Shallow | Center

Try, Eagles, Try

Birds' .500 Record Shouldn't Mask the Importance of Next Off-Season

IT'S AWFULLY easy to convince yourself that an 8-8 record in the NFL is something positive on which to build. A break here, a bounce there, and you're looking at 10-6 and a playoff slot. A few minor off-season tweaks, and you're right there.

It would be no small mistake for the Eagles to think that way. They earned their .500 record in 2007. Just good enough to give the NFL's elite a run for their money on any given Sunday, just bad enough to lose as many games as they won, the Birds were 8-8 on merit, not bad luck. Distressingly, the crack in the team's window is growing ever smaller. Donovan McNabb's knee will surely be much better by September -- but he'll also be a year older. Brian Westbrook plays a position of notorious fragility. Kevin Curtis is a fine No. 2 receiver who, without help, will again be overmatched as a No. 1.

Winning Ugly May Be Winning, But It's Also Ugly

Eagles' Less Than Impressive 'W' Conceals Some Uh-Oh Moments

I KNOW all is well in Birdland, at least for a week, but in my limited viewing of yesterday's improbable Eagles win over the Redskins, I caught a couple of things that troubled me, even in victory. First, Donovan McNabb just isn't throwing the ball right. I can't believe I'm writing this, but his receivers really bailed his ass out a few times, by altering their routes a step or two to come back to underthrown passes. And the defense, once an ironclad hallmark, allowed the Redskins to get down the field way too easily. When James Thrash burns your D multiple times, you know you need some help. I hate to wish losses on teams I like, but there are times when winning masks larger problems that need to be uncovered as soon as possible for there to be long-term success.

Sunday Worst

A Gruesome Loss Signals a Depressing Direction for the Birds

THE EAGLES didn't so much as pass the NFC East baton to the Cowboys last night as they did allow the 'Boys to rip it mercilessly from their hands and use it to beat their skulls in. In front of a national television audience, Dallas embarrassed the Birds, beating them on both sides of the ball and exposing a team that simply lacks the talent to contend. The lifeless Eagles inexplicably committed the kind of errors that just shouldn't come from a franchise that has been the class of the conference for the better part of a decade. Whether Andy Reid's dreadful week had anything to do with his team's shamefully awful performance is open to debate. What is not is that the Eagles are a team in decline, with too few weapons, too many holes, and no seeming organizational direction on how to fix it.

Bearly Breathing

A Dreadful Loss to Chicago Exposes the Eagles' Mediocrity

WHICH WAS worse: Watching the Bears' excruciating, 97-yard drive with less than two minutes to go, or having to listen to Dick Stockton, the country's worst network play-by-play broadcaster, call it? Regardless, it was not a fun day either at Lincoln Financial Field or in front of the television. The only Eagle to have a good day was David Akers, and that's because his teammates forgot that the rules allow you to carry and throw the ball into the end zone as well as kick it. For some reason Donovan McNabb can move the chains very effectively, despite having only one real weapon in Brian Westbrook, until the Eagles get to the 20, and then unimaginative play calling and poor execution kick in. And yesterday Jim Johnson's bend-but-don't break defense, hampered by injuries, chose the worst possible time to break.

It's been a terrific run, these last half-dozen years, but the team looks to be at a crossroads. The Eagles now have the look of a competitive team, but not of a contending one, and the difference between the two is critical. I'm not advocating inserting Kevin Kolb; I think McNabb still has a fair amount of time left. But more and more, it appears as if bigger changes are needed than simply tweaking around the edges.

Special Dread

LOVELY. THE Eagles thanked me for my staunch, stirring defense yesterday by promptly screwing the pooch, losing in excruciating fashion to Green Bay. Philadelphia never looked ready to play, coming out flat from the opening kickoff and allowing Brett Favre to keep his inferior Packers team in the game. The special teams, in particular, were simply awful, with the exception of David Akers. A pair of botched punt returns led to Green Bay scores, and Sav Rocca couldn't deliver big punts when it counted. Donovan McNabb looked rusty; the offense was able to move the ball mostly thanks to the efforts of Brian Westbrook. The Eagles' biggest question mark headed into the season was their defense, which played a nice game. It's a bad sign that the team wasted that solid performance with disappointing efforts out of the offense and special teams.

