Early in the first quarter, the Eagles had a punt blocked that the Dolphins were able to immediately turn into a touchdown and take a 7-0 lead. The touchdown came on a reception from Brandon Marshall with Nnamdi Asomugha in coverage. It wasn’t the worst coverage I’ve ever seen. However, Asomugha twisted himself in a weird position before correcting that move and trying to make a play on the ball. It was a great throw and the small miscue from Asomugha allowed Marshall to score.

After that, it was quite the performance by the Eagles defense. They recorded a safety, a total of nine sacks, forced a fumble, and recorded an interception that was almost taken all the way back for a touchdown.

On a few drives, they gave up more on the ground than they would have liked to but the effort was pretty solid for the day overall.

Offensively, we got to see the return of Michael Vick. Unfortunately for Vick, his offensive line had an atrocious game. They couldn’t block at all and the Dolphins defensive line pretty much lived in the backfield.

The coaches were able to make some adjustments to get Vick throwing out of short drops and using the screen game, but it was a difficult day for Vick.

Running back LeSean McCoy didn’t put up very big numbers in terms of rushing yards, but he did find the end zone twice. DeSean Jackson also had a nice little game catching four passes for 59 yards and a touchdown.

After the defense seemed to be the biggest issue, they clearly outperformed the Eagles offense today. However, it was nice to see that effort out of them and was nice to see the Eagles walk away with a win.

They will return home to host the New York Jets next weekend.

So what can you do when your season is over? You learn as much as you can. It’s not 2012 yet, but the Eagles already have a bunch of questions they need to answer.

The first thing that comes to mind is coaching. Who is staying and who is going? Is this the end of the Andy Reid era? Juan Castillo can’t stay, can he? Who is available?

At this point, I don’t think we’ll know much about this for awhile. There’s a ton of loyalty in the Eagles organization and I have a hard time believing Reid will get the axe before the season comes to an end. However, I think Reid and a large portion of his staff will be under the microscope the rest of the season.

This staff has been under a considerable amount of criticism and rightfully so. Game plans have been poor, adjustments haven’t been made, and the talent utilization is no where close to where it should be.

Player wise, the questions clearly start on defense. More specifically, how can the Eagles get better at the linebacker position? I think that all has to start with an evaluation of Jamar Chaney and where they want him to play next year.

Do they think he’s the long-term solution in the middle or would they prefer to move him back to the strong side? He didn’t dominate the strong side earlier in the year, but I believe that the defensive line scheme was a recipe for disaster at that point. Teams were running all over them until they adjusted the line.

I do think Chaney could be successful back on the strong side, but I think that will all depend on whether they can find a guy for the middle. If it’s not Chaney, I can tell you that guy is definitely not on the roster right now. Could this be the year they finally draft a linebacker? Ask me again when I know for sure if Reid is coming back next season.

Who are going to be the safeties next year? Can Nate Allen get back to how he played at the beginning of last season? Can Kurt Coleman play at more of a consistent level? What do we know about Jaiquawn Jarrett? Can he get some starting time down the stretch so we can see what he’s got?

I think there’s potential in all three of these guys but it’s hard to say anything is close to being set in stone. I can’t say I’d be thrilled to see them use another early draft pick on the position, but I’m not ready to rule it out. I’ll definitely have my eye on these three guys the remainder of the year.

What’s the deal with the corners? Is Asante Samuel coming back? Has Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie done anything relevant enough to merit a new deal? Do you bring Joselio Hanson back?

I think Nnamdi Asomugha is the only sure thing for 2012. This isn’t because he’s been dominant, but they’re not going to unload him after the deal he got. Plus, I think he’s been used quite poorly for a large portion of the season.

On offense, the only real question to me is DeSean Jackson. Are the Eagles seriously thinking about letting him walk? I never believed that was a real possibility until very recently.

He seems to be driving Andy Reid nuts and his performance on the field hasn’t been what we’re used to seeing. The Eagles have some pretty solid depth at the wide receiver position, so it could be a possibility. I’d rather see him stay, but it’s hard to tell what the Eagles plan is. We should get a better idea of their intentions as they head down the stretch.

Their decision on Jackson should also tell us about their intentions for Steve Smith. He hasn’t been a big part of the offense this year, but they may consider keeping him around if they do let Jackson walk.

