Those back-to back Cowboys losses still sting. The Eagles have some issues to address this off season, including the non-quarterback issues, the weak looking free agent market, fixing the defense and the Where’s Waldo of who is going to be here next year and who is not. Let’s look at some of this:

Non Quarterback

This week I have seen more Donovan McNabb trade rumors than I have seen for a long time. Seattle, San Francisco, but I think the most interesting one is Arizona. We all saw Kurt Warner’s un-tearful retirement press conference, and after last years NFC Championship game whipping he gave us…I can only wish him the best. He is really one of the great QB’s of my time, hate to see him go. McNabb could be the veteran presence needed there, he does have a home out there. On has to wonder if they can muster up the draft choice juice that Seattle or San Fran can offer the Eagles. I can only ignore Andy Reid’s comments about the Eagles QB issues, that man is like my boy Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino from MTV’s ” Jersey Shore”,  he would say anything for the right hookup. The big question is, if McNabb get shipped off for a late 1^st or 2^nd round pick, does Kevin Kolb immediately become number 1 or is it an open competition between him and Mike Vick ? Better still is Mike Vick still in the equation ? Which leads me to…

Weak Looking Free Agent Market

The free agent market this year is looking pretty bleak. Everyone thinks Julius Peppers from the Panthers at DE and Nick Collins from the Packers at Safety are probably the best of the bunch. I hope the Eagles make a run a Collins they could sure use him. Sean Jones is a UFA, I think he is history anyway. Peppers would be nice but I think he is attracting too much attention in the weak market and the Eagles may think him too old to move on him. Reid likes to develop young D-line talent. Mike Vick works into to all of this too. The free agent QB list is pretty bad. Kyle Boller is talking retirement, Chad Pennington will most likely re-sign with the Dolphins, as most likely will Kyle Orton. Any of you Eagles fans like Seneca Wallace? I think if McNabb goes, which I think he will, then Vick will be staying and competing for number 1. And losing out to Kolb. You heard it hear first.

Fixing the Defense

Really not sure what the quick fix for the defense. Blitzing more will help, better schemes, get to the QB quicker. Lots of injuries this season really hurt the Eagles, giving a lot of guys a chance to play. They will be a more experienced group at linebacker next year which is a plus, with a healthy Stewart Bradley and Chris Gocong. With the addition of Will Witherspoon, you would think that Jeremiah Trotter is back to sports talk radio. Andy Reid will take care of the D-Line via the draft as always, maybe they will be able to teach Assante Samuel how to tackle and to jam a wide receiver on the line of scrimmage and PLEASE PAY SHELDON BROWN, leaving free safety the biggest issue. Jones, like I said is most likely history, Macho Harris is not going to cut it. One of those Quintin’s (Demps or Mikell) may have to slide over there, but Nick Collins would be the answer to the problem.

Where’s Waldo

Here is who I think is here and gone…just a few:

Brian Westbook: here

Kevin Curtis: gone

Jason Avant: here

Donovan McNabb: gone

Sean Jones: gone

Sav Rocca: gone

Jeremiah Trotter: gone

Mike Vick: here

Better play from the QB position and the defensive fixes are gonna be needed to avenge that can of whoop-ass the Cowboys opened up on us at the end of the season. Love to see the Eagles get it done !

Alright Eagles fans, the birds currently sit atop the NFC East by a very thin margin, do you think they stay there? To answer that question I point to the Dallas Cowgirls and New York She-Men’s schedules and I say yes they can. Dallas is going into their late season downward spiral as New York continues to miss Plaxico Burress. Don’t get me wrong, the Birds have some holes that need to be fixed, like that defense. Truthfully it’s not that bad, they do just enough to get the job done. Once the playoffs roll around that may not be enough, especially against a team like New Orleans and/or Minnesota, two teams that can put up points in bunches. I will say that the Eagles offense is in my mind the only offense that can keep up with New Orleans, the big play ability of the offense is down right scary. Desean Jackson is tremendous when he gets the ball in his hands, whether it’s as a receiver or a punt returner. Add to that the possibility of getting a healthy Brian Westbrook back can be a huge boost to this team. Besides the concussion, Westbrook should not be to banged up as he has missed seven games and we have Shady McCoy behind him along with Leonard Weaver who has been very impressive.

