Draft Review: RB Nate Ilaoa

"Nasti" Nate Ilaoa, is a physical down hill runner. He is short, but weighs in around 250 lbs, which makes him more of a bowling ball going through tacklers. Anybody who is a creature of the night like me, has stayed up to watch Hawaii games at 4 am, and has seen this kid play. He is a good value for the 7th round, and is a great pratice squad canidate.

Draft Review: FS CJ Gaddis

I love this pick. CJ Gaddis is a great athlete, who could be a possible successor to Brian Dawkins. He has a few years to develop, and learn the Eagles defense, and I think this will be one of the best players from this draft.

Check out this video, where Gaddis makes a Dawk-plex like tackle.

2006 Orange and White Game, CJ Gaddis Flip

Draft Review: TE Brent Celek

Celek is not very fast, a hard worker, and good receiver. A very big kid, who reminds me of Chad Lewis. If he plays well, then maybe the Eagles have a backup plan, in case LJ Smith walks next year.

Spuds kills McNabb trade rumor

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb: This Rumor Fails The Grade

May 21, 2007

It started as a fill-the-space "scenario" in the Sunday sports section in Philadelphia. A reporter named Don McKee, who has not stepped foot in an Eagles locker room in many years, if ever, tossed one against the wall to see if it would stick.

The embarrassing part, the evidence that there is too much media and too little going on right now in the sports world, especially in Philadelphia, is that it did stick.

And now some are actually, unbelievably of the belief that the idea of trading Donovan McNabb to the Chicago Bears for linebacker Lance Briggs has some teeny, tiny fraction of truth.
On the record, it doesn't.

Anybody with half a brain knows that. The problem is that we don't live in a world where that much brainpower is used.

QB Donovan McNabb the recent mini-camp: Let's hope he ignores these kinds of rumors McKee is not the one to blame here. He doesn't cover the Eagles. He doesn't profess to have sources within the organization. And in this particular case, McKee just had nothing else to write, so he figured he might get a reaction by making up a trade scenario in his mind.

If there is a criticism of McKee, it is that he just doesn't know his football, for he writes this line, one that every football person in the league would think is completely stupid: The question most Eagles fans are asking right now is: Why would the Bears make that deal?

Hey Don, I have to take a really strong stance here and tell you that no team in the world would trade a quarterback the caliber of McNabb for a linebacker. Nobody. Really, it is a completely foolish suggestion, in my opinion.

Anyway, the real beef I have is that this "nugget" gained some steam. And here and there since Sunday, the story has appeared in "rumor" form on some web sites and some Eagles fans are a little nervous about the idea and are asking if ... there ... is ... any ... truth ... at ... all to the story.
There isn't.

But this is how the media works now. Make a suggestion or say something out loud and suddenly you have a story. It doesn't matter if it is true. It doesn't matter if there are no on-the-record sources. Heck, it doesn't matter if there are no sources.

A story is a story and, these days, even the most outrageous fables are given legitimacy, if even for a moment.

That moment is enough for quick-trigger fans to have a reaction. Today, with the proliferation of television channels and web sites and message boards and text messages, all it takes is an unfounded spark to start a flame and then, well, you know where that goes.

And what do the players think these days? They surely hear the rumors and they are asked by family members who surf the Internet and log into the boards and see the headlines. Most players I know pay very little attention to rumors, but you wonder just how much they are able to block. Wouldn't it raise some doubt, maybe just a little?

In McNabb's case, there should be absolutely no doubt. The Eagles aren't going to trade him. They are, as a matter of fact, counting on him heavily to again be a franchise quarterback who will lead the team to a Super Bowl victory.

That is the focus of the franchise. That should be the focus of the quarterback, of the team, of everyone associated with the Eagles.

Rumors are vicious and rumors have no regard for the consequences once the stories start to fly. This latest story, this rumor, this untruth, has breathed too long now. It is time for it to die, and for all discussion about the "no story" to end. Now. Go away, rumor mill, there ain't nothing here to talk about.

