Ready To Fly?

Let's start with what's changed: Brian Dawkins, the heart and soul of this entire team, will be suiting up for the Denver Broncos. No, the Eagles shouldn't have matched that ridiculous contract, but that doesn't mean he won't be missed. Both offensive tackles, gone. Peters is a clear upgrade over William nee Tra Thomas, but Runyan never missed a game for the Eagles and Shawn Andrews just cannot find his way onto the field. Winston Justice will be starting at right tackle tomorrow, that does not seem like an improvement to me. Herremans is out as well, so I think it's pretty safe to say the offensive line is in shambles. Even at full strength I'm not sure how they'd perform. Too many new faces, not enough reps as a group in the preseason. It's a recipe for disaster.

For my money, though, the player turnover is really an afterthought. The thing that worries me most about the Birds is the loss of Jim Johnson. Not since Buddy Ryan has one man who didn't even step on the field struck such fear into the hearts of quarterbacks. Johnson was an evil genius with his exotic blitz schemes and relentless, fearless, peerless attack on opposing QBs and offensive lines. Everyone hopes Sean McDermott will carry on in JJ's footsteps, but does he have nerves of steel like Johnson did? In a key third-and-ten situation will he send the house after Jake Delhomme and trust that Brown and Asante will stick to their men like glue on the outside? Johnson had the guts of a burglar and I don't think anyone has any idea exactly how much he's going to be missed.

Now that I've got the pessimistic nonsense out of the way, let's talk for a second about this offense. After McNabb's rebirth (following his benching) last season, and his playoff near-heroics, he said bluntly this team needed more weapons. They responded by bringing in another burner on the outside (Maclin), a Westbrook clone (McCoy) and probably the biggest wild card in the league (Vick, although he won't be playing tomorrow). They augmented all that speed with a fullback who can actually play the position (Leonard Weaver). Here's a quote from Weaver:

"My first obligation is to block, (and) my second obligation is to block," Weaver said.

That's the type of guy I want leading me into the pile on third-and-one.

But I digress. The point is, the Eagles can, and will, put more speed on the field than defenses can account for. Picture this, it's week 3, 2nd and 5, the Eagles finally get Herremans and Andrews back, their O-line is intact. They come out with Maclin and DeSean on the outside, Vick in the slot, Westbrook and McCoy as split backs. How can you possibly account for that lineup as a defense? It's just not possible, you can't get enough speed on the field to match up with everyone. Add in the threat of a trick play involving Vick and you've got a recipe for disaster.

That's what I'm really waiting for, but it's still a couple of weeks away. Tomorrow, I'm going to have my eye on a couple of things. The first is Julius Peppers. When he lines on as the right end, he'll be going head-to-head with the Eagles biggest acquisition of the offseason, Jason Peters. Peters is going to have a chance to earn his money right from the first snap and I want to see how he handles an elite edge rusher. I also want to see Peter dole out some punishment on Peppers in the running game. Peter vs. Peppers is intriguing to me, but if/when Peppers lines up on the opposite side, I'm downright scared. Winston Justice played probably the worst game I've ever seen at offensive tackle against the Giants. It would be foolish for the Panthers to exclusively line Peppers up opposite a pro bowl tackle when such a question mark is manning the opposite side. Whenever Peppers is on the defense's left end, someone needs to be there to help Justice, or maybe they need to roll Donovan to his left, away from the pressure.

The defensive match-up I'm waiting for is Asante vs. Steve Smith. Honestly, I'm expecting at least one pick from Asante. I think what separates him from the other elite corners in the league is his brain. He's got the physical skills to stick with anyone, but he seems to out-think QBs and jump routes better than anyone. Smith will make him pay if he's even a split-second late on one of those outs. Should be an exciting matchup.

Finally, even with all the change and tumult, this team only goes as far as Donovan McNabb's arm and Brian Westbrook's legs take them. McNabb was 6-2 with simply amazing numbers after Thanksgiving last season. Before Thanksgiving he was 5-5-1 and looked like he was cooked. Is he finally fully recovered from all the injuries? How much gas is left in the tank, even if he is healthy? Can he survive another QB controversy, because you know we won't survive the season without several articles calling for Vick to be the starting QB? These are all questions for the long term. In the short term, I just want to see if McNabb is ready. Openers have been a mixed bag throughout his career. In fact, if you look back through his game logs, you'll see that in even years, he's started strong, odd years he's been horrible. Let's hope that trend ends tomorrow.

And Brian Westbrook. Simply put, he's the best running back in the NFL. The Eagles desperately need him to be healthy, and they need to proactively game plan to keep him that way. Maximize the impact of his touches, get him off the field when games are decided. Use him as a decoy. They need him to be on the field when the playoffs start, with as much left in the tank as possible. The immediate question is whether he's at 100% now, as the season begins. Will he look a step faster than everyone else on the field when he gets the ball tomorrow? I hope so, but it really doesn't matter. What matters is whether he's 100% when they play their first playoff game. Getting there without having to ride on his back all season long will be the key.

Well, tip off is less than 12 hours away, I don't know about you, but I'm giddy. Should I be? I say yes, despite it all, opening day is like Christmas and your birthday all rolled into one, there's no reason not to be juiced.