10+ win season

[Green With Envy]

There's a lot of pessimism nationally and locally about the Eagles this year an I just don't get it. I can't see this team losing more than 6-7 games this season because:

1. We had 11 wins last year. Our only significant loss on offense was McNabb and our defense is much better this year than last. Kolb will really have to shit in his bed for us to have a losing season. The only significant loss on defense was Brown and Hobbs doesn't look like a great drop in talent.
2. Offensive line: not a strong part of the team but essentially the same as last year once Jackson gets back.
3. Coaching: This is one of the biggest (and quietest) changes to the team. Hiring Bobby April and Dick Jauron and promoting Barry Rubin will have huge dividends this year.
4. Pre Season: Anyone who has watched this team the last 11 years should know by now that Reid's teams are really slow starters. They unusually play awful pre season and the beginning of the year, so even if we start 2-2 I still think they're a playoff team.
5. Youth: Our starting offense will be the same as last year except for Kolb (McCoy was really our starting RB most of last year). Our starting defense has one rookie replacing another (Allen for Harris) and one rookie playing a significant role on the D-Line (Graham).
6. Special teams: Again you can't look at pre-season. April as coach is huge. Jackson, Akers, Hobbs, Dorenbos and even Rocca are near the top at their positions.
7. Defense: This was our Achilles heal last year and Bradly, Sims, Graham and Allen are upgrades over the starters last year. Hobbs may be a downgrade from Brown, but I'm not sure that's the case.
8. Competition: Dallas had virtually no significant injuries last year. Can they go another year healthy? Their O-line depth is even worse than ours. Redskins? McNabb is an upgrade if he can play the year but with their o-line issues, that's not likely. Running backs are ancient and they still have Hanesworth . Coaching will be better though. Giants: They're the only team I don't have a read on. I think they'll be better than last year. My guess is we go 3-3 in the division at this time. Maybe 4-2

It's really all about Kolb this year. With our improved defense and our skill players he doesn't have to be great. If he turns into Jake Delhomme we're in trouble but if he's an average to above average QB this year we should be a playoff team.

[Eagle60]

The one flaw that your theory has GWE is that the schedule is the same as last year. It looks a hell of a lot harder this year. Also, I can't see Kolb being as good as McNabb was. Just one example was him in empty backfields and not looking for blitzes Friday night.

[sfphillyfan]

I am not worried about the schedule because hard games end up easy and easy games are hard.

My biggest concern is that we are counting on people Coming back from injury to be as good or better than they were prior to injury.

[musicman]

IMO the defense is far better than anything that we saw last season. When you can say you have Parker,Cole and Graham as your DEs,you have something special. Bunk and Patterson are solid and steady.Bradley is back at or near his preinjury/near allpro ability and with Sims,Bradley and Jordan, I'm happy with the LB position. With these 3 taking care of business and being able to provide TE/RB coverage,IMO the DBs will prove more than adequate.I still think they tried real hard to help the sad LB situation last season and ended up burnt for their efforts. Allen is proving to be quite a player and in turn Mikell is back on his A game knowing the kid can handle his responsibilities.Samuel and Hobbs=Brown and Samuel at worst and time will tell if Hobbs isn't better than Brown at this stage of their careers.I've stated earlier that this D will be something special and they have done nothing to prove otherwise. I actually think they could be better than I originally thought because they are doing well without using their hardcore blitz packages.
Offensively,I'm still puzzled at how they are not doing anything in the preseason. I get the fact that the oline is a jumbled mess,but is Jackson going to be 50% ,90% we don't know. Any way you look at it,these guys will need time to come together with Herremans missing most of the preseason and Jackson all of it . I would hope that McGlynn or Cole take the RG spot,cuz I have ZERO faith in Andrews or MJG .Kolb looked very frustrated and had a case of happy feet IMO,so this line needs to step up to make the playoffs,which IMO requires a 10-6 record .The season IMO rests squarely on their shoulders.

[Green With Envy]

The one flaw that your theory has GWE is that the schedule is the same as last year. It looks a hell of a lot harder this year. Also, I can't see Kolb being as good as McNabb was. Just one example was him in empty backfields and not looking for blitzes Friday night.

I just don't buy it. Last year before the season started we were all worried about the Panthers and we destroyed them. The Saints looked like an easy win and they go to the Super Bowl. No way we sweep the Giants last year, but we did. The Raiders, well they were a win before the season started, right? I can't buy "tough schedule" at the beginning of the season.

Everyone in our division has to play the Colts, Texans, Jaguars and Titans. Everyone in our division has to play Green Bay, Chicago, Vikings and Lions so the big difference in our division is that we have to play SF and Atlanta. Who plays QB for the 49ers? Last year we beat the Falcons last year 34-7

Sure we can loose to everyone but the only teams outside our division that I don't think we match up well with are the Colts and Green Bay.

[Green With Envy]

Offensively,I'm still puzzled at how they are not doing anything in the preseason. I get the fact that the oline is a jumbled mess,but is Jackson going to be 50% ,90% we don't know. Any way you look at it,these guys will need time to come together with Herremans missing most of the preseason and Jackson all of it . I would hope that McGlynn or Cole take the RG spot,cuz I have ZERO faith in Andrews or MJG .Kolb looked very frustrated and had a case of happy feet IMO,so this line needs to step up to make the playoffs,which IMO requires a 10-6 record .The season IMO rests squarely on their shoulders.

The Cowboys have a pretty good offense and have faired worse in pre-season than the Eagles (but I still think they have a great offense). I don't look at the pre-season games except for how certain players play. That said I agree about the offensive line and our season will greatly depend on how they play. We won 11 games last with essentially the same O-line. I'm not quite as worried about Andrews as most and if he fails I think Cole is a more than adequate guard. Peters, Herremans, and Justice will be fine and McGlynn and/or Cole should do OK until Jackson comes back. I do think we'll run the ball more during the real season to protect Kolb as he adjust to the game.

