What a difference a week makes: Eagles version

By Os Davis  |   Thursday, September 14, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Philadelphia Eagles
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You see it every week of every season, one of the greatest things about the game of football: The entire reputation of a team can change and the league's entire dynamic shift with a single win or loss.

Such is the case with the Philadelphia Eagles, and their current high status should have been obvious all along. (Proclaims the sportswriter with perfect 20/20 hindsight.)

After all, a strong nucleus has been with this team during its admirable run of four NFC championship appearances and one Super Bowl bid. We're talking notables on both sides of the ball here: Brian Dawkins, Hugh Douglas, Chad Lewis, Jon Runyan, Tra Thomas, Jeremiah Trotter and the suddenly re-recognized Donovan McNabb. Despite the Eagles' lackluster 2005, Dawkins and Trotter still played in the Pro Bowl.

The Eagles also had one of the most productive drafts in the NFL to augment their solid squad, scoring talents in Winston Justice and Brodrick Bunkley. Donte' Stallworth was added in lieu of the departure of superstar Terrell Owens. Philly even produced a nice surprise in the fine under-the-radar signing of cast-off former New Mexico Lobo Hank Baskett.

So a team that was killed mostly by the dint of innumerable injuries is mostly healthy, has returned most of its starting team, has a top-notch coaching staff well entrenched in the gameplan, has improved at positions where weak last year, and augmented with youth. Didn't anyone outside of Pennsylvania see the Eagles coming?

And in the 24-10 green-and-silver win last week, everything clicked the way it did in 2004, 2003 and 2002...McNabb totaled 314 yards and three TDs on deadly 24-for-35 passing. The injury-tormented running combination of Brian Westbrook and Correll Buckhalter ran up averages of 4.2 and 6.3 per carry; Westbrook earned 132 total yards in the game. On the defensive side, Trotter was in peak form with nine tackles and Matt McCoy was all over the opposition all day, adding eight.

In short, everything worked out as well as expected. Except Stallworth: He was better.

Stallworth's 141 yards were not only a scary indication that the Eagles may have been able to toss Owens away with hardly a bump, but the number represents Stallworth's career high. Potential All-Pro in 2006? You bet.

Yes, the game was against the Houston Texans, a team mostly sorry across the board. Yes, the defense came up with exactly zero turnovers. Yes, you're only supposed to "take these games one at a time." But these Eagles clearly are far superior than figured in the preseason. These Eagles have quite a favorable schedule in the near future featuring six of nine games at home, including all their division mates. In that span, they'll also face off against the San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans. After 10 weeks, the Eagles could well be 7-3 and two games up in the NFC East.

Of course, the high-flying Eagles could be brought back to Earth this week with an entirely possible convincing New York Giants victory. (Watch for Tiki Barber, who has run up 943 yards for nearly 5.7 yards per carry against Philly over the past four years.)

Good old football...

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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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