Outside of that, Michael Vick will be back. Jeremy Maclin will be back. LeSean McCoy will be back. We’ll see a lot of familiar faces on offense in 2012.

The Eagles will return a lot of talent, but they clearly have a lot of work to do putting it together. It’s time to start thinking about next season with the Eagles championship hopes crushed. However, they have some season left to help learn more about how to improve for next season.

What will you look for from the Eagles during the rest of the season?

Every week, I’ll be giving you wonderful people a very long and in depth preview of the Eagles upcoming match-up. So take a seat, grab a beverage of your choice, relax, and read on!

Offense
The Eagles offense was explosive last season. The Eagles offense was stagnant last season. Both are true. That leads to figuring out what to expect from this team very frustrating. Many of the questions start up front with the offensive line.

Needless to say, the line was filled with issues last season. The right side was incredibly weak. Center was up and down. The left side was very strong. In the offseason the Eagles added right guard Danny Watkins into the mix. Todd Herremans was moved from left guard to right tackle after Ryan Harris failed to pan out. A late round rookie, Jason Kelce, won the starting center job. The previously mentioned Watkins failed to lock up the starting right guard job, which now goes to the recently signed Kyle DeVan. Nervous? You should be. There are a ton of questions. The only certainty is that Jason Peters will continue to anchor the left side of the line. They now face the tougher than you might think task of taking on the St. Louis Rams defensive front. The Rams were 7th in the league last year with 43 sacks. That was a mere 5 sacks behind the season leading Pittsburgh Steelers. This is a ferocious defensive front that’s been given new life under head coach Steve Spagnuolo. Now, there is good news. The right side of the offensive line will be much improved solely by the addition of Todd Herremans. This is important because Vick is left handed, making the right side his blind side. Great movie by the way. Go see it. I didn’t get paid to write that. However, the Rams will be able to get past this line at times, make no mistake. The center three slots of the line will be weaker, which will eliminate the ability for Vick to step up in the pocket. Given the uncertainty of the offensive line, the Rams get the edge here.

Behind the offensive line stands LeSean McCoy. I always get excited when I think about him being our running back because I remember watching him back in high school days. Back then he was fantastic. Today he’s on the rise to being one of the top backs in the league. He’s very Westbrook-like. He can do everything you need for a running back to do. He can rush the ball, catch the ball, set up blocks, and make blocks. Late last season the Rams were very susceptible to the run. Meanwhile, the Eagles had an effective rushing attack all season despite having an up and down offensive line. The Rams have signed themselves a nice run stopping safety in Quintin Mikell (remember him?), however I do not believe that ultimately makes them much better at shutting down the run. Until they prove they can stop a rushing attack, I’ve got to give the edge to the Eagles here.

At tight end, I’m not sure what the Eagles have. Brent Celek has shown flashes of brilliance and mediocrity. Now, last season much of lack of production was a direct result of being forced to block more than he ever had so far in his NFL career. His unfortunate case of the “dropsies” could also have been linked to the thumb injury he dealt with the majority of the season. Whatever the reason, it’s a fresh start for Celek. He faces the challenge of a Rams defense which was very tough against tight ends late last season. They feature a linebacking core which has been completely revamped with Ben Leber coming in from Minnesota and Brady Poppinga from Green Bay. The core will be led by third year man James Laurinaitis, one of the defenses most productive players.

The St. Louis pass defense is entirely opposite of their run defense from last season. While the run defense was stout, the passing defense could be exploited easily. The Rams starting cornerbacks are second year man Bradley Fletcher, who led the team in interceptions last season, and Ron Bartell. Fletcher is a solid up and coming player. Bartell is a decent starter, but nothing special. They also didn’t face too many wide receiving cores as deep at the Eagles have last season. The Eagles already had one of the better cores in the league with DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, and Jason Avant leading the way. In the offseason they added Steve Smith, formerly of the Giants, to make the passing attack all the more powerful. The Rams will be forced to use their safeties over the top this weekend to give their fairly weak corners as much help as they can. The Eagles explosive passing attack will keep at least two men out of the box and allow LeSean McCoy and Ronnie Brown to run wild.

