PHILADELPHIA — The bright lights shined, and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts dazzled Monday with his best performance of training camp.

Heavy morning rain forced the Eagles’ fourth practice indoors under the lights of their climate-controlled practice field. It was their first day in pads, coming after an off day and a three-practice acclimation period.

The first-team defense outplayed the first-team offense in two of those sessions — not surprising, given the defense’s continuity and quality and the new scheme on offense. But Hurts and the offense responded on Monday with an encouraging performance. Hurts was efficient throughout the session, sprinkled in a few outstanding passes and helped move the ball.

Each practice is a piece of a tile in a mosaic, so no single session should be overstated in either direction. But progress is also important to monitor this time of year, even if it’s not linear. The session on Monday represented progress.

Here’s a running diary of practice, which was closed to even invited fans and sponsors because of the weather.

10:00 a.m.: Coach Nick Sirianni just finished his news conference and is heading to the practice facility. He explained that he expects a “back and forth between your offense and your defense” in these practice sessions, and he evaluates the sessions based on “getting better at the little things,” proper fundamentals and “little progressions each and every day.” Sirianni also offered insight into how he structured Monday’s practice, which might have foreshadowed a better performance from the offense.

The Eagles have 10 days of offensive “installs,” but Monday was set to be a “review day” because the Eagles were coming off an off day. That means the offense ran concepts already introduced and drilled.

Also of note in the auditorium: The Eagles updated the images on the banners that emphasize ball security fundamentals. An image of DeVonta Smith has replaced one of A.J. Brown.

10:07 a.m.: The group is stretching. This is the best time to take attendance.

The most notable absence is Lane Johnson, who was excused for the second consecutive practice for a personal reason unrelated to an injury.

Three rookies who were injured in Saturday’s session are out for this practice: edge rusher Keyshawn James-Newby (ankle) and offensive linemen Micah Morris (shoulder) and Jaeden Roberts (calf). Safety Cole Winsiewski remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Cam Williams, who missed Saturday’s session with a knee contusion, is limited for this practice.

Jonathan Greenard remains on the PUP list while recovering from a pec strain.

Also of note: First-round pick Makai Lemon later exited practice. His status will be updated Tuesday.

10:18 a.m.: Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio just walked over to ask a reporter about the Philadelphia Phillies’ defensive alignment after the trade for Luis Arraez, which happened minutes earlier.

Leave it to Fangio to worry about the defensive implications.

Fangio — a Dunmore, Pa. native — is a devoted Phillies fan who often likes to sprinkle his thoughts on the club. For all the excitement about LeBron James signing with the 76ers, Fangio insisted Philadelphia’s best acquisition was Pete Rose in 1979.

“It’s not even close, but if you were born after 1970, you wouldn’t have known about it,” Fangio said last week.

10:26 a.m.: One benefit to the indoor practices is that the edge rushers and defensive linemen go through individual drills in front of reporters. When they’re outside like usual, they practice on the opposite side of the field, and it’s hard to get a vantage point of the workouts.

Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith are the first two up in edge rusher drills with Greenard sidelined.

Hunt has been a standout at camp through the first three sessions. Smith is seeking a bounce-back season after injuries sidelined him for six games last season.

Smith met with reporters Monday for the first time this offseason, which included a May arrest for driving 135 miles per hour in a 70 mph zone in Georgia.

“I apologize to the organization, and I’ll make that apology now,” Smith said. “I represent the Eagles no matter where I go, Georgia, Florida, it doesn’t matter. That’s one of the ones that I own up and I apologize for. It’s just like that. We make mistakes, and it can’t happen again, and that’s unacceptable. I did apologize to Howie (Roseman), I did apologize to (Jeffrey) Lurie, and I can’t let my teammates down like that. They hold me to a different accountability on and off the field.”

10:40 a.m.: Team drills! This is what you’re eager to evaluate during training camp. Unlike previous sessions, the Eagles don’t open with the first-team offense vs. the first-team defense. Rather, it’s the second-team defense. Seeing this makes me think the offense can move the ball better when they’re not facing one of the NFL’s best units.

Sure enough, the offense is efficient in this period. On the first play, Hurts hit Dontayvion Wicks across the middle. (It was an under-center play-action pass, mind you.) He connected with DeVonta Smith and Elijah Moore on the next two passes during this sequence. These were all high-level passes for chunk yardage, not dump-offs for easy completions.

10:48 a.m.: Andy Dalton is taking the first snaps with the first-team offense. Dalton and Tanner McKee have been rotating, but it’s Dalton’s day — and he had the better practice.

