Another Blow to Eagles Defense

By: Matt

The Philadelphia Eagles have been one of the best and most consistent teams in the NFC over the last 9 years. After losing in the NFC Championship last year, the Eagles 5^th appearance in 8 years, the team appeared poised to make a championship run in 2009. The Eagles Offense this year is arguably the most talented group the team has had since Terrell Owens joined the team in 2004. Quarterback Donovan McNabb and running back Brian Westbrook are still around, the offensive line is deep and talented, and the receiving core includes sophomore sensation DeSean Jackson, veteran Kevin Curtis, and rookies Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy, and Cornelius Ingram could all become big contributors. Offensively, Donovan McNabb finally has the “weapons” he has so desperately wanted since TO’s departure in 2006.

While the Eagles offense is talented, the trademark feature of the team during their extended run of success was the defense. Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson came to the team the same year as Head Coach Andy Reid and Brian Dawkins has long been the heart of both the defense and team. The Eagles defense, even when the offense has struggled, has kept the team in contention; however, Dawkins left after the team refused to pay their emotional leader, Johnson recently passed away as a result of cancer, and now middle linebacker Stewart Bradley has a torn ACL and will likely miss the season. The injury to Bradley is scary for a multitude of reasons: the Eagles line backing core clearly the weakest part of the defense and Bradley was really the only great linebacker on the roster, Bradley was the middle linebacker and a new player will have to receive a green dot and become the defensive play caller, and Bradley was also a player whose position and talent made him a likely candidate to take Dawkins place as the emotional leader of the defense. While none of these losses alone would cripple the Eagles, the combination of the three will undoubtedly have a tremendous impact on what has been a rock-solid team. New Defensive Coordinator Sean McDermott knows the schemes but lacks the experience of Johnson and will likely fail to bring and remove pressure in as timely a fashion as his predecessor. Dawkins was an aging veteran, but he was clearly the leader of the team (the Eagles beards during last season’s playoffs was Dawkins idea). The Eagles defense still has talent, but in one off-season the team has lost its brain, brawn, and heart. The talent of the Eagles offense could take the team to the playoffs, but the compound blows to the defense will hurt the team. Ultimately, the defense today is not nearly as good as it was 5 months ago, and the team has fallen from Super Bowl contender and will be hard pressed to reach their final goal.