing football. He was a little sore two days in. 

Down with the deep ball
The Eagles weren't able to connect on most of their deep balls in their season opener. In fact, Carson Wentz completed just one of his six passes that went 20-plus yards in the air. That one was to Agholor for the 58-yard touchdown. 

He was close to hitting Smith a few times but they couldn't quite connect. Still, just the threat of going deep should have an impact on the Eagles' offense and how defenses try to stop them. 

"They'll respect it," Smith said. "They'll have to. If they don't, then hopefully we dial it up a lot." 

When offensive coordinator Frank Reich was asked about the effect those deep balls have, he got a little more technical. He explained how important it was to have someone run a long post route behind deep crosses. The reason there is to keep the free safety honest. If there's no threat of going deep over the top, the safety is going to "drive" up toward the underneath patterns. He can't do that if Smith is running deep posts and has the potential to go for a long touchdown. 

The players who will benefit most from the deep balls are going to be the ones catching passes on shorter routes in the middle of the field. Basically, those deep patterns just open up the field. Eventually, the Eagles will need to hit on them but for now, defenses at least know they have it in their arsenal. Reich noted that defensive coordinators watching the film from the opener will see that. 

"I think you saw it a little bit," Wentz said. "I think you'll see it even more going forward, things open up. Obviously, we missed a couple down the field to Torrey. We just have to get on the same page. I gotta hit him on those ones. 

"But if nothing else, people saw that Torrey can get behind the defense and I think it's going to open up some things even more going forward for guys like Zach Ertz, Nelson Agholor in the slot, Darren Sproles underneath. I think that's kind of the name of our game. We just have to find the right balance of taking those shots and staying underneath."

Light in the wallet
Eagles backup linebacker Joe Walker was fined $24,309 for a hit early in the fourth quarter on a punt against Washington. He was flagged for unecessary roughness on the play when he came in late and hit Jamison Crowder, who was already on the ground. Walker has a base salary of $540,000 this season, so this fine is about 4.5 percent of his salary in 2017. 

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