It's fun to hear Spadaro go off about something. He is usually very level headed, but every now, and then he just explodes. I would too, if i had his power, and heard all the crap he does about the Eagles from the rest of the media. So much for the week of good press from McNabb's cookout.

'What's the deal?' tight end Smith wonders

By GEOFF MOSHER, The News Journal

PHILADELPHIA -- First, Shawn Andrews and Jamaal Jackson got theirs. Then, Mike Patterson got one. Trent Cole and Reggie Brown, too.

When the Eagles embarked on a contract extension spree last season, solidifying their core of young players for the long term, one person looked around the locker room and thought, "What about me?"
Eventually, tight end L.J. Smith stopped waiting around.

"I took it personal at first," Smith said last week. "Because during the season we had [contract] talks and guys were getting deals, young guys were getting extensions for only being here two years, and things like that. So, that's when I took it personal at first.

"But after the season, I was just at a point where I was just like, 'You know what? I just can't control it. It's out of my hands.' So, I'm not worried about that at all."

The marriage between the Eagles and Smith, their second-round pick in 2003, apparently will end when Smith's contract expires at the end of the 2007 season.

Smith and his agent, Brian Mackler, have tried to negotiate a long-term deal despite Smith's claims that he's not asking for the kind of contract he believes he could command on the free-agent market.

Talks, Smith said, have reached a stalemate.

The Eagles don't comment on contract negotiations, but consider that tight end Daniel Graham commanded about $15 million guaranteed from Denver and Minnesota signed Visanthe Shiancoe for $8 million guaranteed.

Neither had more receptions, yards or touchdowns than Smith did last season.

"I don't think they can sit here and say altogether what I've done wrong or what I didn't do," he said. "Every year stands on its own merit, and I just try to improve from year to year. I definitely asked what can I do from last year, and we went over the good points and bad points, and that's what I do."

The Eagles can thank Corey Simon, Terrell Owens and Duce Staley for Smith's participation in the recent minicamp. After watching those three gripe their way out of town, Smith said he never entertained the idea of holding out.

"I've learned holding out doesn't do anything around here," he said. "If anything, it darkens the situation. You may think you're bringing attention to yourself in a good way, but it doesn't help. That's definitely not an option."

The best Smith can do is hope the Eagles open up the pocketbook. If not, the upcoming season is his personal audition for 31 other NFL teams.

With four seasons under his belt, just two as a full-time starter, Smith ranks among the top six tight ends in Eagles history for catches, yards and touchdowns. Since 1992, he has the second-most yards after the catch, behind Chad Lewis, the man he replaced in the starting role.

His numbers dropped slightly from 2005 to 2006 -- by 11 catches, to 50, and 71 yards, to 611 -- but Smith still was among the NFL's top 10 in touchdown catches (five) by a tight end.

Attribute some of that dropoff to his increased blocking role as the Eagles morphed from a pass-first offense to relying more on a Brian Westbrook-powered running game.

Nobody can forecast coach Andy Reid's plan for the offense next season, but Smith has one objective -- to make it impossible for the Eagles not to up the ante.

"If things aren't getting done, or if things are still slow toward the end of the season, I want to make it so that people are saying, 'How come L.J. didn't get signed? He's a great player, how come it didn't [happen]?'

"Or if it does happen, I want them to say, 'Oh, man, I'm glad they kept L.J. He's definitely a good teammate and he's helped our team win ballgames,' and that's it. As a player, you just want respect from your peers, more than anything."

If it doesn't work out, Smith won't cry.

"Honestly, it's not in my nature or character to cry about anything. Just suck it up and move on," he said. "It's like crying about a girl who doesn't want me. You ask her out, and she either says yes or no. I'm in that position. Either the Eagles want to keep me, or they don't, and that's just how it is."
Contact Geoff Mosher at gemosher@delawareonline.com

Talks have reached a stalemate. Terrible news Eagles fans. Looks like L.J. will be the next Eagle to leave. The more he keeps talking, the less likely anything will get done either. Look on the bright side. At least Smith is not going Lance Briggs on us.