Of course, that also leaves room for Michael Vick to run wild as well. I’ll spare you the story you already know. Vick had a remarkable season last year. But, it wasn’t without downfalls. His style of play did open him up to many unnecessary hits. The horrendous blind side protection didn’t help either. The Rams previously mentioned fierce pass rush will be a problem. Fortunately, Vick is a master escape artist. It would make sense to me that the Eagles use guys like Jackson and Maclin as “distractions” down the field and that Vick makes a lot of short, quick throws to targets running over the middle. Vick proved last season he can be a very smart quarterback. There’s no reason to believe that will unravel this weekend. This is another Eagles edge.

Defense
The Eagles made a move in the offseason that will prove to be the most crucial move made. It wasn’t signing Nnamdi Asomugha or trading for Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. It was bringing in defensive line coach Jim Washburn from Tennessee. For the past few seasons the Eagles defensive line has been embarrassing outside of Trent Cole and even he would fade down the stretch. No more. The Eagles brought in the best defensive line coach in the NFL and gave him a few toys to play with. First was defensive end Jason Babin who’s coming off a Pro Bowl year with the Titans after recording 12.5 sacks. Then they signed Cullen Jenkins, the former Green Bay defensive tackle. It’s that move that I believe will prove to be the most important player transaction of the offseason. It all starts in the trenches. Now, the Rams offensive line is in a similar situation to the Eagles. They’re simply not that good. Last season they gave up only 34 sacks, which isn’t bad. But, they also gave up 79 quarterback hits. In the offseason they did sign guard Harvey Dahl from Atlanta in the offseason to take over the right guard position. They have an excellent left tackle in Roger Saffold, a rookie who made the All-Rookie Pro Team last season and the only rookie to start all 16 games at left tackle. It should be fun to watch he and Trent Cole battle it out. However, the rest of the line is still fairly weak. Washburn is sure to have figured out a rotation that will prove too much for the Rams line to handle for the entire game. The Edge goes to the Eagles here.

But before you get too excited about this defensive line, bear in mind the Eagles are facing a tremendous running back in Steven Jackson and a good defensive line will not be enough to shut him down. At least, not for a full game. You need good linebackers too. Gulp. The Eagles were 15th in the NFL last year in rush yards given up with 110 per game. That number is much lower than it could be due to a fairly weak set of rushers the Eagles faced most of the season. Good running backs had their way with the Eagles last season. Much of that was due to weak linebackers last season. Guess what, the Eagles again have weak linebackers. Moses Fokou and Jamar Chaney return to man the outside slots and rookie Casey “I wish he was Clay” Matthews takes over at middle linebacker. Now, Chaney and Fokou had nice seasons by Philadelphia standards. Unfortunately the standards for a linebacker in Philly have been low for several seasons now. The key to stopping Steven Jackson is ultimately simple, however. Score points. Lots of them. Force the Rams to take to the air and make them one dimensional. Of course, that’s so simple to say on paper. Actually doing it is a whole different matter. From a simple matchup view, the Rams have the edge here. Hands down.

The Eagles linebackers are about to catch a break, however. They are facing a group of tight ends who do…well…not much. Billy Bajema leads to group of 4 tight ends (Yes, 4.) and he would likely back up Clay Harbor on the Eagles. You likely know by now that the Eagles struggle to cover the tight end. However, Chaney has also shown that he could possibly be an excellent coverage linebacker. The potential is there. Potential is also the most dangerous word in sports. I fully expect Sam Bradford to look to his tight ends early and often to test the young Eagles linebackers. Fortunately, the Eagles corners are more than good enough to allow the safeties to help out in coverage over the middle. All in all, I’d call this a tie.

Now, about those corners. Hee hee. About….those….corners. Oh man. Those corners that happen to make up the best trio of corners in the NFL. Nnamdi Asomugha. Asante Samuel. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Yes, I’m giddy. Now, obviously they still need to gel some. That’s to be expected after the prolonged lockout. Fortunately, they get to test the waters this week against a weak wide receiving core. The top two receivers may look very familiar to Eagles fans as well. Perhaps you remember Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson. Both were formers Eagles wide receivers who found a nice home in St. Louis. They’re perfectly fine wide receivers. But all in all, noting too special. Certainly nothing that this fantastic cornerback trio can’t handle. If you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty excited about this group. This is the biggest edge of the game and it goes to the Eagles.