All that being said, the coaching staff needs to continue to run the ball and as long as that continues to be successful so will the Eagles. Mike Vick has also started to contribute to the running game more either as a decoy or as the runner himself. It is nice to see that he is starting to work his way onto the field and be comfortable in what he is doing. I don’t see him in an Eagles uniform next season but I would welcome his contributions to the Birds again next season if they decide to stay with him. Speaking of what they might do after the season is over, and I know it’s early, but what do they do come draft time. I think that the wide receiver position is pretty solid, running backs are good, the team as whole looks to be very solid to me. Just something to think about. On that note I”ll end with sending my prayers to the family and friends of Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receiver Chris Henry, who tragically passed away last night. R.I.P

Wow what a game on Sunday; it wasn’t what I was expecting but I will take it, for sure. All the detractors will say that Atlanta was without key players but as Quentin Mikell said in a post game interview ” that is football, it’s the nature of the game.”  Regardless of any of that, the Eagles went to Atlanta and took care of business. That is all they have to do for the rest of the regular season. I think that the Eagles have the easiest road ahead, as Dallas still has to face the Chargers and Saints and then finish off their season against the Eagles in the season finale in Texas. Dallas could lose two out of those three games, if not all three. As for the Giants we will find out next week if the Eagles have to worry about them at all. If the Giants lose next week I think they will be a long shot to make the playoffs. That is just my opinion of course.

Let’s talk about Mike Vick and his performance on Sunday. Was it a sign of things to come or was it a mini party for Vick being in Atlanta? I happen to think that it was a little of both, being that the birds were up big and that took some pressure off of him and he performed well. Add in any motivation he may have given himself for being in against his former team and the fact that Andy and the coaching staff realized that this may have been a good thing for him. It may give him a bit more confidence going forward to the point where we may see some more flashes of the old Mike Vick (on the field of course). I personally would like to see more of Vick but with him out on the field at the same time with Donovan McNabb. That kind of scenario would drive defenses crazy. Only time will tell if this is the Vick we will continue to see or if this was a revenge kind of performance.

If anyone has has anything they would like to add please feel free to throw some comments at me or you can hit me up at http://twitter.com/BeanTalk

Enjoy your day and Fly Eagles Fly!

Football games become even more important in December with the playoffs looming, but today’s showdown between the Eagles and Falcons was especially important for one player: Michael Vick. Vick marched into the Georgia Dome  on Sunday as a team captain wearing number 7. That’s the same number he wore for six years when he was the face of the Falcons franchise before the dog fighting scandal surfaced.

As most people would’ve anticipated, when Vick took the field for his first play he was met by an overwhelming amount of boos from the crowd. He took direct snaps in the wildcat formation and racked up his usual six yards or so on his limited touches. It looked like this would be another disappointing game for Vick in what has been a disappointing season as the former all star hasn’t had quite the impact in Philadelphia that people thought he would.

But then the Eagles found themselves with a 3rd and 1 from the Falcons 5 yard line. Vick came into the game to do what he was signed to do: give the Eagles another option in short yardage situations that they struggled in so badly last season. Vick took the direct snap and made some moves to get into the end zone for his first score as an Eagle and his first rushing touchdown since 2006. Vick was noticeably fired up and all of his new team mates looked equally as excited as they came over to congratulate him. Even Andy Reid joined in on the celebration and gave Vick a big hug. I think it was Reid’s first smile in public since 2004.

In a game that was already dominated by the Eagles, the Falcons kept showing how much they missed Matt Ryan and Michael Turner by letting the Eagles defense run them into the ground. Following Vick’s rushing touchdown, Sheldon Brown jumped a curl route on the left side and took it to the house for a pick six. On the next drive, Chris Gocong got some pressure on Chris Redman, forcing a bad throw that was picked off by Sean Jones.

With a comfortable 27 point lead in the fourth quarter, the Eagles found themselves in the red zone once again and it looked like they were going to honor Vick by letting him finish out the game as the quarterback. Vick took advantage of the opportunity and threw a cross body touchdown strike to Brent Celek to give the Eagles a 34-0 lead. It was the 11th time in his career that Vick rushed and threw for a touchdown in the same game.

Unfortunately for Vick, he injured his thumb on the play and gave way to the normal backup quarterback, Kevin Kolb, for the rest of the game. Atlanta rallied to score a fluke touchdown in the closing seconds of the game but regardless, the Eagles got the win they needed to stay competitive in the playoff hunt and Michael Vick got the big homecoming game he was hoping for.