McNabb opens up and reaches out

By Phil Sheridan
Inquirer Columnist

Funny thing about walls. They may make you safer by keeping people out, but it can get lonely when you realize those same walls are holding you in.

That seems to be about where Donovan McNabb finds himself. The Eagles quarterback took another step toward lowering - but not entirely demolishing - the wall that was constructed around him years ago. Just over a week after holding an off-campus series of media interviews, McNabb yesterday threw a getting-acquainted barbecue at a country club in Phoenixville.

If it seems a little strange to be getting acquainted with people who have covered your entire NFL career, well, you've got the idea.

"I don't feel I've got to change anything about the way I'm perceived," McNabb said.

"Hopefully, I'm perceived in a positive light. . . . A lot of people may just look at me as the quarterback of the team and leave it at that. They've got to understand that I'm more than just a quarterback. I'm a father, a husband, a caring person that loves kids, willing to do whatever I can do to help the next man out. If they are willing to look further into it, they'll see that I am a caring person."

In one breath, McNabb says the public would know the real him "if they are willing to look further into it." In the next, he pinpoints one problem as people "looking too deeply" into situations. This is his predicament, trying to reach out while not letting his guard drop entirely.

Up until he was let go by the team a few months ago, Rich Burg was McNabb's point man in the Eagles' public relations department. Burg handled McNabb's media requests, set up his interviews, and helped advise him on how to handle situations as they arose.

"I think you're always protective," said Burg, who is managing McNabb's current outreach program. "Especially with a guy that young (when McNabb first got here). How much do you let him talk to the media as opposed to spending time studying a playbook? Would I do it differently now? I don't know, but I did what I thought was best."

In fairness, some of the limitations on McNabb's availability were made necessary by the sheer media demand. It was easier on everyone to have him talk at a podium, with a microphone, than try to have a scrum of 40 or 50 media people around his locker every Wednesday. Most teams do something similar with their quarterbacks.

The unintended consequence, Burg said, was that McNabb came off as distant and removed. His goal now is to try to undo that as best he can, allow people to see McNabb more as one of the players instead of the face of the franchise.

"My goal is different now," Burg said. "Before I was doing what was best for the Eagles. Now I'm doing what's best for Donovan. Really, that's usually the same thing."

McNabb said he wasn't making an effort to prove he's his "own man."

"I'm my own man, anyway," he said. "This isn't a situation where I'm trying to stand out away from the team."

McNabb was standing on the driving range at RiverCrest Golf Club in Phoenixville, site of his first charity golf tournament, on June 15. The tournament (details are at donovanmcnabb.com and tickets are available via Ticketmaster) benefits the American Diabetes Association.

After mingling with reporters for an hour or so and then hitting a few tee shots for the TV cameras, McNabb talked on the record.

His rehab is coming along well, he said. He can run and cut and is working on deceleration and sudden stops. He said he would work in Arizona again this year and had promises from most of his wide receivers to join him. He said his relationship with Andy Reid was "better" than before.

The most intriguing stuff, though, was about the way he's perceived. That wall, again. One of the risks of being behind it is that it allows others - Terrell Owens, Freddie Mitchell, the media - to project a different image on the wall.

"Company man," anyone?

"Hey, to be in the company, you have to do what's right by that company or you'll be out of that company," McNabb said. "When you play the position that I play, you can be looked upon as that individual. If you portray me as the company man or part of management, I'm sure Peyton [Manning] gets the same thing. I'm sure [Tom] Brady gets the same thing. Carson Palmer gets the same thing. The list goes on of the franchise guys, because they say we get more things or better things than everybody else. . . .

"If someone feels some type of way about me, hey, I can't please everybody. But I know when I step out on that field, I'm going to give you all I got. That's all I ask. I don't ask you to hang out with me or come over and hold my baby or come sit down and have a drink with me. I don't say that."

Yesterday, he invited a bunch of reporters to come inside the wall and have a burger with him. It was a start.

