Comments on: Does injury to Curtis make Eagles better?

By: John

John — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:33:08 +0000

You make reasonable arguments for your points, but I would like to point out what I think are problems with your argument.

1. Our red zone offense most likely will not improve. Although having a big receiver in the red zone is an excellent weapon to have, the Eagles do not utilize the most effect red zone play for a big target. The fade rout. Baskett will be splitting time with Greg Lewis as the split end.

2. Andy Reid only has two things in this world. His word, and his play calling, and he aint breaking neither for nobody. When McNabb was playing with a sports hernia he didn’t change his play calling strategy.

DeSean Jackson appears to have caught Donovan’s eye so far during preseason. That being said, maybe McNabb will look his way a little more often than previous slot receivers.

By: Paul Raymond

Paul Raymond — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:01:24 +0000

Thanks for the comment dannie!! I do watch the eagles every week I live in Philly, there is no choice but to watch them. Haven’t bothered with preseason, or any preseason game for that matter yet.

I agree they’ve never had trouble between the 20s but that could change now without Curtis, which is why I suggest a subtle change to the game plan.

Baskett may have not been playing much, but with his new role as a starter that will change.

Jackson, I hope he does well for the fans sake with all the hype they’ve put into him.

By: Dannie

Dannie — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:53:05 +0000

Last year Westbrook had the most carries of his career by 38 so additional running plays will depend more on who that second back is because we don’t want to burn out and punish Westbrook too much. The Eagles play in an offense that is predicated on short passes so they will always be in the 60/40 pass/run area which is fine. They didn’t have much trouble moving the ball 20 to 20. It’s more about mixing up their running and passing to keep the defense off balance so they don’t key on the pass as easily has they have at times. This will help set up the play-action game as well.

Westbrook caught 90 balls last season so I think they are calling enough plays for him catching the ball out of the backfield.

Have you watched the Eagles much? The red zone issues are because their TE’s have underperformed in that area and they have no wideouts who can get open or make tough catches. Baskett can’t get off the line well enough to make an impact on offense inside the 20 most Philly fans know this, and is why he isn’t on the field now. If he could he would be playing.

McNabb has already found his new favorite receiver this pre-season and that is DeSaun Jackson. He is getting open with relative ease and FIVE is hitting him often. Look for him to have a quick start to the season, especially with Brown continuing to have nagging injuries.

Curtis is not a great player but in no way will the Eagles be better without him. That is unless his injury forces the Eagles hand to go out and bring in a stud.