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Philadelphia Eagles RG Brandon Brooks dealing with anxiety condition

By The Sports Xchange
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Peterson talks to his players on the sidelines during the first quarter of the preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on August 18, 2016. Photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Peterson talks to his players on the sidelines during the first quarter of the preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on August 18, 2016. Photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI | License Photo

Philadelphia Eagles right guard Brandon Brooks revealed Wednesday that he suffers from anxiety, which has caused the stomach illness that has kept him out of two of the last three games.

"What I mean by anxiety condition is not nervousness or fear of the game," Brooks said. "I have an obsession with the game. It's an unhealthy obsession right now. I'm working with team doctors to get everything straightened out and get the help I need."

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Brooks spent four years with the Houston Texans before signing a five-year, $40 million free agent contract with the Eagles in March. He missed a game in each of the previous two seasons with the same illness.

When he was with the Texans, he attributed it to stomach ulcers.

Brooks practiced Wednesday and is hoping to play Sunday against the Ravens in Baltimore.

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Earlier, coach Doug Pederson said he also expects Brooks to play.

"We're helping him and getting him ready," Pederson said. "I have full confidence in him, that he'll be ready. I think now we're kind of on the right track with this and hopefully it won't happen again."

Brooks said he's taking medication to "tone down" his anxiety. He said he's also seeking professional help. He said he needs to find out "why I'm constantly searching to be perfect.''

Brooks said the anxiety causes him to wake up with uncontrollable vomiting. Last week, he needed IV fluids when he came to the stadium and said he didn't have the strength to stand.

"It's nothing I'm ashamed of," he said. "I'll get the help that I need and life will go on. I'll be fine. My career will be fine. I'm concerned about it, obviously. But I'm not 'woe is me' at this point."

-- The Eagles are tied for the league lead in false start penalties this season with 24, including a career-high nine by their eight-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters.

"We utilize so many cadences," coach Doug Pederson said. "The other thing, too, when you play the quarterback position and when you see the defense reacting a certain way, you can pause your cadence and redirect protection. Sometimes, as a lineman, you'll hear something that might simulate the snap count and it triggers a false start. With a new quarterback, a young quarterback, you keep working through it, you keep working on it in practice. It's something that we know we have to address and fix it."

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--Defensive end Connor Barwin played a season-low 52 percent of the snaps Sunday against Washington.

The 30-year-old Barwin is struggling this season with the switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3. He has just four sacks and 10 hurries. He has just one sack and one hurry in the last six games.

"I think Connor's gone sort of the way the defense has," defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. "As the defense has been struggling, it's hard to feel good about your production when you're not getting any sacks. Or it's hard to feel good about your production when we're not doing a good job on third down.

"Connor has been a consistent player for a long time in the NFL. I do think that the fresher we can keep him, the better chance he has to be productive. Hopefully, this can help that."

--The Eagles promoted RB Byron Marshall from their practice squad this week after Wendell Smallwood went on injured reserve with a knee injury.

Marshall, an undrafted rookie out of Oregon, had impressed the scouts with his play on the scout team.

"Watching scout team this whole year, if you took the 10 most eye-popping 'wow' plays on the field, Byron might have three or four of them, where he's running scout team and he runs a route or he makes a cut against our defense that just (makes you) go, 'Whoa!' We'll look at each other and say, 'That was legit.' So, he's got some explosiveness and elusiveness to him."

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