On Andy Reid: "Our relationship probably is better than it was before. We were able to talk about a lot of different issues. Obviously, the issue we were faced with where we drafted a quarterback, that's probably what everybody wants to know. With the situation that he's been a part of with his family, I was there for him. Called him, texted him or whatever to let him know that if he needed anything, I was there.

"Again, people look too far into it. We talk all the time. I've been rehabbing there for the last four months, five months. We've been seeing each other and talking in passing. I've been talking with other coaches. I don't think anything has changed.

"If anything it has gotten better since this draft happened and after the situation with his family."

On his teammates: "My relationship with my teammates is the same as it was before. It's not like I'm passing around money to my teammates to try to make them be friends with me. We are employees. We work together. We bleed and sweat and cry together."

On his age, ticking clock . . . "I'm 30 years old. I feel young. I've played eight years. It's not like I've played 15, 20 years and they need to throw me out of this league. I've been eight years in the league, I'm 30, but I can't do anything about my age or how many years I've played. I think the best years are ahead of me. I don't get caught up in that whole 30 deal, where people say it's almost over. Warren Moon played until he was 42 years old. Brett Favre is 38. I'm sure probably there are people that want him to leave, but it's been 15 years for him, so obviously somebody still wants him."

"You want to be looked upon as a role model, a human being, a guy that works hard to be the best at what he can do, let alone win championships. Not everybody can win a Super Bowl, but, hopefully, we'll be able to do that this year and hold up that trophy."

Contact columnist Phil Sheridan at 215-854-2844 or psheridan@phillynews.com.
Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/philsheridan.

McNabb just kills his critics with class. The same people who write that he should be out of town, he invites them to a barbecue, and just shows he is the bigger man. This should hopefully buy him good press for a week. Maybe two.

Linc: terrorists target

Alleged Fort Dix Terrorists Considered Army - Navy Game Attack

by Brian Grummell

Alleged homegrown jihadis arrested more than a week ago considered the Army-Navy football game - one of college football's biggest rivalries - a possible target for attack.

Court papers said one of the arrested, in a monitored phone conversation, rued a missed opportunity to strike at the Army-Navy football game at Lincoln Financial Field, only a few miles from the site of Wednesday's meeting."

Hopefully they decided it's too hard of a target so we're not going to try it," said Leonard Bonacci, director of event services for the Philadelphia Eagles and who helps oversee security at the stadium.

Fortunately the appropriate authorities were alerted to the plotters before they staged their eventual planned attack on a New Jersey military base. News like this is a reminder that we live in an unsafe world and hopefully authorities can continue to provide appropriate security at college football games and all sporting events to deter such horrible events from ever happening.

Thank God these wackos were caught. What's this world coming to? As if things are not bad enough here, now pople have to think about a terrorist attack? Can't even watch a ball game without fear. It's just very sad to hear. I hope they lock these knuckleheads up for a long time.

Camp Battles

Competition for jobs buoys Reid

Several spots, including defensive end, set for training camp battles

By GEOFF MOSHER, The News Journal

PHILADELPHIA -- The Eagles' first minicamp ended Monday, but don't try to figure out who has the inside track on jobs, especially at defensive end.

A depth chart? Forget it.

For most of the three-day camp, Jevon Kearse practiced only in the morning, while Trent Cole and Darren Howard traded spots on the first team between the morning and afternoon sessions.

Who knows where Juqua Thomas, Victor Abiamiri and Jerome McDougle will be when the season opens Sept. 9 at Green Bay?

Not coach Andy Reid. He has three more minicamps and training camp to figure that out.

"I think as long as the unanswered questions, you have good answers for when
it's all solved, then that's a good thing," he said. "I think we have good
players in competition with one another. I guess time will tell on that, but I
think that's the important part."

Reid craves this kind of competition -- good players pushing each other for playing time. It helps the team in the long run, he believes, even if the odd men out wind up elsewhere.

"I told the guys that it's open," Reid said. "They understand that there is
great competition that will do nothing but make us better. So, there are a few
different positions out there that will be challenged. I think that's healthy
for the football team"

The only lock is Kearse, at left end. The Eagles brought him here in 2004 to harass quarterbacks.

