Too Soon?

The Eagles over/under for wins this year has been set at 9.5 by Vegas.

Here's one person saying that 10 wins shouldn't be too much of a problem for this team.

As I write this, it is mid-July.

Is that too soon?

Well, training camp starts in about a week.

The Phillies just fell below .500.

I don't care about golf, biking, or the pro volleyball tour.

Too soon?

Not soon enough, I say.

Bring on the NFL!

Let's take a look at some key players here for the Eagles.

Starting with the offense:

No. 1 obviously has to be Donovan McNabb.

I know, I know...injured in 3 of the last 5 seasons. Health risk! Yeah, I've heard it.

But those were 3 separate injuries (there was that broken ankle in Arizona, and the sports hernia the year after the Super Bowl, and then last year...whatever happened in that Titans game.)

It seems like 3 fluke injuries. I'm not too concerned.

If I could buy stock, it would first be in Bodog, and second in Donovan McNabb.

He's ranked as like the 12th best QB in the league when I know he will be statistically in the top 5....fine, I'll say it....if he stays healthy.

Anyway, people who cover the NFL are so short-sighted.

Everyone is saying how Westbrook proved he can handle an increased work load because he did it last year.

Listen, you can do anything for one year. It's doing it season after season, and that's why running backs break down. I'd prefer it if Westbrook wasn't treated like a workhorse this year. If you keep giving him the ball, he's going to break down. And that is not a knock on B-West. It's just a fact when you factor in 300 pound players throwing their bodies at him all day long over the course of a season. Ask Terrell Davis or Barry Sanders, how about Jamal Anderson, Jamal Lewis, Clinton Portis after his first season with Joe Gibbs, pretty much any running back.

I would love to see Buckhalter get 5 or 6 carries a game, maybe even see a little Tony Hunt.

And sticking with the RB situation, I don't see how Ryan Moats is going to make this team, but he is a great back-up for Westbrook.

In terms of receiver, hasn't everybody learned their lesson with TO? We don't need a star no. 1 "diva" receiver to have a good passing attack. You need a bunch of able-bodied route runners to give McNabb a target, guys who can jump in there, run a pattern, catch a ball, pick up some YAC, make downfield blocks.

The offense works better when McNabb can drop back, see 5 guys running patterns, dissect the defense, and find the mismatch.

The Eagles are all about mismatches. That's why a guy like Greg Lewis can catch 25 balls all season, and have like 22 of them go for first downs.

Yeah, maybe Reggie Brown will be covered, and Westbrook will have a safety spying him, and Kevin Curtis gets a bad jump or something, but that's gonna leave a guy like Lewis getting covered by a Dhani Jones-esque player.

I'll take that any day.

Picture McNabb taking a shotgun snap, or even a play-action (because we should be able to run the ball pretty well behind this line) and then looking down his progressions:

Reggie Brown running deep, drawing the free safety with him...

Kevin Curtis running a slant or a go route and getting covered by the other teams' second best CB, maybe a little help from an LB, then you got L.J. Smith running down the seam, and the other team better have an athletic LB or the SS covering him....now picture, somehow, that all of these players are covered...what do you do? Oh, that's right, dump it off to Westbrook in the flat, watch him break a d-ends' ankles, then scamper 20 yards downfield behind the receivers' key blocks. Not bad.

The only problem, and this is my main criticism of McNabb, is if he throws the ball at Westbrook's feet, or if it's a little behind him and Westbrook can't turn downfield as quick. (That was one area where Garcia really excelled. Excellent touch on those short throws.)

All in all, without even mentioning that stud O-line, the offense looks great on paper. And that's really just the starters. Jason Avant, Hank Baskett, Correll Buckhalter, and Matt Schoebel can all fill in without much of a drop-off, and that's where games can be won, exploiting match-ups when your 5th or 6th option is better than their 5th or 6th defender...we may as well call that the Greg Lewis corollary.

Maybe we'll have to cover the defense another day.

Or maybe I'll just list players and let the list speak for itself.

1. Brian Dawkins (enough said)
Oh? You want more?
2. Jevon Kearse
How about some big boys, you say?
3. Jeremiah Trotter
But where's that athletic LB?
4. Takeo Spikes
I hear cornerbacks are real important these days
5. Lito Sheppard
6. Sheldon Brown
What about upfront?
7. Mike Patterson
8. Broderick Bunkley
Is that all?
9. Juqua Thomas
10. Trent Cole
11. Will Peterson
12. Montae Reagor, Ian Scott, Darren Howard
Still need to prove themselves:
13. Chris Gocong, Matt McCoy, Sean Considine

Not bad. Remember, the defense is what put the Eagles on the map, back when they barely lost to the Rams in their first NFC Championship game (if N.D. Kalu hadn't trimmed his fingernails that day he would have blocked a punt that could have won us the game). Yeah, the offense has gotten a little carried away lately, and the defense slipped a little last year. I see this as the year where they put it all together.

Special Teams:

Very important.

Juqua Thomas and Quentin Mikel are going to lead the coverage unit.

David T. Akers is the best in the business.

Dirk Johnson is getting pushed by Savora Rocca or something like that, an Aussie Rules football stud.

And my sleeper of the year, maybe I should even get his jersey...

Jeremy Bloom!

Watch him in the Olympics and tell me that won't translate to returning punts.

Running downhill, avoiding obstacles, turning on a dime, tons of quickness.

His last year in college he led the nation in "big plays," meaning plays of over 20 yards.

Maybe he should be called Big Play Bloom.

Go Eagles!

And furthermore, Susan, to borrow a line from another, more famour blogger, "if gambling was legal, I would place a serious wager on the over for Eagles wins in '07.