Finally, the man who makes the Rams offense go. Sam Bradford. The rookie phoneme last season is a great quarterback in the making. However, it’s still in the making. He’s not great just yet. He will be. Just not yet. The Eagles boast one of the best secondaries that Bradford will have seen yet as an NFL player and you can be sure they will be throwing all kinds of coverages at him to try and confuse the young man. Now don’t get me wrong, Bradford is going to make some very nice plays. At the end of the day, the game will rest on his shoulders for the Rams. However, I feel that the combination of him still being a young player, almost no offseason for him to work with his team, and the Eagles strong secondary will lead him to making some huge mistakes. Eagles get the edge.

Special Teams
I want you to know that comparing special teams at this point is darn near impossible. The Eagles have complete uncertainty at both punter and placekicker. The Rams have a solid placekicker and punter. The Eagles have one of the best punt returns in the league in DeSean Jackson and a rookie kick return in Dion Lewis who looks pretty good based on the preseason. The Rams return men are more than capable. So, I’ll give the Rams the edge here. But understand that this is a shot in the dark. There’s no real way to judge special teams at this point in the season. We have no idea what to expect.

Coaches
Comparing coaches is far easier. We already know what we get in Andy Reid. He puts together a fine product each season and will make at least one or two calls each week that are mind boggling. Steve Spagnuolo of the Rams has put together a team that will truly compete for the NFC West. He is certainly a more defensive minded coach and Reid is a more offensive minded coach. Spagnuolo, as previously mentioned, comes from the Andy Reid tree which means both coaches know each other fairly well. I also never really buy into that making a difference. At the end of the day, both are very good coaches. I’ll give Reid the edge simply because he has the experience and more to work with.

How I See It
The Eagles win this game my friends. There’s one element I didn’t discuss yet that really puts it over the top for me and that’s the stadium. The Rams play in a dome with turf. Why does that matter? The Eagles offense is built on speed. Turf plus speed is a beautiful combination. At the end of the game, the Rams will simply not be able to keep up. They are a team that’s on the rise and I have them winning their division. But this Sunday, the Eagles will prove to be the superior team finish week one with a win.

Defensive End

With Jim Washburn coming in as the team’s new line coach, he has much work to do coming to a team that finished second worst in total sacks last year.  He has some talent to work with, possessing two pro bowlers in Trent Cole and Jason Babin.  They will be your starters most likely, with both coming off double digit sack seasons.

The depth is where the questions come in.  The Eagles will likely keep three or four more players on the end to backup these guys.  Last year, the Eagles had Jaqua Parker and Darryl Tapp who are competing for a spot.  Assuming they get the spots, being solid veteran players, there will be room for about two more.

Daniel T’eo Nesheim, the teams’ third round pick in 2010 will fight for a roster spot in his sophomore season.  He was disappointing in his rookie season, but could catch some steam heading into the season.

Last year, the Eagles had two players on the injury reserved list who may be at camp to look for a spot. These players are Ricky Sapp, who was a rookie last year, and Victor Abiamiri, who has been as fragile as glass in his four year career.  It would be surprising to see either one of them make the team.

Phillip Hunt, the CFL leader in sacks last year has entered the race, and has impressed thus far in training camp.  He is the sleeper to make the team, so remember this name.

Newly signed Anthony Hargrove, a Georgia Tech grad, will look to bring his versatility and size to the team.  He is a tall 6’3 and 272 pounds.  He can play inside on the nickel and dime, but can be effective on the outside on running downs.

Defensive Tackle

The Eagles defensive tackle group is led by offseason acquisition Cullen Jenkins.  Jenkins played a large role on the super bowl champion, Green Bay Packers’ squad last season.  He collected seven sacks in just eleven games, missing five games with a calf injury.

He will be starting along either Antonio Dixon or Mike Patterson.  Patterson, who had a seizure on Wednesday at camp will be entering his seventh season, his sixth as a full time starter.  He has been slightly disappointing in the last couple of seasons with his numbers dropping off.  Dixon was a 2009 signing during the season, and has been the teams’ most consistent lineman.

Next up on the roster is my pick for breakout player of the year, Trevor Laws.  After being labeled as a journeyman early in his career, he had a decent season last year.  He is still young, and has put in a great amount of work to his game and conditioning during the lockout.

One player who may make the team in case a player is cut due to salary reasons is undrafted free agent, Cedric Thornton.  He has terrific size at 6’4 and 309 pounds.  He also had a terrific career at Southern Arkansas, so the Eagles will give him his chance.