And though he hasn't registered a double-digit sack season in Philadelphia, he notched 3.5 in fewer than two games last season before sustaining a season-ending knee injury.

"I'm looking forward to getting back on the field," Kearse said Monday, "and back toward 100 percent."

Who starts opposite Kearse at right end is still undecided and won't be determined until training camp.

Reid said Howard, another big-money defensive end, played at a Pro Bowl level early in the season but wore down from tendinitis in both knees. Cole, who had five sacks after three games, fell off when he took Kearse's spot in the starting lineup and finished with eight sacks.

The Eagles Web site depth chart, which is unofficial, lists Cole ahead of Howard. When asked about the competition, Cole took it all in stride.

"You got to get in where you fit in," he said.

Howard isn't panicking.

"I think teams just do what they feel is best for the team at the point and time when they're making decisions," Howard said. "You try to make the best decisions for your team right now and let the chips fall where they may."

Besides, Howard added, snaps are generally divided equally among defensive linemen in the Eagles' frequent rotation. Each player gets a chance to make his case.

"Don't get me wrong; [there is] a difference between starting and not starting, but it's not as big as other teams," Howard said. "Everybody plays a lot of reps. I even get extra reps on the inside on the nickel and dime [defenses], so it's not as big of a deal here as it would be somewhere else."

The Eagles' best pass rusher in the second half of last season, Thomas, is unlikely to become a starter this season. Three of Thomas' career-high six sacks came in December, when the Eagles went 5-0 to win the NFC East. He twice sacked elusive Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, but he's earmarked for a reserve role.

As for Abiamiri, a second-round pick out of Notre Dame last month, defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said he's "picking up the system very quickly."

Where does that leave McDougle? The former 15th overall draft pick barely played last year after missing all of the 2005 season to recover from gunshot wounds he suffered during a robbery just before training camp began. His time is running out, and he knows it.

"My whole career has been pretty much filled with injuries," McDougle said. "I'm just trying to control what I can control. I really don't think about it [the competition]."
Contact Geoff Mosher at gemosher@delawareonline.com

Looks like it's Darren Howard vs Trent Cole. I think Cole wins here, because he just seems to play with hunger, and is a very high energy guy. I think Howard's best days are behind him, and less snaps would be helpfull for him.

If the Eagles can get back to that rotation they had early in the year, with the defensive line, then it really wont matter who the starter is. The run defense suffered, when they got away from that.

I see McDougle knows he is toast as well. I'm sure they can find a nice job for him handing out gatorade.

IN FULL BLOOM

By STEVE KING
kings@phillynews.com

AS A YOUNGSTER at Conrad Ball Middle School in Loveland, Colo., Jeremy Bloom was always told he'd never be able to play multiple sports once he got to high school.

He proved that wrong, balancing football, skiing, track and field and karate.

At 15, Bloom became the youngest person to join the U.S. freestyle ski team. As a senior, he earned all-state honors in football as a wide receiver and helped lead Loveland High to a state title.

But surely, no college coach would allow one of its football players to ski on an Olympic level and play football.

That was the opinion of several of his peers, teachers and coaches, but not Bloom.

"He just never believed it," Bloom's mother, Char, said of her son, who is entering his second season with the Eagles after being selected in the fifth round of the 2006 draft out of the University of Colorado. "I think that was a function of us as a family, believing that we can do anything if we worked hard enough at it and had a passion for it."

Proving doubters wrong has become a lifelong theme for Bloom. Now he's ready to take on his next obstacle as he enters training camp fighting for more than a special-teams role on the Eagles' roster this season.

Although Bloom missed the entire 2006 season after being placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury suffered during training camp, his passion and determination forced him to get in better football shape. Bloom admits he was stubborn last year, feeling as if he could play through injury, constantly believing he was in better physical shape than he actually was. He quickly realized the difference between skiing shape and football shape.

