The locker room at the NovaCare Complex is empty. It is a chilling feeling, to go from 100 mph to zero, to have the frenetic pace of the season come to a grinding, stunning halt. But that's the way it is in the NFL, and now the focus turns to the future. There is a lot of work ahead for the coaches, for the personnel department and for each and every player.
Trying to move away from the lousy taste of Saturday's loss, the Eagles are going to prepare for what they hope is a tremendous off-season. This football team, this young football team, won 11 games in 2009, including a six-game surge that sent them to the playoffs. Yes, they stumbled twice against Dallas and there is a significant gap between the two teams at this point in time. But the Eagles have a lot to work with, so let's clean up some odds and ends and discuss various topics ...
Wide receiver Kevin Curtis played in only three games in an injury-plagued season and clearly was not 100 percent at the end of the season because of the balky knee. He and Reggie Brown are veterans who, when healthy, are productive, good players. Where do they fit in here with DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin and Jason Avant running 1-2-3? Curtis would love to stay, would love to play and could certainly be a help to this offense when healthy. His groin is fine and the knee has some rehab ahead in the off-season. Interesting to see what happens at wide receiver here. If there is no Collective Bargaining Agreement, veteran players around the league could be in a situation where they are on the roster bubble because teams can release them without taking a hit to the salary cap because, obviously, there would be no salary cap. Stay tuned.
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I owe an apology to safety Quintin Mikell for incorrectly paraphrasing something from his post-game press conference on Saturday night. When asked about the success teams in the NFC East had lately on slants and screens against the Eagles, I interpreted Mikell's comments as though perhaps the Eagles had been predictable in certain coverages and teams exploited those coverages. That was not the intention of Mikell's comments. This is what he said when asked if there was a schematic issue: "We're pretty much doing the things that we've always done. Maybe teams are seeing something. We're going to go in the off-season and figure it out. Maybe they are seeing something that is showing the openings right there."
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The winning quarterbacks in the Wild Card weekend combined to throw 8 touchdown passes and one interception. The quarterbacks on the four losing teams combined to throw 6 interceptions. Quarterback play, and all that goes with it -- protection, scheme, etc. -- is the most important factor in the playoffs.
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Michael Vick handled everything thrown his way in really impressive fashion this season, including his day-after press conference. Vick said he will be a "professional" with whatever happens next season, whether that means he remains as an Eagle or is traded elsewhere. Vick is signed through 2010. So are Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb, which of course makes for a very interesting off-season.
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Interested to see what the Eagles do with the safety spots in the months ahead. They thought Quintin Demps was ready to be the starter at free safety, but he ended up playing very little there. Sean Jones, who is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent, and rookie Macho Harris split time there for the most part and the defense never really became settled and productive. Harris is looking forward to improving every part of his game in the off-season. "I'm going to work on everything and whatever they want me to do, I will do it," said Harris. "Your rookie season, there's a lot going on. I know I'm going to become a much better football player and if they want me to play safety or corner, it doesn't matter to me."
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So I'm trolling through the Discussion Boards because I'm depressed about the loss and the end of the season and I see a thread in TATE that says, "Down 17-0 the Packers are still running the football ...." I'm so interested. Eagles fans get so caught up in the run/pass ratio and I enjoy the conversation. Anyway, balance people ... Arizona threw 33 passes and called 23 runs -- even with a lead that was once 31-10 and Green Bay DID NOT keep running the football. The Packers had 45 passes (not including sacks and including three Aaron Rodgers runs) and 17 rushing attempts and scored 45 points. I agree that the Eagles need to run the ball *better* and they need to have a consistent threat to pound it on the ground, but the end-of-game numbers just don't grab me. Situational runs mean much more to me.
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The Eagles draft 24th in the first round of April's draft and have 7 total picks, including an extra third-round selection from Seattle and an extra fifth-round pick from New Orleans and an extra sixth-round draft pick from Indianapolis. A fifth-round pick was sent to the Rams in the trade for Will Witherspoon, a sixth-round pick goes to Buffalo for Jason Peters and a seventh-round pick was dealt to New England in the deal that sent wide receiver Greg Lewis there. Still unknown to me is what more, if anything, the Eagles acquire from the Jets in the Lito Sheppard trade. Sheppard played in 11 games, with nine starts, for the Jets this season.
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What does the future hold for defensive tackle Trevor Laws, who just did not get on the field this season? I'll explore more in depth in the weeks ahead as we kill some idle time, but everyone sure expected more from Laws in his second season. He faces a crossroads-type of off-season.
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If there is no CBA, and all signs say there won't be, the only Eagles due to become unrestricted free agents are: safety Sean Jones, linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, defensive end Jason Babin and linebacker Tracy White. So this team has just about every piece back, some draft picks to play with, some key players coming back from injury and the wherewithal to be aggressive in player acquisition.
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Always a professional, Sheldon Brown did not take the bait from reporters who asked him if he planned to demand a trade or to discuss his contract status. Brown merely said he expects to be an Eagle in 2010 and that he thinks this team is good now and has a chance to be really, really good ahead. One question I need to ask and have answered and it just occurred to me: I always remember Brown moving inside in the nickel, with Joselio Hanson playing outside. Hanson seemed to play inside coverage against Dallas on Saturday night. I hadn't looked for that before. Hold that thought.
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Where does Stacy Andrews factor in next season? Well, he should compete for a starting job at guard, at the very least. The Eagles got nothing from Andrews this season, a major disappointment. He is still a talent, is healthy and is a hard-working young man who wants to be great. I expect a huge improvement from him.
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Big press conference from Andy Reid at Noon. He probably won't get into too much detail on his plans regarding personnel, but he will be asked about Tom Heckert, who is reportedly becoming the General Manager in Cleveland. What do the Eagles do to replace Heckert? Next in line appears to be Howie Roseman, the team's Vice President of Player Personnel. We shall see. The Eagles have a lot of important moves to make in an off-season that should prove to be a fascinating as any in recent memory.