[Vote for Kalas]

If I've learned anything watching the NFL over the years, its that each season has little to do with the next one...

Thats especially true this year with the young core taking over and alot of new bodies on the roster--11 wins is tough to achieve in any season

I like how the D is shaping up and agree about the coaching additions being positive. Plus I think McDermott having a full off-season to plan & instill his vision into that unit will improve things

I like our offensive weapons even though they still show some youth like Maclin dropping balls, guys running wrong routes, blitz pickup etc.

It seems like it will come down to ST, Kolb and the OL...will Jackson be a return man again? Can Demps flash like he did the other night? Can Rocca be consistent? Will our coverage units improve? Can Kolb stay in the pocket and run the offense? Can the OL get healthy and keep him clean?

[andrewaters]

10-6 at the worst but i think 11-5 again.

[balto-eaglefan]

The Cowgirls' first team has had 12 possessions this preseason and scored 13 points, and they still can't open holes for their run game. I heard something about "4 carries for 7 yards" in last week's game. That's abysmal, and they've already said that their starters will get some reps in the last preseason game.

Here's hoping they get no better than half-as-abysmal for the regular season..........

[FRESH]

When projecting our offense, there has been a lot of focus on Kob, and on the Oline, but some others have me concerned as well. Maclin and Celek, two guys we assumed were going to take it to a new level this season. Well, not form what we've seen so far. Celek has shown jack S in the preseason. He has yet to make an imprssive play as a receiver or a blocker. AndMaclin looks disinterested, unfocused....something. Perhaps he's going to go thru a "sophmore slump"? He's changed his build a bit this season and I assumed that would be a good thing. We shall see. But these are two guys who were regularly mentioned as key components of a scary group of offensive weapons. Desean has shown(assuming he can stay upright) that he is in fact the goods. But Celek and Maclin have given us very little to get excited about.

[FRESH]

When projecting our offense, there has been a lot of focus on Kob, and on the Oline, but some others have me concerned as well. Maclin and Celek, two guys we assumed were going to take it to a new level this season. Well, not form what we've seen so far. Celek has shown jack S in the preseason. He has yet to make an imprssive play as a receiver or a blocker. AndMaclin looks disinterested, unfocused....something. Perhaps he's going to go thru a "sophmore slump"? He's changed his build a bit this season and I assumed that would be a good thing. We shall see. But these are two guys who were regularly mentioned as key components of a scary group of offensive weapons. Desean has shown(assuming he can stay upright) that he is in fact the goods. But Celek and Maclin have given us very little to get excited about.

[Green With Envy]

Keep repeating after me:

It's only pre-season
It's only pre-season
It's only pre-season

We've seen the starters for about 6 quarters of play with no game planning. I have no worries about Celek. He's already proven himself as a hard working and very good TE.

Macklin has not had a good pre-season but it's not much different than not having a good game. 6 quarters of play does not equate to 64 quarters of play. Last year he showed that he was a good tough receiver with good hands and that's what I expect to see this year. He may not and may never be the superstar that some are projecting for him, but there's no reason not to believe that he won't exceed last years production.

[FRESH]

Well, we've all been evaluating the team based upon what we've seen so far and that has primarily focused on Kolb and the Oline. Same sample size. So I guess if there is no reason to be concerned about Maclin, then there's no reason to be concerned about the Oline or the defense or anyone who's not a straight up rookie, I suppose?

[musicman]

IMO the defense is far better than anything that we saw last season. When you can say you have Parker,Cole and Graham as your DEs,you have something special. Bunk and Patterson are solid and steady.Bradley is back at or near his preinjury/near allpro ability and with Sims,Bradley and Jordan, I'm happy with the LB position. With these 3 taking care of business and being able to provide TE/RB coverage,IMO the DBs will prove more than adequate.I still think they tried real hard to help the sad LB situation last season and ended up burnt for their efforts. Allen is proving to be quite a player and in turn Mikell is back on his A game knowing the kid can handle his responsibilities.Samuel and Hobbs=Brown and Samuel at worst and time will tell if Hobbs isn't better than Brown at this stage of their careers.I've stated earlier that this D will be something special and they have done nothing to prove otherwise. I actually think they could be better than I originally thought because they are doing well without using their hardcore blitz packages.
Offensively,I'm still puzzled at how they are not doing anything in the preseason. I get the fact that the oline is a jumbled mess,but is Jackson going to be 50% ,90% we don't know. Any way you look at it,these guys will need time to come together with Herremans missing most of the preseason and Jackson all of it . I would hope that McGlynn or Cole take the RG spot,cuz I have ZERO faith in Andrews or MJG .Kolb looked very frustrated and had a case of happy feet IMO,so this line needs to step up to make the playoffs,which IMO requires a 10-6 record .The season IMO rests squarely on their shoulders.

funny how things have turned out since then.On defense,Jordan and Hobbs are out and Dixon replaced Bunk after the injury, On offense Weaver,Jackson and Andrews out,with Vick replacing Kolb and playing at a probowl level.Yet here we are in first ,maybe I need to show AR a bit more love .By the way,I'm liking my preseason take on the defense,they are rounding into form nicely.

[Green With Envy]

I agree about giving Reid some love. Throwing out the first year (which I think is fair) the Eagle only missed the playoffs twice and had a losing record only once (TO fiasco and McNabb hurt).

They totally rebuilt the team this year and currently are the second seed in the NFC.

There are a lot of reasons not to like Reid, but all he does is win (to paraphrase Buddy Ryan)