Boos Cruise

THE EAGLES have just gone three and out on their first possession of the 2007 season, then botched their first punt return and given the Packers a touchdown. You just know that the WIP piranhas are happy as hell to be smelling blood in the water already. Never has such sustained success in Philadelphia been met by such derision from the hometown fans. For the better part of a decade the Eagles have been the class of the NFC, rising from the dregs of the Norman Braman era to an almost perennial Super Bowl contender, but to hear the critics gripe, you'd think the team had been mired in last place since Steve Van Buren retired. Jeff Lurie, Andy Reid, and Donovan McNabb have combined to lead a consistently contending effort, year in and year out, but the Birds' most rabid fans prefer to focus on what hasn't been accomplished, not what has. Even by this city's absurdly demanding standards, the disdain we've shown for the Eagles and those who have brought them unprecedented success has been ridiculous.

All the News That's Fit to Print ... Unless Someone Else Got It First

YOU'D THINK that the Daily News, which ranks behind only WIP in the resources it devotes to covering Eagles minutiae, would have been all over the story that Donte Stallworth, the Birds' free-agent wideout, had allegedly been cited by the NFL for violating its substance-abuse policy. Yet not only did the DN get its lunch eaten by the Inquirer yesterday, it didn't even play catch-up today, at least not in its online version. I know it's embarrassing to concede in print that you've been beaten by your competitor, but news is news, and it needs to be reported, regardless of who had it first.

And speaking of our wayward wide receiver, regardless of where you stand on the war on drugs -- and I'm much less convinced of its efficacy or its justness than I used to be -- you have no choice but to conclude that whatever high Stallworth enjoyed wasn't worth the millions of dollars he'll likely lose now that the market for his services has bottomed out. Donte, baby, couldn't you have just had a shot and a beer instead?

No Hard Feeleys

THE EAGLES' resigning of A.J. Feeley spells the end of Jeff Garcia's brief but productive career as Donovan's McNabb's backup, and I'm completely okay with that. Garcia's tenure in Philadelphia was a complete win-win: He signed a one-year contract, got his chance, and played great, proving that he still has some gas in the tank; the team rode his performance to a win in the playoffs. Garcia should get a nice contract from some other team, but it almost certainly will be larger than a QB his age should get. As for Feeley, he, like Garcia, is a decent enough player who, plugged into the right system and with the right cast around him, can find success simply by not making mistakes. And he's a lot younger. The Eagles may take some PR hits on this, but I think they did the right thing; and best of luck to Garcia, who came into a tough situation and was a consummate professional.

The Eagles' Poorly Executed Audible

ANDY REID'S flip-flop refusal to let Donovan McNabb speak to the media yesterday is puzzling. Reid has long been credited as being a head coach who treats his players with respect, and certainly McNabb, a veteran who has carried himself with maturity and poise ever since being booed on draft day, has earned the right to do his own thing. The reason cited by Reid for canceling yesterday's presser was that he wanted his rehabbing quarterback to avoid distractions and concentrate on his work. Well, come on. How is sitting for 45 minutes and answering inane questions that he's already seen in print and heard on TV and the radio dozens of time going to keep McNabb from being ready for training camp?

Kicked Away

THE EAGLES' loss doesn't sting as much as it would have had I been fully immersed in the game. Instead, on Saturday night we were at a party, and not a football party. So there was a television on in the corner of the living room, but the sound was down and there was considerable socializing to be done in other rooms. I'd hunker down in front of the game in 10-minute stretches, then wander elsewhere, and so I didn't get that locked-in connection that blots out the rest of the world and renders wins and losses in far greater relief than they deserve. I didn't even see the late, fourth-quarter punt, which is probably a good thing, since a houseful of refined guests did not want to hear me raving about unnecessary caution and bad decisions.