Its late in the season, down to the last five or six games and the Eagles are very much still in the playoff mix. The loss of Brian Westbrook is not as bad as it seems because so far this season he has been ineffective anyway. On the flip side of that coin is the experience that Lesean “Shady” McCoy is getting and he is producing as long as Andy reid doesn’t throw the ball 50 times a game. The defense hasn’t been up to Philadelphia par, but that can be expected with linebackers rotating as if they were running backs or wide recievers. Minor injuries to the defensive secondary here and there contribute toward their low level of play. To be honest this season could be much worse and/or much better. Take away the loss to the Oakland Raiders and the season would be going the way I thought it would. A tough loss to Dallas doesn’t say much to me, they are division rivals, it is going to happen. If history holds true the Eagles will play well down the stretch and once again be in the playoffs. It will be a tough road if they do make it to the playoffs as teams like New Orleans and Minnesota are going to be in prime position to make a run at the SuperBowl.

Now I want to mention the guy in the picture to the right Brent Celek, he is a bonafide tight end. Think of all the seasons we had to put up with L.J. Smith, this kid comes in and produces, he deserves a pro bowl this season and like Donovan I want to get him there. So fellow Eagles fans when it comes time for the Pro Bowl voting lets get Brent Celek in. He leads the team in receptions, is tied for the lead with Desean Jackson for receiving Td’s. He also Averages 11.4 yards a catch as a tight end and a lot of that has to do with his ability to run after the catch. Think of this, he has more touchdowns than Antonio Gates who is considered to be in the upper ecchelon of tight ends. I say Brent Celek needs to be in the Pro Bowl! That is it from me, look for more of my blogs, I haven’t been around due to a setback but keep your eyes open as I will beck on a regular basis. BeanTalk Out!

Well now the move to acquire Witherspoon makes even more sense. News surfaced today that Eagles MLB Omar Gaither needs surgery to repair a Lisfranc sprain in his foot, which means he’s done for the year. This is terrible news for the birds who are weak at the linebacker position after losing Stewart Bradley in the preseason, signing back Jeremiah Trotter and remembering why they cut him in the first place, and watching second year man Joe Mays not even get onto the field due to poor performance. Gaither heads into free agency next year and this injury coupled with his declining performance certainly won’t help him make a strong bid for a spot on the Eagles roster in 2010 (or on any other roster for that matter).

The Eagles defense is literally falling apart and it all started from the top when Jim Johnson passed away this summer. Witherspoon already had a lot of pressure on him when he was traded to Philadelphia but that pressure has just been intensified ten times over. Not only is he starting at one of the most important defensive positions for a defense that has a reputation for being one of the toughest, strongest units in the league, but he is pretty much the Eagles last line of defense (pardon the pun). There is absolutely no depth behind him and he is the newest member of the team. This is the guy that is most likely going to be wearing the radio helmet on the field and making sure the defense is on the same page. That might be difficult when he has known his team mates for all of two days. Although it is a great opportunity for Will to prove himself, I can confidently say that I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes (or cleats). Let’s just hope he is up to the task. The fate of the Eagles may depend on it.

Just two days after suffering a humiliating loss to the Oakland Raiders, the Eagles front office made moves before the trade deadline Tuesday to acquire veteran linebacker Will Witherspoon. Philadelphia gave up a 2010 fifth round pick as well as wideout Brandon Gibson who they picked in the sixth round of this year’s draft out of Washington State.

The trade is seemingly beneficial for both teams. The Rams are in desperate need of receiver help since Donnie Avery has been battling injuries all year, Laurent Robinson was lost for the season, and no one else can name another receiver on the St. Louis roster. The Eagles loved what they saw from Gibson in training camp but with injuries to Stewart Bradley and now Omar Gaither after Sunday’s debacle in Oakland, they had to pull the trigger and secure a reliable middle linebacker.

Witherspoon, an eight year veteran in the league, was playing the weak side in St. Louis’ scheme this season but has experience anchoring the middle in his days as a Carolina Panther. Despite the fact that Witherspoon came off the field with an apparent injured knee in the Rams’ overtime loss to the Jags, the Eagles added him to the roster to replace the struggling Jeremiah Trotter. Trotter was brought back to the team to help stop the run but his slowness and terrible pass coverage skills have lost him the job after just a couple games back in Philadelphia.

The Eagles confirmed today that Witherspoon in fact has a bruised tailbone and that he will still start at middle linebacker in Monday night’s tilt with the division rival Redskins. The 29 year old veteran is an durable every down player, missing only seven games in his last seven seasons, who already knows this defensive scheme and will look to repeat his performance from two years ago when he recorded a career high seven sacks.

