No Clue What to Expect From Eagles

The OTA's, mini camps, training camp, and the preseason are finally over and the Eagles are ready to kick off the real season Sunday in Carolina. And after following the Eagles throughout all of the offseason camps and games, I still have no clue what to expect when this team takes the field on Sunday. I have never been this clueless as to how the Eagles will perform on the field this season.

On offense, there was finally some turnover on the offensive line this offseason. With Tra Thomas and John Runyan off the team, at least for now in Runyan's case, the Eagles wasted no time taking care of the offensive line by signing Stacy Andrews, and trading for Jason Peters, both solid offensive tackles. It also appeared like they would be getting all-pro Shawn Andrews back, and so the offensive line looked good. Only problem is Jason Peters was one of the worst players in the preseason, Stacy Andrews couldn't make it more than a few series at a time without coming out of the game, Todd Herremans got injured, and Shawn Andrews seems more interested in making stupid videos on youtube than playing football. Honestly at this point it seems like to me that Shawn Andrews is more interested in stealing money from the Eagles than playing. I understand that back injuries are serious, and can start to flare up at any time and take a while to heal, but Andrews is a guy you just can't take seriously at all. The Eagles will open up with Herremans and Shawn Andrews not playing, and question marks as to how Stacy Andrews and Peters will perform.

At the running back position, the Eagles are solid, but Brian Westbrook has yet to play a preseason game, and as recently as yesterday was not able to practice. Not practicing is most likely a precaution for Westbrook at this point, but Westbrook has still never played all 16 games in a season, and is only getting older and more injury prone as his career goes on. The Eagles obviously need a healthy Westbrook to have success this season.

The questions continue on the defensive side of the football. The Eagles last season were the #1 overall defense in the NFC. I believe that to be a good team, the Eagles have to have a great defense. Not even just a good defense; this defense needs to be in the top 10 in the NFL for the Eagles to be successful. At the end of last season, you had Brian Dawkins at free safety, Stewart Bradley at middle linebacker, and Jim Johnson at defensive coordinator. You can't get much better than that at those 3 areas. Now you have Macho Harris at free safety, Omar Gaither at middle linebacker, and Sean McDermott at defensive coordinator. Harris may turn out to be a beast, but has never played an NFL game, and is replacing one of the best players in Eagles history. That is a downgrade right now. Omar Gaither actually was the Eagles starting middle linebacker, and then was replaced by Bradley because Bradley was better. Gaither moved to the outside, and lost his job there as well. Bradley to Gaither is also a downgrade. Jim Johnson as we know unfortunately passed away this offseason, and I believe that Sean McDermott was the correct replacement, and will become one of the best defensive coordinators in the game, just like Johnson. But right now, this will be McDermott's first game as a defensive coordinator, and until he gets some experience, that is a downgrade at that spot as well. Free safety and middle linebacker are the 2 most important positions on the field for making sure everyone knows their assignments, and they are natural leadership positions.

The Eagles have a lot of skill on their team, just a lot of questions as well. It's not as if I expect bad things out of the guys like Jason Peters, Stacy Andrews, and Macho Harris when they are on the field, I am just saying that we have not seen a lot of these guys play in a meaningful game yet, and do not know how they will perform once the games matter.

It's not enough for the Eagles just to be good. We have been good recently, and that is nothing new for us. 10-6 and a first round playoff loss is not good enough for this team, especially when Joe Banner says before the season that the Eagles have the best roster in the NFL. If he believes this, and the Eagles do not get to the Super Bowl, it sounds like it is on Andy Reid's hands for not being able to get the best roster in the NFL to the Super Bowl.

Donovan McNabb has to be very good for the Eagles to be successful. Westbrook, McCoy, and Weaver have to be very good in the backfield. The Eagles really need DeSean Jackson to continue to progress and become the #1 receiver on this team, and a legit pro-bowl caliber player. On defense, the Eagles will need to continue to get solid play from Trent Cole, Broderick Bunkley, Mike Patterson, Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown, and Quntin Mikell. The NFC is wide open this year, and the Eagles are capable of getting to the Super Bowl.