Also, the second-team offensive line got to experience what it’s like to block Jalen Carter. The highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history just knocked a lineman to the ground. (It was in the distance, as we were standing behind the end zone, and there were different reads on who fell.) Regardless, it shows Carter’s sheer force.

“Speed, aggression — he does such a good job of playing that lateral,” center Cam Jurgens said. “He plays so free, and he flows. It’s fun watching him go out there. You have to be on top of your stuff. Make sure your feet are moving and your hands are in the right spot. If not, he can piece you up.”

10:49 a.m.: In a 7-on-7 period, it’s back to first-team offense and first-team defense.

Quinyon Mitchell jumps in front of a pass on an apparent miscommunication, making an interception that would likely have gone back for a touchdown. (Remember: there are no offensive linemen on the field.) It’s Hurts’ first interception of training camp. Mitchell, an All-Pro last season, has been working on his ball skills.

10:52 a.m.: This is the play of the day and the best pass I’ve seen Hurts make all summer. He throws a dart to Moore deep down the middle of the field, placing the ball in a perfect spot over defenders for Moore to make the catch with nobody in front of him for a touchdown. The throw was probably 30-plus yards, and it hit Moore in stride. Hurts knew he threw a dime. He celebrated the pass in a way that’s atypical for the quarterback in a practice session. If he makes that pass in a game, talk radio spends the entire week on it, as opposed to his lack of touchdowns early in camp, which had been a topic over the weekend.

A quick aside on that: The reason you haven’t read about the lack of touchdowns in camp so far in this space is that the context is required. They’ve only had one red-zone period before Monday’s session, and they’ve mostly been working on early-down installs from the middle of the field or his own territory. Unless Hurts throws deep balls, it’s not going to be a touchdown. Conversely, if they’re working in the red zone, you’ll see more touchdowns. Speaking of which…

11:03 a.m.: The Eagles are working in the low red zone. They have one shot for a touchdown. Hurts connects with Smith on a quick out route to his right side at the front pylon for a score. The timing and ball placement were ideal, showing the connection between the quarterback and receiver.

Smith displayed keen footwork to stay in bounds, but his momentum forced him to collide with an Eagles official. (It shows the tight space of the indoor facility. With a 90-man roster, the Eagles are always better served practicing outside for space reasons.)

After the touchdown, the offense stayed on the field for a two-point conversion. Hurts rolled to his right, but he saw Smith in the middle of the field and connected with the top receiver. A cross-body pass might not be ideal, but Hurts bought time and knew where Smith was on the play.

11:14 a.m.: We’re back in the low red zone. Hurts ran a quarterback draw for a 10-yard touchdown. His legs were a factor — offensive coordinator Sean Mannion spoke last week about Hurts’ mobility — and it could be a threat in this part of the field. Some of Hurts’ rushing yards come from scrambles. This was a called run.

Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Uar Bernard earned a would-be sack at training camp on Monday. (Bill Streicher / Imagn Images)

11:38 a.m.: Let’s fast forward to the end of practice to a developmental period. (Apologies to the second- and third-teams for excluding these notes; there are three more weeks of practices to get those notes, but this is a heavy Hurts day.)

Uar Bernard is one of the most fascinating storylines this summer. Bernard had his first “sack” of camp, although even the would-be sack (you can’t hit the quarterback in practice) seemed more tied to coverage than the pass rush. Still, Bernard was there. You take them how you can. Bernard needs work, but his teammates are as invested in his progress as his coaches.

“Uar just had his fourth-ever football practice. I don’t think people really understand,” Moro Ojomo said. “Go back to when you were 6 years old, and let’s go see your fourth-ever football practice, right?”

Quick nugget: Ojomo even told Bernard to watch films like “Rudy” to help him understand football.

11:41 a.m.: Fourth-string quarterback Cole Payton has been getting a lot of work this summer. He’s been up and down — there was a three-interception day last week — but he also makes the type of passes that make it seem like he should be on an NFL roster. He had one of those to end this practice when he zipped a touchdown to Erik Ezukanma.

“He’s not afraid to rip it in there over top of the linebacker,” Sirianni said. “He had those couple picks early on, and he’ll learn from those, and he has learned from those. But I’ve liked what I’ve seen from him so far.”

The Eagles wrapped up practice shortly thereafter. They’re back on the field — under the sun, presumably — at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

The U.S. Open mixed doubles field is getting crowded and has landed a Williams sister.

Tournament organizers announced a slew of new teams, including Venus Williams and Alexander Bublik, who will join the boldface names that already signed up last week, including Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic, Iga Światek and Casper Ruud and Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori.