Nobody saw this one coming. I’m still in shock. I mean the Philadelphia Phillies scored more points than the Eagles did. Wow. So what went wrong?

Well it starts with the play calling. As I discussed in my previous post, the Eagles running game hasn’t been too explosive. But maybe that’s because they aren’t getting enough chances. Westbrook and McCoy are two incredibly versatile backs that can really contribute in the passing game but they are running backs by trade first. They are great in space and the Eagles focused on the offensive line a lot in the off season to open the holes that those backs would need. So why did Reid only call 14 running plays and 46 passes when the Raiders were blocking the deep ball all day? Reid has always been obsessed with passing the ball and been stubborn in his play calling but grabbing Jason Peters in the off season and drafting LeSean McCoy in the 2nd round showed signs of change. It looks like those signs were false.

Then again, Jason Peters isn’t of much use to the Eagles on the bench. Peters suffered a knee contusion and sprained ankle during the Raiders game and his presence was certainly missed. Second year tackle King Dunlap did his best impression of Winston Justice two years ago against Osi Umenyiora as the Eagles O-Line allowed six sacks to Umenyiora alone.

I checked out some of the post game interview footage and, when asked about their performance, each offensive lineman had the same thing to say. “They blitzed more than they thought we would. That wasn’t something we saw from them on tape.” Well let’s see. First of all, if your best tackle goes down and your backup is about as effective as putting a bag of groceries on the line, I think it’s safe to say that any team is going to be blitzing a little more. Secondly, have these guys never seen a blitz before? They might have been caught off guard in the 1st quarter but you would think that they would catch on for the remaining 45 minutes of the game. No team ever looks at its own tapes from previous games and says “Let’s do everything the exact same way to make things easier for the opponent.” That is just a pathetic excuse. The Eagles starting front is pretty good but the second one of them goes down McNabb is going to get destroyed. I think Andy Reid and the Eagles coaching staff are aware of the issue but it looks like they need to work a bit harder to develop that young talent or stop being so patient with busts like Winston “How Did I Come From USC” Justice.

I’ve been talking a lot about the offense but the defense isn’t off the hook. Sure they held the Raiders to 13 points but then again Oakland was averaging just over 9 points per game coming into Sunday’s match-up. The defense had some injuries of their own as Victor Abiamiri and more importantly Omar Gaither had to come out of the game. Gaither, who was set to replace Stewart Bradley at middle linebacker after he was lost for the season, lost the job with Jeremiah Trotter’s return to the team. Trotter was brought in because he is a better run blocker but once Gaither went down, the Raiders exploited passing match-ups against Trotter all day. Quintin Mikell intercepted JaMarcus Russell and Asante Samuel notched his fourth pick of the year but the Eagles couldn’t score touchdowns off of those turnovers and the turnovers themselves weren’t enough to make up for Samuel’s other mistakes on the field.

I’m talking mainly about the ridiculous 86 yard touchdown pass from JaMarcus Russell to tight end Zach Miller. Or should I say the 5 yard dump pass that the Eagles missed 86 tackles on. All of the commentators throughout the day were saying stuff like “Zach Miller made a huge play on this 86 yard touchdown. He’s a special talent. Great job by JaMarcus Russell!” Did they even see the play? Miller is usually a good tight end but he is not known for his speed. He probably runs a 12.32 forty. The man is slow as molasses. The Eagles looked like blind pigeons on that play. Asante Samuel is apparently scared of Miller and dove out of his way about a second before they would’ve collided. You don’t have to meet the guy head-on but at least wrap your arms around his legs to slow him down until help can arrive. That play was atrocious. And sure enough the Eagles lost by four. Had anyone decided to even try and tackle Miller on that play, the Eagles probably would have won. Unbelievable.

Andy Reid told reporters today that he is confident Peters will return for the Monday night match-up. Donovan McNabb promised after the game that “this will never happen again”. Eagles fans had better pray that both Reid and McNabb are right because the Eagles’ next three games are against the NFC East and division rivals don’t give you as many chances to get back into the game as the Oakland Raiders do.

Normally, I would write about this week’s match up but no one cares about the Raiders. There is nothing to analyze. They just flat out stink. The Eagles will dominate them the same way they did the Chiefs and Bucs. As much as I like seeing my team win, I’m ready for a challenge. I’ll settle for a division game (and a Monday nighter at that) against Washington next week but I still don’t think that will be much of a challenge. I know every team has the “one game at a time” approach but I’m looking ahead to two weeks from now when the “almighty” Giants come to town.