As far as Week 1 goes, the Eagles travel to Carolina to play the Panthers. The Panthers were 8-0 at home last year in the regular season until they lost at home in the playoffs. Winston Justice will be making his 2nd career start at right tackle in place of the injured Shawn Andrews. Hopefully his 2nd start works out a little bit better than his first. It won't be easy though as Carolina likes to move Julius Peppers around the line and line him up at both defensive end positions to get the best matchups. The Panthers also feature one of the best offensive lines in football, and the best rushing attacks. The Panthers offensive line features Jordan Gross and Jeff Otah, 2 of the best tackles in the game. They run block well and they pass block well. The Panthers will run the ball with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart who looks like he will be playing in this game after not practicing recently. The Panthers like to run, and then set up the play action pass with the run. Just when you bring 8 in the box to stop the run, the Panthers will go play action, and have one of the best receivers in the league in Steve Smith to pick apart the secondary.

This should be one of the better games of the opening weekend slate of games, and when looking at the Eagles schedule, this is an extremely important game to win. When you are looking at an Eagles team that could finish anywhere from 7-9 to 12-4, you have to win this game against another good NFC team, and get off to a solid 1-0 start.

Eagles Camp Battles

As training camp comes into full swing, let's take a look at some of the position battles going on at Eagles training camp.

Middle Linebacker

It is a shame that this has become a battle for the starter, as it wasn't a week ago when Stewart Bradley was healthy. Bradley is one of the best young linebackers in the league, and was probably going to make the pro bowl this season. Not only that, he was definitely one of the leaders on the defensive side of the ball, which is especially important now without Brian Dawkins, or Jim Johnson around.

Anyways, the middle linebacker battle seems to be between 2nd year player Joe Mays, Omar Gaither, and newly acquired Matt Wilhelm, who spent last season with the Chargers. Joe Mays appears to have the upper hand, as he has been taking all the reps at starting middle linebacker since Bradley got injured. Gaither has played middle linebacker for the Eagles in the past, and did a decent job there. Wilhelm also has plenty of experience, but was recently released by the Chargers. I personally am a big Joe Mays fan. The guy looks like a beast when you watch him play. He is a little undersized, but really attacks the ball and runs downhill. Mays should do a good job against the run, but needs to improve his play against the pass.

Free Safety

With Brian Dawkins no longer on the team, this position is almost impossible to fill, not only on the field, but also from a leadership standpoint. This battle appears to be very close, as is between Quintin Demps and Sean Jones. Demps started out taking all the first team reps, but Jones has been taking some of that action lately. Demps flat out was not good in the last game he played as an Eagle against the Cardinals. He got burned by Larry Fitzgerald on a long touchdown pass, and failed to wrap up Tim Hightower down at the goal line, which could have kept Hightower out of the end zone. The coaching staff has been talking about how good Demps looks, and I'm hoping he has improved. However, we give the nod at starting free safety to Sean Jones. Jones, the former starter with the Cleveland Browns has the experience, and has very good size, while still being fast. Jones also is a guy who picks off a lot of passes, something the Eagles need from their secondary.

Left Defensive End

The starting left defensive end battle includes in incumbent starter, Juqua Parker, along with Victor Abiamiri, and Chris Clemons. All three of these players contributed effectively last season, and should all see time this season. There isn't much to say about this position battle, especially since Abiamiri has been injured throughout camp. Parker has been an effective starter, but seems to wear down easily every season. Parker goes games without making a play. I was hoping that Abiamiri would come in and win the job, as there is still a lot of hype around Abiamiri. The guy is a monster out there, and can stop the run as well as get to the quarterback.

Third Running Back

The 3rd running back might not be all that important, as the Eagles rarely use two running backs during a game. This battle appears to be between Lorenzo Booker, Eldra Buckley, and Kyle Eckel. I believe that the Eagles are only going to keep 4 running backs/fullbacks. Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, and Leonard Weaver are locks. These three will see a lot of time during the regular season. Booker, and Eckel both saw time with the Eagles last season. From what I have heard and seen, neither Booker, nor Eckel have had a great camp thus far, while Buckley has been impressive. In my opinion, I like Lorenzo Booker, but he brings nothing to the team that you don't already have in Westbrook and McCoy. Booker is a smaller running back, and he is really small. He doesn't have the strength to break tackles, or pick up blitzes consistently. I thought Kyle Eckel looked very good when he played last year for the Eagles, and would have no problem with him making the team as the 3rd running back. I also am liking what I see out of Buckley, who spent last season on the Chargers practice squad. Buckley is a bigger back who runs real hard.

There is still a long way to go in training camp, and still all four preseason games to play, so these position battles should start shaping out as we get closer to the regular season.