2011 Philadelphia Eagles Predictions
Written by Steve Janus
The Philadelphia Eagles won the NFC East with a 10-6 regular season record, earning them the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. The Eagles hopes for another Super Bowl run were put to rest in their first game, as they fell to the Green Bay Packers 16-21 at home. Philadelphia feels like they are on the verge of something great, and have opened up the checkbooks this offseason to put together what some are calling the “Dream Team.” To give you a better idea of what the Eagles will look like in 2011, here is a quick breakdown of both sides of the ball, plus my thoughts on where they will end the year inside the division.
Offense:
An injury to starting quarterback Kevin Kolb in the first week of the regular season opened up the door for Michael Vick to take over the starting job. Vick looked like a completely different quarterback compared to his days in Atlanta. He still has the ability to run past the rush for long gains, but he did a much better job of reading the defense and picking apart the secondary. The Eagles are so high on Vick, they traded away Kolb to the Cardinals this offseason. They did go out and add Vince Young to be the No. 2 quarterback.
The Eagles are excited about what they have in running back LeSean McCoy, who not only led the team with 1,080 rushing yards, but he also led the team with 76 catches for 592 yards. He scored nine total touchdowns and is a huge part of the offense going forward. The Eagles added veteran Ronnie Brown to help take some of the pressure off McCoy, and he could end up being part of the offense.
The Eagles have two outstanding young wide outs in DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin. Jackson gets a lot of the publicity for his big play ability, but he had just 47 catches for six touchdowns compared to Maclin’s 70 receptions for 10 scores. These two both figure to have another huge season in 2010, but they aren’t alone as the Eagles have tight end Brent Celek, wide out Jason Avant, and newly acquired free agent wide out Steve Smith (Giants).
As good as the Eagles offense was in 2010, the offensive line didn’t play well at all. They gave up 49 sacks and if it wasn’t for Vick’s scrambling ability they would have gave up quite a few more. They went out and drafted Baylor guard Danny Watkins to come in and likely start at one of the guard spots. Winston Justice returns at right tackle, and he is the one player that has to pick up his game in 2011, or he will likely be replaced.
Defense:
The Eagles have made a huge effort to add quality depth to their defensive line. They went out and signed defensive end Jason Babin, defensive tackle Collen Jenkins to come in and start along side veteran defensive end Trent Cole and emerging defensive tackle Trevor Laws. With the depth they have behind these four, this unit has the potential to really make the defense one of the top units in the league this year.
What really has everyone talking, is the two additions the Eagles made at corner. They went out and signed top free agent Nnamdi Asomugha and acquired Arizona corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the trade for Kolb. When you add in Pro Bowl corner Asante Samuel, the Eagles should be tough to pass against once they figure out how they are going to use the trio.
The concern on this side of the ball is the starting trio at linebacker, as they really don’t have much experience coming back. They are going to start rookie Casey Matthews at middle linebacker, who lacks the ideal size of a typical 4-3 middle linebacker. On the outside they are expected to send out second-year linebacker Jamar Chaney and third-year linebacker Moise Fokou.
Prediction: 2nd NFC East, 10-6 Overall – While I don’t have the Eagles winning the division, I look for them to still make the playoffs as a Wild Card team. I think they are going to struggle to get things going early, before turning it on late. They could easily end up finishing 2011 much like the Packers did on their way to a Super Bowl win. If head coach Andy Reid can get this team to gel early, they could runaway with the division title.
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