2007 NFL Preview: Philadelphia Eagles

Looking At 2006 In The Rear View Mirror

When Donovan McNabb suffered a Jamal Anderson-type of season-ending injury, it looked like the Philadelphia Eagles were done.

While a backup quarterback is supposed to be good enough to step in for a short period of time and sustain the team until the regular starter gets back, Jeff Garcia stepped in and thrived in the full-time role.

The biggest reason for his success was a change in the offensive philosophy. With McNabb, the Eagles forced the pass much more than they needed to and rushed the ball a lot less. When Garcia took over, there was an even 50-50 balance.

Brian Westbrook has always been a playmaker, which makes me questions why they've waited so long to feed him the ball. The Eagles have always employed a short passing game to replace the runs, but as they found out last year, running the ball is much different.

To be honest, I don't really feel much need to delve deep into what happened in Philadelphia last season.

Even without McNabb, the Eagles were basically the same team they have been since Andy Reid took over.

Their defense is good, but not great. They bend, but don't break. They give up a ton of yards on the ground, but tighten up in the red zone. Some of the faces may have changed, but the result was basically the same.

On offense, the Eagles are virtually the same. They don't make a ton of mistakes, they'll beat any team that makes a ton of mistakes, they have a sturdy offensive line, they rarely invest heavily in their wide receivers, and they can move the ball with the pass.

The story remains virtually the same, but the names and faces change. The Eagles are not a great team by any stretch of the imagination, but they are really good in a number of areas and that is why they are always competitive.

But when it gets down to the nitty-gritty, such as the playoffs, being just a good team doesn't cut it. They often fall to an opponent who either executes better or is stronger on either offense or defense. Sounds pretty basic, but that sums up the Eagles. They'll be competitive, they'll be good, but they won't be great.

Using Letters To Break Down Numbers: Running Game

The Eagles may not have LaDainian Tomlinson, but considering they have a pretty good back in Westbrook, the scant amount of rushing attempts they give him is ridiculous.

Last season, the Eagles averaged 26 rushing attempts per game, which was only better than Miami, Tampa Bay, Detroit, Oakland, and Cleveland. The latter five teams had abysmal offensive lines and were some of the worst teams in the league. Why is Philadelphia among this group?

But that is how they've always been during Reid's tenure.

In 2005, the Eagles rushed the ball 22.8 times per game. Only the Oakland and Arizona average fewer carries per game.

In 2004, they ranked 31st in the NFL in carries-per-game. In 2003, they ranked 25th.

Last year, though, for the first time since Westbrook was the main running back in this offense, the Eagles started to feed him carries. This only happened once McNabb was hurt.

Westbrook has always been a receiving threat and is among the league leaders in receptions for running backs, but the most carries he had taken prior to last year was 177. Last year, he rushed 240 times.

McNabb was injured against Tennessee in Week 10 and only after that did the Eagles finally switch to a reasonable rushing-to-passing ratio. Prior to that game, Westbrook averaged less than 15 carries per game. In Tennessee, and afterwards, Westbrook averaged 20 carries-per-game (excluding Week 17).

The Eagles just don't like to run the ball a lot — more specifically, Andy Reid doesn't. It was offensive coordinator Marty Mornihnweg's decision to add more balance.

The Atlanta Braves Of The NFL

Even with McNabb back, the Eagles are going to pretty do what they do every year. They are a good team — probably one of the better outfits in the NFC — but they still aren't good enough to win a Super Bowl.

They kind of remind me of the Atlanta Braves. The Eagles will always be competitive under Coach Reid, they will probably give Dallas a run for their money for the division, but the Eagles just are not good enough to win deep in the playoffs.

The Eagles swapped out Donte Stallworth for Kevin Curtis, which leaves them even, and return most of their other familiar faces on offense.

The only other significant addition will be rookie running back Tony Hunt, who will probably get the goal line carries.

On defense, the Eagles traded away defensive tackle Darwin Walker, but added run-stuffer Ian Scott and the quicker Montae Reagor. The Eagles will get Jevon Kearse back, which means that once again they will get after quarterbacks — like they always do.

They picked up Takeo Spikes in the Walker trade, which essentially allowed them to release Jeremiah Trotter. Trotter is slowing down and was fairly one-dimensional as a run-stuffer last year and his knees are a question mark. There's speculation that there isn't much cartilage in his knee. The Eagles have been grooming Chris Gocong for a couple of years and Omar Gaither stepped in a rookie last year, so they seem content with this trio.

Like wide receiver on offense, the Eagles don't invest a ton of money or high draft picks on linebackers.

The secondary will be strong once again. The only real change will be Sean Considine, but he took over for Michael Lewis midseason last year and never relinquished the job.

Caveat Emptor: Buyer Beware When Shopping From Eagles

The Eagles know how to evaluate their defensive parts better than anyone else and many times other teams thought they were picking apart a stout Eagles defense by signing starters off their roster, but ended up looking pretty foolish.

Here's a few examples:

Bobby Taylor
Troy Vincent
Jeremiah Trotter (when he left to the Washington Redskins)
Hugh Douglas
N.D. Kalu (although he wasn't very good to begin with)
Corey Simon
Carlos Emmons
Shawn Barber

The Eagles know just when to sell high and my guess is that is the case with safety Michael Lewis.

Biggest Weakness: Lack of Greatness — An odd weakness, but the Eagles just don't stand out in any one area outside of maybe pass rush. They are playoffs good, but not Super Bowl good.

Offensive X-Factor: Andy Reid — We've never seen what the Eagles can do if they run the ball a reasonable amount of times with Westbrook and have McNabb healthy. That could be the x-factor to making this team a Super Bowl threat — but will they run it?

Defensive X-Factor: Defensive Tackles — The Eagles are always a bend-but-don't-break defense, which means that teams run on them at will. This needs to be addressed if the Eagles are to make a serious run.

Fantasy Market: Sell High

There is no evidence to show that the Eagles will continue their run-heavy tendencies from the second-half of last season when McNabb was injured. If that's the case, expect Westbrook to go back to rushing as many times as he used to rush, which is about 170 carries per season. With McNabb back, his workload will decrease. The Eagles also selected running back Tony Hunt in the third-round of the 2007 Draft and he's been prying goal line carries.

My guess is that he'll finish between 180-200 carries, but even so, that will put him below 1,000 yards rushing. Westbrook is still a good back, but he shouldn't be an option in the first round given his track record before his career-year last season.

"Vegas" Dave Golokhov hosts "Hardcore Fantasy" on Hardcore Sports Radio, channel 186 on Sirius Satellite Radio. Catch it weekly on Saturdays at 12:00 PM ET.