Linebacker

The linebacker position, by consensus, is the Eagles biggest hole.  They have addressed every other major need in the free agency, but have yet to take care of this position. Good news for the Eagles, they have gotten lucky.

Jamar Chaney, a seventh round pick last year will assume the teams’ strong side.  He has done a good job of plugging holes in the run game and covering tight ends and running backs in the pass game.  He is a young, solid player, showing so in his time last season filling in for the injured Stewart Bradley in the middle.

In the middle, the Eagles will throw Casey Matthews on the field.  This fourth round pick, brother of All-Pro Clay Matthews, has been ahead of the learning curve among rookies, and has been calling the shots in training camp according to defensive coordinator Juan Castillo.  Castillo has also said he is a natural leader who will do a good job this season in the middle.

The biggest question regarding Matthews was whether he could man the middle with his size, but he has gained around 13 pounds since his college days.  He came into camp at 6’1 and 245 pounds.

At weak side, you will most likely see former seventh round pick Moise Fokou.  He is decent at best and has done good things in the past as well as bad.

To fill the depth chart, it will be a contest between Akeem Jordan who is a veteran who can play the weak side, rookie Brian Rolle, second year player Keenan Clayton, and Rashad Jeanty are the others.

Jeanty is the least likely to make the team, and the others will mostly play on special teams, all being fast, undersized linebackers.

Cornerback

I’d be pointing out the obvious if I said that this will be the most improved position the Eagles have this year.  The team let up the second most passing touchdowns in the league last year, so trading for pro bowler Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and signing one of the best corners in the league in Nnamdi Asomugha to add to Asante Samuel will give the Eagles the best secondary in the league on paper.

Assuming they do not trade Samuel, those three will be interchangeably starting.  Add to that Joselio Hansen, a 5’9 guy who specializes in the slot.  This secondary will force teams to run the ball, which the Eagles have shown strength in in the past.

Competing for the fifth spot will be Trevard Lindley, a fourth round pick from last year, Isaiah Trufant, who has been dominating in camp, and rookie third round pick, Curtis Marsh.  Marsh will likely get the spot because the Eagles invested a high pick in him.

If the birds were to trade Samuel, that would open up spots for Lindley, Trufant, and even Brandon Hughes, who is back for another year of camp after spending last year on the practice squad.

Safety

Capping off this preview will be the safeties.  This will feature two second round picks in Nate Allen, who played three games last season before tearing his platella in his knee, and Jaiquawn Jarrett, the rookie out of temple who has been compared to former Cowboy Roy Williams in hitting ability.

While those two have solidified their positions, Jarrad Page who was recently signed from the New England Patriots, Kurt Coleman, Colt Anderson, and Marlin Jackson will compete for spots.

Kurt Coleman, who was solid last year after being a seventh round pick knows the system and may make it because of that.  Page is not a lock to make the team because he will be fighting with Colt Anderson, the teams’ most valuable special teamer last year, and Marlin Jackson who when healthy has shown flashes of being a good player.  The problem is, he has such a hard time of staying on the field.

The competition will be fierce, so this will be a very interesting camp.

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Brown was a pro bowler in 2008, and his claim to fame was being the primary guy for the Dolphins in the wildcat offense.  He has a history of injuries with tearing his ACL in 2007, causing him to miss the whole season and in 2009 he missed seven games with a foot injury.  He started all 16 games last year and ran for 734 yards.

He will provide depth in the backfield as well as a short yardage power back.  He can catch out of the backfield to add to his resume, catching 33 passes last season.

In other news, Danny Watkins has finally signed his contract.  It will be a four year deal.  Watkins will meet all day with offensive line coach Howard Mudd, to make up for lost time on the players’ day off.

Jeremy Maclin and Asante Samuel reported to camp.  Asante reported on monday where he practiced with the team, and Maclin reported today, but it is still unclear whether he’ll practice.  Maclin has been out with an “illness”.

To read the story on the Asomugha signing, click here.

If the Eagles hadn’t have signed Nnamdi Asomugha, all the fans would be talking about another huge signing that they made today.  Vince Young is officially an Eagle as of today, signing a one year contract.  Vince Young has been rumored to come to the team for a couple of days, and it finally became official today after the team announced it.

