The Running Backs, Wide Receivers and other offensive questionmarks...

[General_Failure]

With a full 4 quarters, Ogden playing, and an actual gameplan, McNair and the Ravens would have nickel and dimed the defense to death.

[shorebird]

With a full 4 quarters, Ogden playing, and an actual gameplan, McNair and the Ravens would have nickel and dimed the defense to death.

I don't know about that, but I will say this, with the way the Ravens moved the ball, I'm glad we don't have to play them this year. That Mussa Smith looks to be lightning fast. They have the best qb they've ever had since the franchise moved to Baltimore. They look like they could give the Steelers a run for their money.

[Feva]

With a full 4 quarters, Ogden playing, and an actual gameplan, McNair and the Ravens would have nickel and dimed the defense to death.

Yeah, but with a full 4 quarters and a gameplan... Lito and Sheldon would have been pressing the WR's and jumping some of those slant routes, not giving up all that underneath stuff.

Even as it was, the defense was still getting hits on McNair.  Some or many of those would have turned into sacks had we taken away or knocked off the timing of some of those slants.

[General_Failure]

With a full 4 quarters, Ogden playing, and an actual gameplan, McNair and the Ravens would have nickel and dimed the defense to death.

Yeah, but with a full 4 quarters and a gameplan... Lito and Sheldon would have been pressing the WR's and jumping some of those slant routes, not giving up all that underneath stuff.

Even as it was, the defense was still getting hits on McNair.  Some or many of those would have turned into sacks had we taken away or knocked off the timing of some of those slants.

Their runningbacks were tearing the defense apart, and Ogden wasn't in. I really don't think it's going to matter what the corners do to the receivers, a good TE is going to be open a lot against these linebackers.

[Sgt PSN]

The only reason Baskett and Brown are automatically better than Pinkston and Thrash is because it would be nearly impossible to replicate that extreme amount of suck.  I'm excited about what I saw from Brown last year and I'm hoping he builds on top of that this year.  But lets not kid ourselves here, he's a 2nd year player who put up good numbers on a crappy team.  And I've quickly become a fan of Baskett but he's an undrafted rookie who's currently slated to be the #2 receiver on this team. 

No one, and I mean no one, grew more sick of Reid running Johnson, Small, Thrash and Pinkston out on the field week after week and year after year.  But at the same time, just because we've got all new recievers does not automatically mean the passing game is going to tremendously be improved.  There are a lot of questions that need to be answered with this new group of recievers.  They could be great  or they could suck.  Only time will tell.  But to be overly excited about them simply because they aren't Thrash or Pinkston is kind of rediculous. 

[Feva]

With a full 4 quarters, Ogden playing, and an actual gameplan, McNair and the Ravens would have nickel and dimed the defense to death.

Yeah, but with a full 4 quarters and a gameplan... Lito and Sheldon would have been pressing the WR's and jumping some of those slant routes, not giving up all that underneath stuff.

Even as it was, the defense was still getting hits on McNair.  Some or many of those would have turned into sacks had we taken away or knocked off the timing of some of those slants.

Their runningbacks were tearing the defense apart, and Ogden wasn't in. I really don't think it's going to matter what the corners do to the receivers, a good TE is going to be open a lot against these linebackers.

Well... I guess it's a good thing we don't play any good TE's this year then, huh? 

Jamal Lewis had 9 carries for 27 yds.
Musa Smith had 3 carries for 12 yds (against the 1st team).
Mike Anderson had 3 carries for 8 yards.

Where'd they tear us apart?  I don't dispute that Ogden probably could have improved things for them, but damn... we didn't really throw anything at them defensively other than a whole lot of vanilla either.