"Compared to this time last year, it's like night and day," Bloom said after the
Eagles' wrapped up their first minicamp Monday at the NovaCare Complex. "If I
had taken the appropriate time off last year, I would have been fine. It's all a
learning experience, and one that I am glad I went through because I feel as if
I am a totally new player this year."

It wasn't Bloom's 458 yards on 24 receptions in two seasons (2002, '03) at Colorado that made him a household name in his home state. It was what he was doing on the slopes at ski resorts across the country and around the world that was giving him notoriety.

Bloom, who started skiing under the instruction of his mother at the Keystone Mountain Resort in Colorado when he was 11, was the No. 1 ranked men's moguls skier in the world by the time he was 19. He won the 2002 U.S. nationals and placed ninth at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Consider too that he hosted his own television show on MTV and was a model for Tommy Hilfiger Jeans alongside President Bush's niece, Lauren, Bloom was already a full-time celebrity before he could legally drink.

Despite the exposure, Bloom said he never felt any pressures to live up the hype, and that remains true now as he focuses solely on football. He said he has learned to deal with the pressures that arise in football from competing under stress as a skier.

"Pressure is just an outside force going against you," Bloom said. "As long as you can stay within yourself and do what it is you know you can do, pressure will never affect you."

After being ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA for accepting ski-endorsement deals, Bloom continued to dominate the slopes for another 2 years, winning the 2005 World Cup overall championship and tying the record for the most consecutive World Cup wins, with six.
It was his dominance in one sport that reopened his passion for another. By the end of the 2006 Winter Olympics, where he finished sixth in moguls, Bloom had affirmed football as his top priority despite just 2 years of collegiate experience. He then began a quest toward his new challenge, the NFL.

"Jeremy doesn't do anything less than 150 percent," his mom said. "He has such a huge determination. Sometimes I wonder where he gets it from. I don't know anyone who has his type of drive inside or outside our family."

It sometimes amazes Char when she looks back and recalls the way Jeremy was able to balance a competitive athletic schedule, a superior social life and his school work as a youth. She said through all of his activities, the youngest of her three children, just wanted to be a normal child. He even turned down an opportunity to attend Lowell Whiteman, a prestigious boarding school in Steamboat Springs, Colo., which most full-time Olympic skiers attend, so he could be closer to his family and friends.

"That's the way he's always been," Char said. "We never pushed him to do any particular sport. In fact, I would have loved for him to have taken some time off."

Bloom said the absence of input from his family circle helped him, as he was able to make his own decisions at a young age.

"A lot of times you see so many parents with talented kids and they get overly involved with them, putting all this pressure on them, and the kid gets burned out and doesn't want to do it anymore," Bloom said.

While Bloom hasn't followed the typical route to the NFL, he believes he can take the things he learned from his time on the slopes and incorporate them on the football field, even though he hasn't played in a game since 2003.

"A lot of guys who are involved in a team sport are only motivated by another person's actions or someone else telling them to do something," Bloom said. "I'm a very self-motivated person.''
First-year special-teams coordinator Rory Segrest said Bloom came into minicamp last week looking physically stronger and more mentally ready than he did last year.

"[Bloom] has come a long way,'' he said. "You can just see the strides he is making out there as far as fielding the ball goes. He has some great athletic ability and we're very excited about putting him out there in some live situations this year."

The coaches won't be the only ones eager to see him on the field. Jeremy's brother, Jordan, will start medical school at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in the fall. With an aunt and uncle already living in the Philadelphia area, Bloom is sure to have a strong support cast once the team reports to Lehigh at the end of July.

At 5-9, 180, Bloom says he wants to help the team in more ways than just on special teams, even if it takes some time. He says he has improved his route running and understanding of the game to the point where he feels he can compete for a receiving position.

"I know it's not in my control as far as where I'm going to line up, but what is in my control is for me to go out there and show them what I can do, period," Bloom said. "I know we have a lot of talented receivers so it's totally in their hands. All I can do is show up at practice everyday, work my hardest and prove myself."