In addition to Williams and Bublik, the Czech duo of Karolina Muchová and Jakub Menšík are on the list, as are Anna Kalinskaya and Lorenzo Musetti and Emma Navarro and Tommy Paul. Newlyweds Katie Boulter and Alex De Minaur have also signed up, as have the longtime married couple Elina Svitolina and Gaël Monfils.

The list did not include Serena Williams, even though the Cincinnati Open, the last major tuneup for the U.S. Open, announced Monday that she and her sister, Venus, had accepted a wild card into the doubles tournament.

As in 2025, mixed doubles is the headline event for what the U.S. Open calls Fan Week, which takes up the seven days before the main-draw singles competition of the year’s final Grand Slam begins.

It was wildly successful last year, attracting some 78,000 spectators over two days of competition and packing Arthur Ashe Stadium for the semifinals and finals. Errani and Vavassori picked up $1 million for their win, but the highest-profile pair of doubles specialists this year is joint men’s world No. 1 Henry Patten, who has been outspoken on ATP Tour plans to cut doubles draws from 2028, uniting with women’s No. 1 Kateřina Siniaková.

The men’s world No. 1, Jannik Sinner, who is yet to enter, said during Wimbledon that he would not play the mixed doubles event without significant progress in negotiations between a cohort of top-10 ATP and WTA players and the organizers of the four majors about prize money and other forms of player compensation. Entry closes on Aug. 17. Come that deadline, the six teams on the entry list with the best combined singles ranking will receive direct entry.

Eight more teams will receive wild-card entries, with tournament organizers basing the decision on a combination of quality and star appeal. Then two more will come through an eight-team qualifying event, new for this year, to make a field of 16. That event will have six direct entries by ranking and two wild cards.

As for the other new entry hopefuls, reigning NCAA singles champions Reese Brantmeier and Michael Zheng have teamed up. Jeļena Ostapenko, a Grand Slam singles champion, has teamed up with Marcelo Arévalo, a doubles specialist. Gabriela Dabrowski and Harri Heliövaara will form another doubles-specialist pairing, joining Demi Schuurs and Julian Cash. Caty McNally, a Grand Slam doubles finalist who is resurrecting her singles career after injury battles, will play with Robert Cash, a doubles specialist.

Outside the home-plate entrance to Angel Stadium are six billboards showcasing their six best and most marketable players.

For so many years, players like that — the ones who get bobblehead giveaways and whose jerseys are sold in the team store — were off-limits in trades.

That is, until Monday, a trade deadline day that marked a significant shift in how the Angels operate.

Interim general manager John Mozeliak shipped out seven big-league players before the 3 p.m PT buzzer — including starting pitcher José Soriano — and brought back a haul of nine prospects, many of whom will slot in among the best the organization has to offer.

“The direction of where the franchise was going needed to change,” Mozeliak said. “This is an opportunity during the trading deadline to do just that.”

Last season, when the Angels were out of the playoff race, they added relievers instead of trading them away. In 2024, they shipped out only two relievers on expiring contracts. In 2023, they added despite being out of the playoff picture. Every year, a different version of the same story.

This time around, the club added a top 50 prospect in Toronto Blue Jays minor-league shortstop Arjun Nimmala, as well as Chicago Cubs catcher Moisés Ballesteros, who only recently graduated from top-prospect status.

Mozeliak said he felt he had full support from owner Arte Moreno, whose over-involvement has historically been the chief complaint.

Credit is also due to team president Molly Jolly, who took over for John Carpino in March and has been the consistent through line of a baseball operations department with more autonomy.

“Those guys have been uber-supportive of me,” Mozeliak said. “I sent them a quick text when this all ended. I was just grateful.”

The Angels held on to shortstop Zach Neto and pitcher Reid Detmers, both of whom they listened to offers for over the past few days. Mozeliak said he didn’t think those offers were adequate enough to move the players, who each have years of contract control remaining before they hit free agency.

Mozeliak also said the club did not entertain offers on superstar Mike Trout. The two had a conversation several weeks ago, Mozeliak said, and there was mutual agreement not to contemplate going down that road.

“He’s the face of this franchise,” Mozeliak said. “We want to get this better for him.”

Mozeliak said being competitive in 2027 will be dependent on what the club does in the offseason, but he was hesitant to put a timeline on the Angels’ return to being competitive.

The interim GM, whose contract runs out in December after joining the team in late June, indicated an increased willingness to stay with the Angels long-term. He didn’t commit to that and noted it’s not fully up to him, but he was noncommittal when asked whether he still planned to hire a new general manager.

“I am going to have to address my future at some point,” Mozeliak said. “Over the next few weeks, I need to get with Mr. Moreno and Molly to really kind of map out how we want to see the future really look like. … What do we really want leadership to look like moving forward?”