The Eagles have also brought in WR Johnnie Lee Higgins from the Raiders and TE Donald Lee from the Packers.  Both have signed one year contracts.  Higgins will be able to help on special teams, and Donald Lee could have a minor role at tight end.

Rumor Mill:

Minutes after the Asomugha trade happened, everyone started discussing a potential Asante Samuel trade and while it would benefit the Eagles greatly to keep Samuel, they may need to trade him for financial considerations.

Also, the Eagles have reported that Asante Samuel has missed training camp due to personal reasons, but could the team have asked him to stay home to not risk injury?

Maybe there is a problem the Eagles and Samuel are having, and they signed Asomugha so they could get rid of Asante and make up for it?

Whatever it is, the Eagles seem to be trading Asante Samuel, but nothing is official, and to be honest it could just all be speculation started by NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora.

Expect the Eagles to make a few more moves, such as cutting Broderick Bunkley, who is scheduled to make around $6 million this year.  The Eagles also may pursue a veteran linebacker and shifty running back to back up Shady McCoy.

Minutes before the deal was announced by Adam Schefter via twitter and later confirmed by Jay Glazer of foxsports.com, NFL network announced that the Cowboys and Jets have dropped out of the deal.  Who will Nnamdi go to, we all thought, I was sure it was Tampa Bay.  It turns out, it was the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles just strengthened arguably their weakest position by acquiring Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

In related news, Asante Samuel has been missing training camp due to “personal reasons”.

More to come…

Wow, Nnamdi.

This seemed to be a common theme all season for the Eagles and it became frustrating to watch our right corner struggle every game. By the end of the season, the Eagles secondary was a complete joke and allowed a franchise high 31 passing touchdowns. Let’s review, individually, how the cornerbacks played this season.

Asante Samuel: Asante Samuel again proved his value as he showed that when the ball is thrown his way, he is going to make a play. Despite not playing in 5 games, Samuel was still tied for second in the league with seven interceptions. That’s remarkable when you consider how little opposing quarterbacks threw the ball his way. Unfortunately, the defense collapsed when Samuel was not able to dress because of injury. We all know by now that Asante is not the going to make the big hit, but believe it or not, Asante improved his tackling significantly over the season.

2011 Outlook: Asante Samuel signed a six-year contract in 2008 so look for him to be a center piece to a rebuilding defense.

Ellis Hobbs: This was supposed to be Ellis Hobbs’ breakout season as he lined up as the Eagles starting right corner. To make it short and sweet, that never happened. We all clearly remember when Kenny Britt torched Ellis Hobbs in that frustrating loss to the Titans. The poor performance in the Titans game forced the Eagles to slide in Dimitri Patterson into the starting corner position. As if getting benched wasn’t bad enough, Hobbs sustained another season-ending neck injury against the Giants in late November. Hobbs was seriously injured on the play and may very well be forced to retire due to the injury.

2011 Outlook: Ellis Hobbs will more than likely retire this offseason. If he tries to make a comeback, it will be a long uphill battle. Hobbs is also a free agent this season so all signs point to him not returning to the Eagles next season.

Dimitri Patterson: As stated above, Patterson was thrown into the starting role due to the poor play of Ellis Hobbs. Patterson played well during his first couple of games, but it was evident that the offensive game plan for the opposing team was to throw towards Patterson as much as possible. Patterson had a terrible effort in the crazy game up at the Meadowlands, where he allowed three touchdown passes. As the season went on it was obvious that Patterson is not the long term solution for the Eagles.

2011 Outlook: As of right now Patterson is a free agent. I would be somewhat surprised in the Eagles were to resign him. Look for Patterson to play elsewhere next season.

Joselio Hanson: Hanson played nickel cornerback for the Eagles this season and was not much of a factor. Hanson got his chance to show the team he could play when he started in place of Samuel in the game against the Bears. Sadly, Hanson struggled mightily in the game. Hanson is nothing more than a nickel corner in this league.

2011 Outlook: Hanson signed a five-year deal in 2009 and will be expected to contribute in 2011 as the nickel back.

Trevard Lindley: Lindley was a fourth round pick by the Eagles in the 2010 draft and was not expected to show much this season. However, Lindley surprisingly showed flashes of potential, but still has a long ways to go to make a significant impact on this team.

