Philadelphia Eagles: A early team review

When did the City of Brotherly Love's football team stop receiving love from the national media? Granted, Philadelphia has never received all the respect that they deserved. But the last few years, culminating in a Super Bowl appearance, the Eagles have been receiving pretty high praise from your ESPN's and Sports Illustrated's. And now, all of the sudden, The Eagles are a passing thought to national NFL people. And I can't figure out why.
The Eagles had one bad season in 2005. And without getting into why that season turned out the way it did, that season effectively dropped the Eagles from the clique of top teams in the league in the eyes of the national media. And winning the division again last year, having the #2 offense in the NFL while doing it, seems to have done little to move the Birds up in stature. The apprehension involved with considering the Eagles an elite team seems to center around Donovan McNabb (what else is new, right?).
But why? Yes, I understand that he has had injury problems the past few years, missing the second half of the season in both. But his propensity to get injured seems to be exaggerated. In fact, it seems to be a new trend label a guy injury prone after one injury and to take off the injury prone label after one season without getting injured. Look at Westbrook. This guy couldn't shake the injury prone label before last year, even here in Philly. You could mention how Tiki Barber, a similar sized back, doesn't get injured. But it wouldn't ease the calls for an "every down back." Now that Westbrook has gotten through a season, he is no longer viewed as injury prone and those Tiki Barber comparisons suddenly become valid. I'm definitely a fan of Westbrook's, but I still hold my breath every time he touches the ball. As far as McNabb goes, his injuries have always been of the "freak nature." A broken ankle, sports hernia, and torn ACL are injuries that a player can't control. And it's not fair to call a guy an injury risk when he's also had five full seasons in addition to the three injury shortened seasons.
Injuries, aside, McNabb has clearly been one of the top 3 QBs in the NFL when healthy the last few years. Not even Peyton Manning has matched his numbers to start the last 3 seasons. Assuming McNabb doesn't rush back from this injury, there really isn't any reason to think he can't repeat those performances. And after watching how Carson Palmer came back from an arguably worse knee injury, I think it's fair to favor optimism over pessimism.
A healthy McNabb is not the only reason to be optimistic though. The Eagles are returning the same great offense they had last season, minus one player: Donte Stallworth. While Stallworth was a good player, Reggie Brown is entering his 3rd season (the year when most young wideouts breakout), and is ready become a real threat on the outside. The Eagles also brought in Kevin Curtis, who if you saw him play in St. Louis, can do everything Stallworth did. He can also play inside better than Stallworth, and he will probably miss less time due to nagging injuries.
All that said, the real exciting aspect going into this season, in regards to the offense, is the prospect of a more balanced attack. The final 2 months of last season, Andy Reid handed off the playcalling to Coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. Mornhinweg, in turn, let Westbrook run more behind that huge offensive line. As a result, Westbrook had his best season in the NFL and the Offensive line was widely considered the best unit in the NFL.
The defensive side of the ball has the most question marks. It really struggled against the run last year and had trouble defending the big play; which is not a good combination. However, they got better later in the season when they replaced Michael Lewis with Sean Considine at saftey, and replacing Matt McCoy with Omar Gaither at linebacker. And during the offseason, the Eagles made their most important moves on defense. Most visibly, they added LB Takeo Spikes; a pro bowl caliber player who is coming off injury. Takeo is a huge upgrade at a position that sorely needed an upgrade. Add in a number of younger players at the position, and the linebacking corps should be much improved. Less flashy, but just as significant, the Eagles added a number of defensive tackles including Monte Reagor, who should add some pass rushing ability up the middle, and Ian Scott, who should add some size and run-stopping ability. Both the attributes were painfully missing last season.
The two biggest additions on defense were actually already on the team last year. Jevon Kearse, coming off injury, and Broderick Bunkley, coming off a virtually non-existent rookie season. Jevon Kearse got off to a great start before injuring his knee week 2 against the Giants. A healthy Jevon will once again provide a legitimate pass rushing threat on the end. That leads us to Bunkley. It may be a little extreme, but I think the success or failures of this defense next season lie on Bunkley's broad shoulders. Bunkley, a first round pick before last season, had trouble getting on the field his rookie year. However, if he can make the jump to productive starter in his second year, the whole defense becomes better. A big, skilled, player like him in the middle of the line can single-handedly improve the run defense. Players like Trotter at middle linebacker will be much more effective without offensive lineman blowing right by the defensive tackles and getting in his face. If Bunkley can not step up, either this year or next, the Eagles will have wasted another first round pick. And that can only happen so many times without causing some long term problems within the organization.
All that said, the Eagles have a relatively few number of question marks for this time of the season, especially on offense. The rest of the country really wants to put a question mark on the QB position, but there really isn't that much evidence to support that. McNabb will once again be called upon to prove people wrong. Since he's being doing it his whole career, that shouldn't be a problem. And if Takeo Spikes can stablize the linebacking corps, Bunkley and Kearse can provide a jump to the defensive line, and Brian Dawkins can continue to be a force at safety, the defense will be fine as well. And if the offense continues its balanced attack, they will be on the field longer, consequently making the defense even more effective. Combine that with a weak division and conference, I see no reason why the Eagles can't make a return trip to the Super Bowl (where they would probably lose to a superior AFC team).