Something he's been doing all his life. *

Run Eagles Run

THE EAGLES HAVE A NEW EMPHASIS ON RUNNING THE FOOTBALL

Posted May 15, 2007 - 12:43 PM

I remember prior to the one Packers Super Bowl Championship season under Mike Holmgren, that the head coach came out at the start of the training camp that season and proclaimed that they were going to run the ball on everybody. He said this with MVP quarterback Brett Favre lining up behind center. Holmgren had been frustrated year after year by the Dallas Cowboys and their power running game. Holmgren and the Packers dedicated themselves to the run that season, a young Dorsey Levens ran for over 1500 yards, and the Packers dominated the league and won a Super Bowl Title. Maybe last year's stretch run by the Birds reminded Reid of that training camp and the emphasis on running the football.

With last season in the rear view mirror, the most recent draft concluded and last weekend's mini-camp completed, you can see that the Eagles are emphasizing running the football much more now, than they have in the past.

Nothing teaches better than practical knowledge. For years fans and media types clamored for Andy Reid to get a big back to work along with Brian Westbrook, as well as begging him to not rely so much on the passing game. It fell on deaf ears, until Donovan McNabb went down with a knee injury and the Birds had to rely on weak-armed veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia to lead the Birds to victory. Andy Reid saw what the running game did for the offense, as the Eagles put together a five-game winning streak, which allowed them to capture another divisional crown.

Big Red seems now to be convinced that a running game can bolster the Birds already potent air attack, when Donovan McNabb gets back under center. He had to remember the way Holmgren emphasized the run during the Pack's Super Bowl year. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, who took over calling the plays a year ago, concurs. Marty's decision to center the offense around Westbrook was the decision that turned the 2006 season around. He's brought a new way of thinking to the Eagles and most importantly he has the trust of Reid.

You can see their new thinking most of all, when you examine what they did in the draft. The Eagles selected two big backs in Penn State's Tony Hunt and Hawaii's Nate Ilaoa as a testament to that new mindset. They also drafted a big physical tight end in Brent Celek, who may be more of a blocker than pass receiver. You'd have to be blind to not see that the Eagles are a different team from the standpoint, that they have now made more of a commitment to the running game. No longer do they plan on throwing the ball 40 to 50 times a game. They're much more interested in passing it 30 to 35 times a game and running it a bit less, say 30 to 35 times. They'll keep the throwing under 55% and the running over 45%.

It makes sense because of the team's strengths. In the past Donovan McNabb had to carry the offense on his back. People try to point the finger at McNabb when the Eagles lost the Super Bowl to New England but Donovan threw for nearly 400 yards and three touchdowns despite not having much of a run threat, as Westbrook was held to a little over 40 yards on the ground. The Eagles didn't emphasize running the ball during those days and that's why they could afford to line poor run blocking Hank Fraley up at center and smallish guard Artis Hicks. Richard Seymour destroyed both of them and that put the entire weight of the offense on McNabb.

That has changed dramatically because the Birds present offensive linemen are all big and physical, especially in the interior. With All-Pro Shawn Andrews at right guard, power blocking Jamaal Jackson at center, and big physical Todd Herremans at left guard the Birds are as big and physical inside, as anybody in the league. There's no question that they now have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. You can see that they plan on using it.

The new offensive mentality will place more importance on the abilities of Brian Westbrook and Correll Buckhalter. Buck told the media this weekend, that Marty let him know he's going to get more carries. That makes sense because I don't think the Birds want to hand the ball off to the diminutive Westbrook, any more than they did a year ago. That's why Correll was informed of his new role, and that's why Hunt and Ilaoa were picked up in the draft. It's also why they didn't mind letting Garcia go and resigning the lesser priced A.J. Feeley as their backup quarterback. I think wisely realize Feeley can be just as effective as Garcia if he's given the same rushing attack to hide behind.

I like this new Eagles mentality because by building a strong running game, they're also putting themselves in position to battle the big, physical AFC teams, if they're fortunate enough to get to the Super Bowl. Now with a new found running game, which has both speed and power components, they can take pressure off of McNabb and ask him use the deep throwing arm and playmaking ability only a few times a game under optimum conditions.