[General_Failure]

J.Lewis left end to BLT 26 for 8 yards (S.Brown).
(Shotgun) Mu.Smith up the middle to BLT 40 for 10 yards (J.Trotter, J.Hanson).
Mu.Smith left tackle for 43 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
J.Lewis left guard to PHI 30 for 5 yards (M.Lewis, J.Trotter).
M.Anderson left guard to PHI 15 for 5 yards (T.Cole, M.Lewis).
P.Daniels right end to PHI 29 for 10 yards (M.Ware).
C.Ross right tackle to BLT 45 for 10 yards (D.Strickland).


Okay, tearing them apart may be a stretch, especially if you consider the number of poor runs they had.

[bowzer]

As bad as the Eagles were last year, weren't they in a position to win almost every NFC east matchup last year, except maybe the one Dallas one.  In fact, in atleast one of those games, the Dallas one, they had the game wrapped up, and blew it.  Also, against Washington, our backups almost won.  So really, I'm not too intimidated by the vastly improved NFC East.  Bledsoe, Eli, and Brunnell don't send shivers down my spine. 

[PhillyPhreak54]

Is the NFC East really going to be soooooooo great again? Oh my, the taterskins got Antwaan Randle El and his 1 TD last year! Holy shtein, they got Brandon Lloyd and his inconsistent ass. They also have no pass rush. Their defense gets pressure by relying on the blitz - specifically the DB's blitzing. Gregg Williams loves to do that. And now Shawn Springs is out with an injury that is similar to Dirk's and Donovan's. They had to trade for Mike f'ing Rumph. And will Clinton Portis' shoulder be right this year?

The Giants? Talk to me when they have some DTs who can play.

The Cowboys...just because they got TO? When in Julis Jones going to be a player? Let's see if that OL can keep Bledsoe clean. Or is Parcells really thinking about starting Romo.

Every team in this division has questions - including the Eagles. So how about we wait and see how it plays out?

And another thing - every pre-season we see the Eagles like this. They run basic ass schemes. Let's see what they do when they gameplan.

Look, I'm not saying the Birds are without questions. And I'm not staking my spot out on Broad St. yet either.

[hunt]

i think it's safe to say that this team has the worst rb/wr corps in the division.  the qb will have to carry the offense this year & it will be just like the pre-TO eagles where the rb's & te lead the team in receptions and the wr's will struggle to get open.  1 injury to westbrook and the offense is screwed.

but let's all be optimistic!

or lets go your way and figure the season is already tanked. 

when did i say that?
oh yeah...i didn't. 

i'm just saying that this team does not appear have enough talent at rb & wr to contend for the super bowl.  those are glaring weakness they failed to address in the offseason.  it reminds me of the pre-TO eagles teams that couldn't mount much of an offense against teams with good secondaries that put pressure on #5.
i hope reggie brown becomes the next mike quick & i hope westbrook stays healthy all season.
but that's all it is....hope.

[rjs246]

Is the NFC East really going to be soooooooo great again? Oh my, the taterskins got Antwaan Randle El and his 1 TD last year! Holy shtein, they got Brandon Lloyd and his inconsistent ass. They also have no pass rush. Their defense gets pressure by relying on the blitz - specifically the DB's blitzing. Gregg Williams loves to do that. And now Shawn Springs is out with an injury that is similar to Dirk's and Donovan's. They had to trade for Mike f'ing Rumph. And will Clinton Portis' shoulder be right this year?

Laughable. They got Rumph for less than nothing. They over paid for two WRs, yes, but they are better WRs than they had last year, not to mention a better return man. They improved. Not by a ton, but they improved. Portis is a legit issue, but everything else you just wrote are not valid points.

The Giants? Talk to me when they have some DTs who can play.

The Eagles don't have RBs, WRs or LBs who can play.

The Cowboys...just because they got TO? When in Julis Jones going to be a player? Let's see if that OL can keep Bledsoe clean. Or is Parcells really thinking about starting Romo.

Ridiculous. If that's all you can come up with about the Cowboys you must be more scared of them than I am.

Every team in this division has questions - including the Eagles. So how about we wait and see how it plays out?