So, instead what I’m going to do is give what I’m calling the “State Of The Team Address” and just ramble about my thoughts on how the Eagles are doing. I’ll probably do this a few more time before the end of the season too.

Isn’t it funny how the onslaught of Vick hype has died all of a sudden? I was reading Bill Simmons’ column yesterday and I think he said it best. “The Michael Vick cameos have been even more awkward than when they tried to work Shannon Doherty and Tori Spelling into the “90210″ remake”. He’s dead on. I’ll be the first to admit that I loved the Vick signing and I still do but it’s a work in progress. He’s not going to be good for another two years but I’m confident he will return to true form. I believed that he had potential to be the one thing the Eagles were missing to get past that NFC Championship game again. I was wrong. He has done absolutely nothing and it looks like that trend is going to continue. Now I’ll be honest in saying that I haven’t seen every snap he has taken because I live in New York and don’t get the games up here in Giants country, but the ones I have seen look very flat and uninventive. Which brings me to my next point.

What’s up with the Miami Dolphins? I mean kudos to them for being trendsetters and bringing the wildcat to the NFL but it’s their entire offense and they keep making it work. I don’t get it. It’s been over a year since they started running it. How are teams still struggling to defend it? How did the Ronnie Brown’s almost beat the Colts? I’m pretty sure 95% of the time Ronnie Brown is taking the snap, he just runs straight ahead. Maybe he hesitates for a second but it’s not even a trick play anymore. I just don’t understand how they keep using it and still finding success. Chad Henne had a great game in the win over an impressive Jets team but the wildcat was still the main focus.

But I digress. Back to the birds. They’re coming into this gimme game at Oakland with a 3-1 record but now that the Vick buzz has died down no one is talking about this Philadelphia team. I’m totally fine with that but I don’t understand why some other teams are being hyped up so much. Yes the Giants are undefeated but who have they played? A ton of crappy teams. Normally I would give Dallas a bit of respect but they are looking awful this year. Romo gave the Giants that game on a silver platter and they almost lost to Kansas City. The Gmen travel down to the bayou tomorrow to take on Drew Brees and the high octane Saints offense. Where did that 1 in the Eagles loss column come from? Oh yeah, the Saints. And let’s not forget McNabb sat that game out. I’m not saying that’s why we lost but we all know the game would’ve been much closer if he was calling the shots instead of Kevin Kolb and his 50% accuracy in that game. The Giants might come out with a W tomorrow but I’m looking forward to seeing how they perform against a non high school team.

I was glad to see McNabb back on the field last week and I was even happier to see him running around looking unfazed by the injury. I was also glad to see Jeremy Maclin’s coming out party as he torched Tampa’s terrible DB’s. The famous Tampa cover 2 wasn’t covering anybody. I must admit it came at a bad time for me since I just traded for DeSean Jackson in one of my fantasy leagues and he had a one yard reception from Vick on the day. I lost by three points. But I’m sure he will be back on the stat sheet in no time especially since reports surfaced that he already talked to McNabb about the lack of looks.

Another emerging star on this Eagles team is Brent Celek. Philly fans have been high on him for a while now but he still hasn’t really been recognized in the public eye. Celek has 26 catches on the year for 303 yards. That’s an 11.7 YPC average which is good enough for third best among tight ends behind Dallas Clark and Antonio Gates. You might have heard of them. Celek’s pass catching skills and excellent blocking ability have made it even easier to forget about L.J Smith. Sorry if you’re surprised, Ravens front office, but the man is a walking injury. They probably haven’t even noticed Smith sucks since Joe Flacco is looking like a legit QB and Todd Heap is slowly returning to true form.

One aspect of the Philadephia offense that isn’t as impressive is the running game. Andy Reid has been true to his word about Shady McCoy splitting time with Westbrook as McCoy is averaging 56 yards from scrimmage to Westbrook’s 57.6. Westbrook finally scored his first TD last week to match McCoy’s but the running game hasn’t looked very explosive. I’m not worried about it since the backs are still contributing (even free agent fullback acquisition Leonard Weaver has gone in for six) but I would love to see a big play or two out of them.

And finally we come to the Eagles defense. They have certainly made a big play or two. Asante Samuel is off to a great start this year with three interceptions already, which is just one shy of his total all of last season. With each week he is proving more and more that he was one of the best offseason pickups the Eagles ever made. He’s also got 14 tackles on the year, which isn’t a remarkable number but considering he only had 35 last year, it’s certainly nice to see him getting even more involved.

