I told my father-in-law that I would be satisfied even if the Eagles did not win last night, but played a competitive game. I was not satisfied. I think this game was actually worse than the week before. Now the Eagles front office (without Tom Heckert, if rumors are true) has the unenviable task of adjusting an average or good team in ways that will make it into a great team instead of a poor team. If they make too many changes too hastily, they could end up with a much, much worse team, but something clearly has to be done. A lot of the sportswriters I have read today seem to blame the defense most of all for yesterday’s loss. While giving up 34 points is unacceptable and there are certainly changes that need to be made on that side of the ball, I thought the offense had much more significant problems. When you keep having to defend a short field on no rest because the offense turns the ball over, chances of success are very low. Following are the positions in order from most in need of action to least, in my opinion
Quarterback: While the rest of the team did not do him any favors, McNabb was flat-out awful yesterday. The problem is, as terrible as McNabb plays sometimes, he is still one of the top 16 quarterbacks in the league. When he is playing well, he is among the very best. If you can get somebody who consistently plays at 75% of the “good” McNabb and never has those terrible days it would be a good move, but there is a real danger of making a major downgrade if you switch to someone else. Vick does not match the pass-happy philosophy and personnel here, so hopefully another team is willing to trade a draft pick for him. I think the best option here is to draft a quarterback this year to get him acclimated to the system, have an open competition between McNabb and Kolb in the following year, and ship out whomever loses that competition with the second-year guy as the backup.
Offensive Line: For a group that has been a priority in drafts and trades ever since Reid arrived here, there sure are a lot of issues here. The Eagles have a lot of money tied up in players that have demonstrated an ability to play at a high level but whom cannot be counted on. I think they have to keep the Andrews brothers here, but also have to have starting-quality backups in the likelihood that neither of them come back from injuries to play well again. Winston Justice is a free agent that they have to sign or replace with a player of similar quality. Max Jean-Gilles they can probably afford to let go of, assuming that Nick Cole moves back to his usual guard position. Drafting a good center to fill in until Jackson is healthy and possibly to replace him would be a very good idea.
Safety: None of the players they brought in to replace Dawkins has been acceptable. Mikell should remain the strong safety, but they have to upgrade the free safety position. Signing Darren Sharper would be nice, but most likely this will have to be a rookie with Demps or Harris as a backup plan.
Linebackers: Trotter is nothing more than a stopgap at this point, and many of the players that rotated through the starting lineup this year are free agents this year. You cannot afford to let Gocong, Gaither, and Jordan all go in the same year. I have never been sold on Gocong, but I would keep the other two. Hopefully Bradley comes back from his injury with all the ability he showed two years ago, but again you have to be prepared for the very real possibility that he does not. At the end of the previous season this position looked like one of the Eagles great strengths, but they were one of the biggest problems this year, and the front office is going to have to do something creative to fix it for the future.
Fullback: Leonard Weaver has been an absolute pleasure to watch this season. The Eagles need to do whatever is necessary to resign him to a long-term contract. They need to stop using him so much as a single back, though. His touches should come as misdirections when he is the upback.
Tight End: Celek is the best player we have had here since Chad Lewis at least, but there is currently no depth at all behind him. If Cornelius Ingram is not going to be the guy, we need to find another capable #2.
Cornerback: It sure would be nice if he made a serious attempt at tackling, but you are not going to be able to improve significantly on Samuel and Brown as the starters. Hanson is not a good nickelback, and there is no one behind him that I trust. If they can resign Hobbs to be the third guy that would work, or it might be time to look at a younger player.
Kick Returner: If Hobbs is resigned and healthy, this becomes a non-issue. None of the other players who filled in here during the season showed much to be excited about, but if they get an entire offseason to work on those skills they might be acceptable.
Halfback: McCoy has shown himself to be a good runner, and with another year he should be better in protection and as a route runner. Westbrook can still be very useful to this team if he chooses to play another year, but I think he needs to be used more sporadically. If he wants to continue to be an every-down back, we should try to send him elsewhere. Buckley has not had many opportunities, but looked good in the preseason. As long as they keep McCoy, I think they will be ok regardless of what other moves they make.
Defensive Line: Trent Cole and the tackles are fine. The rotation at the other end spot has worked, but it would definitely be an upgrade to find another great player at that position. How many players have we brought in thinking they would be that guy?
Wide Receiver: Jackson and Maclin could very well be the Fitzgerald and Boldin of the next decade if they keep playing at the same level and get consistent quarterback play. Avant is a free agent who they should keep as an excellent third receiver. After that it trails off a bit, but Curtis and Brown are capable backups.
Punter: Rocca has been inconsistent but not awful since they brought him here. I will not care much one way or the other whether they resign him or pick up someone else.
Placekicker: There was a time when I was concerned about Akers, but he looked fine this season.
Punt Returner: I don’t know who the backup is or how well he would play, but Jackson is excellent.
Of course, none of this may matter if the league and players’ union cannot agree on a new contract.