And another thing - every pre-season we see the Eagles like this. They run basic ass schemes. Let's see what they do when they gameplan.

Look, I'm not saying the Birds are without questions. And I'm not staking my spot out on Broad St. yet either.

Finally, something reasonable. Andy Reid doesn't put any value on the outcome of preseason games. Never has. All of this means nothing. But the first teamers could have not played a single down and we would all still know that their WRs, RBs and LBs are HUGE question marks. This doesn't have anything to do with it being pre-season...

[Cerevant]

  it reminds me of the pre-TO eagles teams that couldn't mount much of an offense against teams with good secondaries that put pressure on #5.

I assume you mean "teams who have good secondaries and who are able to put pressure on #5"  (as opposed to secondaries who can put pressure on the QB)

Playing devil's advocate for a second, couldn't AR claim that he doesn't have to worry about teams getting pressure since they did such a great job upgrading the line?  Could the team get by with average WR's if the QB has enough time?

My opinion is that to be successful, a team needs 2 players that the other team needs to game plan against.  I think the Eagles believe that they have that with Westbrook & LJ, so they don't need a superstar WR.

[Sgt PSN]

it reminds me of the pre-TO eagles teams that couldn't mount much of an offense against teams with good secondaries that put pressure on #5.

I assume you mean "teams who have good secondaries and who are able to put pressure on #5" (as opposed to secondaries who can put pressure on the QB)

Playing devil's advocate for a second, couldn't AR claim that he doesn't have to worry about teams getting pressure since they did such a great job upgrading the line? Could the team get by with average WR's if the QB has enough time?

My opinion is that to be successful, a team needs 2 players that the other team needs to game plan against. I think the Eagles believe that they have that with Westbrook & LJ, so they don't need a superstar WR.

I can buy into that concept except for the fact that the last team to win a Super Bowl with non WR as the leading reciever was the Ravens when Shannon Sharpe was their best pass catcher.  They also had a bruising running back in Lewis and an absolutely dominating defense.  The Eagles don't have a defense like the Ravens did and they definately don't have a bruising runningback like Lewis. 

So if the Eagles are determined to go into every season without a legitimate #1 reciever then I don't understand why they don't invest that money into the RB/LB positions. 

Also, this is something that I'm absolutely dumbfounded by .  Reid runs the WCO.  Always has, always will.  So why, if he is so stuck on running an offense that is known for short underneath routes, does he have such a hard time identifying recievers who are strong enough to get off the line so as not to disrupt the timing of those routes?  Why does he have such a hard time identifying recievers who are big enough to catch the ball across the middle?  Why does he have such a hard time identifying receivers who have hands to actually catch the ball? 

With the exception of TO, none of the Eagles starting recievers over the last few years have fit the mold of a WCO reciever. 

[hunt]

  it reminds me of the pre-TO eagles teams that couldn't mount much of an offense against teams with good secondaries that put pressure on #5.

I assume you mean "teams who have good secondaries and who are able to put pressure on #5"  (as opposed to secondaries who can put pressure on the QB)

Playing devil's advocate for a second, couldn't AR claim that he doesn't have to worry about teams getting pressure since they did such a great job upgrading the line?  Could the team get by with average WR's if the QB has enough time?

ar can claim whatever he wants but if the eagles wr's can't get open against single coverage, expect mcnabb to get blitzed all game long.
the D is improved but not to the point where it can carry the entire team....the offense will need to put up points and that's not easy when your top 2 receiving threats are a rb & a te and you don't have a power running attack.  they will struggle to score against good defenses.

[Cerevant]

ar can claim whatever he wants but if the eagles wr's can't get open against single coverage, expect mcnabb to get blitzed all game long.

1) Do the WRs need to beat single coverage if Westbrook and/or LJ get open?
2) Can the Eagles be beaten by the blitz with an improved offensive line & a renewed McNabb?