Sheldon Brown is reinventing himself this year after some messy contract disputes were made public during training camp. He’s got 3 picks and twelve tackles of his own and is continuing his reputation for being one of the hardest hitters in the NFL. Another veteran returned to the team in Jeremiah Trotter who has been filling in nicely for Stewart Bradley who was lost for the season. I’m still really bummed about losing Bradley because he was looking poised for a breakout year and was becoming a leader of this powerful Eagles defense. The Eagles D-Line has quietly recorded 13 sacks which is good for 8th most in the league (and four teams are tied for fourth with 14).

So all in all the team looks to be firing on all cylinders and ready to pick up where they left off last year in Arizona. The bye week came at a great time and with most of the team in good health, the Eagles will look to get a win in Oakland before opening up divisional play against Albert Haynesworth and every other player on the lackluster Redskins roster whose name isn’t worth mentioning. Except maybe Clinton Portis but he looks older than Emmit Smith on the field now. And I’m talking about Emmitt Smith pre-fountain of youth (i.e. dancing with the stars and those awful hair coloring commercials).

All is well in Philadelphia as the Eagles overpowered the Chiefs in a crucial 34-14 victory. The birds are now 2-1 and take this win into a much needed bye week as they await the return of Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook.

Kevin Kolb looked as if he had something to prove after his awful outing against New Orleans last week and he rebounded quite nicely. Some of his success is thanks to the laughable Kansas City defense but I think most people were surprised by Kolb’s high level of play. Kolb went 24/34 for 327 yards with two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown to cap off the day. Again, he was playing Kansas City at home but this is encouraging news for Eagles fans none the less as Kolb no longer looks like an insecure schoolgirl on the field.

Another key element to Kolb’s success today was the stellar 149 yard performance by DeSean Jackson. The second year wideout hooked up with Kolb on a 64 yard touchdown pass (his 3rd in as many games) where he simply blew by the Kansas City defenders and literally flipped into the end zone for a score. Now, I like elaborate celebrations as much as the next fan/non NFL rules committee member but despite DeSean Jackson’s brilliant performance he is still showing signs of immaturity when he scores touchdowns. The flip was cool but is it really necessary? DJax is probably the third best player on this team after McNabb and Westbrook who are already hurt. Why would he risk his health on something so stupid like that? If he were to injure himself on that flip I’m pretty sure I’d never hear the end of it from all of the Giants fans I know. It could have been worse though, he could have had a terrible excuse for a touchdown celebration like Chad Ochocinco did last year with the fake hall of fame jacket. For all the hype around his first touchdown celebration, that was a tremendous disappointment.

Speaking of not living up to overwhelming hype, Michael Vick proved to have no impact in the Eagles victory today. I wasn’t expecting fireworks since I still think he is a work in progress but seven rushing yards and two incompletions is a bit lackluster. I would’ve maybe liked to see number seven on the field for more than six snaps but I trust Marty Mornhinweg’s play calling. He drew up some nice plays where Vick served as a decoy and didn’t give into the media’s demand to see Vick lead the Eagles to victory in his first eligible game after suspension. I think the Eagles have shown that they are going to ease Vick back into the league so I still don’t understand why he is the biggest headline prior to every Eagles game. Only time will tell what kind of impact he can really have.

One player making an immediate impact for the Eagles is rookie running back LeSean McCoy. He filled in beautifully for the injured Westbrook today, toting the rock 20 times for 84 yards and a score. McCoy was pretty much the only man in the backfield all game and showed his true toughness as he picked up some hard fought yards in the red zone, particularly on his five yard touchdown scamper. Eagles fans can rest assured that Westbrook’s replacement has already arrived in Philadelphia.

So, despite a rough start to the season due to injuries and insecurities, the Eagles have gained some momentum going into the bye week and hope to be back to full strength when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to the Linc on October 11th. After seeing how the team fared without its all stars today, I might even suggest letting McNabb and Westbrook have TWO more weeks of rest. I’m not saying that Kevin Kolb can put the birds on his back and carry us to the playoffs but their next matchup is at home against Tampa. I’m not sure if anyone noticed but the Suckaneers had 86 total yards of offense today and only five first downs. They are a young team with no big playmakers on offense and feature a defense whose steady decline only intensified when Monte Kiffin left Tampa to work for his overconfident son in Tennessee. Yup. The Eagles are going to be just fine.