2011 Outlook: Lindley is the wildcard of the secondary. I expect Lindley to step up next season and be a major contributor as a nickel cornerback in 2011.

OFFSEASON
Obviously the sexy signing would be to bring in Nnamdi Asomugha to play opposite of Asante Samuel. This would create a dynamic tandem and would certainly be fun to watch. I see the Eagles making this their primary free agent signing in the offseason, but it’s not going to be cheap.

The Eagles will certainly have to pay a premium to get Asomugha, but they have shown in the past that they value the corner position. Outside of free agency, I believe the Eagles will use a pick in their first two rounds to take a corner. The corner position could suddenly become the best in the league if the Eagles acquire Asomugha and add another top notch corner. It sure would be enjoyable to watch opposing quarterbacks throw at our secondary if the Eagles are able to make big moves this offseason.

The Vikings are a team that I had in the Super Bowl prior to the season beginning. Last season they went 12-4 and nearly made it to the big game but this season they’ve struggled mightily and have a record of 5-9. Clearly, my prediction is wrong. However, the Vikings still have some dangerous weapons and no game is a gimme in the NFL.

The Vikings offensive line has not been great this year. They’ve given up 31 sacks which is right in the middle of the road for the NFL but they’ve also given up 81 quarterback hits which is among the worst in the league. One of the biggest hits that this team took was the loss of guard Steve Hutchinson, one of the better guards in the league. In his place has been Chris DeGeare who, from what I’ve seen, hasn’t played incredibly well. The entire left side of the line is suspect now and that’s where Trent Cole and Antonio Dixon take over. Dixon is becoming someone who needs to be at least chipped on the inside, if not doubled, and he will take pressure off Cole who will find himself in many one on one battles with left tackle Bryant McKinnie. The Eagles defensive line was very good against New York and I expect them to continue to have success against the Vikings.

Adrian Peterson is the best running back in the league in my opinion and that’s no to take away from Chris Johnson. But Peterson has the rare and deadly combination of speed and power that very few have had in league history. To make matters even better for him, he’s an excellent pass catcher and blocker. However, he is a little banged up. This past Monday he was slated to start against the Chicago Bears but a knee injury forced him to sit out. He was literally a last minute scratch against the Bears and that makes me believe he’ll likely play against the Eagles. Last week the Eagles gave up a total of 100 yards to a Giants offense that was among the best rushing offenses in the league. A big part of that success was the play of rookie middle linebacker Jamar Chaney who had a total of 16 tackles including one for a loss. His contribution were lost in the praise of the offense but Chaney put together an excellent game for his first start. The Eagles have done a very good job of shutting downs back like Peterson this season and given the Minnesota Vikings’ issues on the offensive line, I expect the Eagles to have a very good day against Peterson if he plays. Should he not play the starting running back will likely be Toby Gerhart, the rookie out of Stanford. I like Gerhart a lot but he too is the type of rusher the Eagles have had success against.

Visanthe Shiancoe is the starting tight end for the Vikings after he had a burst out season last year. This season has been a different story however, as he’s only caught 42 passes for 485 and 2 touchdowns. But the Eagles are starting to get burned by the tight end again. Against the Cowboys two weeks ago, the Eagles let Jason Witten carve them to pieces and followed up by letting Kevin Boss gain 59 yards and a touchdown. Luckily for the Eagles the Vikings offensive attack has become very one dimensional. As I mentioned, with a weak offensive line, the running game is hurting which makes it easier to defend, allowing teams to drop more players in coverage to take care of the receiving threats. This should sound similar as well: Shiancoe is being used more as a blocker this season, again going back to the weak offensive line. I won’t be surprised of the Vikings try to get Jamar Chaney isolated in coverage with Shaincoe however, as Chaney has shown he struggled in pass coverage.

Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice head up the Vikings’ wide receiving threats. Both help to make up one of the better receiving cores in the league. It’s not their fault that they’ve had a lame duck getting them the ball all season. Rice, when healthy (which he is now), is among the best receivers in the game. Standing at 6-4 he can overpower many of the better defensive backs in the game but he still has the speed to outrun defenses. Had he been healthy for the first half of the season I believe the Vikings might still be trying to fight for a playoff spot rather than simply playing spoiler. That said, they do pose a threat to the Eagles’ weak pass defense. Last weekend they allowed Eli Manning and Mario Manningham to dominate them for the entire first half. By the end of the day Manning had 289 yards, 4 touchdowns, and just 1 interception. Manningham account for 113 of those yards and 2 of the touchdowns. Much of this was due to a very poor game by cornerback Dimitri Patterson. He looked lost in coverage for much of the first half and had what was easily his worst game as a starter so far. However, I’m not too worried. What does worry me is the loss of free safety Nate Allen for the season. That loss hurts the team and now it appears that fellow rookie Kurt Coleman will have to step it up for the remainder of the season. Coleman has been excellent in run support and decent enough in pass protection. He’s found success in the time that he has played but I expect the Vikings to go after him early and often with Percy Harvin to test him.

It looked for a few minutes like the Eagles would be facing Brett Favre for one final time. Favre started the game against the Bears, despite the warning by medical personnel that he shouldn’t, but he was knocked out early anyways with a head injury. The week prior to the game Tavaris Jackson was placed on season ending IR. That leaves them with rookie Joe Webb who looked less than stellar in his game against Chicago. He put threw for 129 yards and 2 interceptions. Granted he was facing an excellent defense. However, he will again be facing a ballhawking defense in Philadelphia and I expect Asante Samuel to abuse the poor rookie. He can bait just about any quarterback in the NFL into bad throws and I think he comes away with 1 or 2 picks this game.

Let’s flip to the Eagles offense. The Giants had their way with the Eagles for the entire first half and most of the second half. Their defensive line was abusing the Eagles’ offensive line and the defensive backs were keeping the receivers in check. However, as we all know by now, the Eagles offense came to explosive life in the final eight minutes of the game.

The Eagles offensive line was, in a word, awful against the Giants. They were letting the Giants smack Vick around like a rag doll on almost every play. However, they are fortunately facing a team that, despite tons of talent on the defensive front, has struggled to get through protection schemes. For the season they’ve recorded only 24 sacks which is fourth worst in the league. Defensive end Jared Allen leads the group with 9.5 of those sacks and he will be lined up against Jason Peters who is having a spectacular season at left tackle. The other starting defensive end, Ray Edwards, will line up in front of Winston Justice who is returning from a knee injury. Justice is a crucial piece to this line because he protects Vick’s blindside and he has been sorely missed in his absence.

LeSean McCoy had a fairly quiet game against the Giants, accounting for only 77 yards in both receiving and rushing. The Vikings have been fairly stout on defense when it comes to defending the rush all season and given their fairly weak secondary, I expect the Eagles won’t focus on rushing the ball too much. That said, I fully believe McCoy will be a crucial piece in the passing game this weekend. As we all know (due largely in part largely to every color commentator telling us this every week) the Eagles are masters at running the screen. For whatever reason the Giants have figured out how to stop it but they and the Bears are basically the only teams that have been able to. I expect McCoy to take advantage of the team that isn’t built for speed and break off a few good sized gains, mainly in the passing game.

Brent Celek has made two of the biggest plays of the season. His first down on 3rd and 19 against the Texans was huge and his 65 yard touchdown last weekend was even bigger. Celek is still primarily used as a blocker and he’s been doing a a very solid job of that this season. The Vikings have been solid against the tight end all season and I don’t see a reason for that to change. Celek will likely still only get between 2 and 4 catches but he will still contribute on the line.

The Vikings have an incredibly slow defensive backfield. Injuries and lack of consistency up front have hurt them but as a whole they are not very fast. The Eagles wide receiving core has some decent speed. By decent, I mean other worldly. Both Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson have combined for a total of 1,914 yards on the season with Jackson already eclipsing 1,000. It seems every week that team will focus their double coverage on one of them and the other will take full advantage. Last weekend the coverage was focused on Jackson and Maclin was able to bring in 7 passes for 59 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jackson still had himself a solid day, however, catching 3 passes for 52 yards. The Vikings struggled to keep the Bears’ wide receivers in check on Monday Night and now they have their hands full with an even greater challenge. The Eagles receivers are in for a great game. As a side note, Jason Avant will play this weekend despite suffering a concussion against the Giants.

Words can’t describe how amazing Michael Vick has been. Everyone is looking at DeSean Jackson’s punt return as the big play of the game but in reality it wouldn’t have mattered without the play of Vick prior to that. He rallied that team. They believe in him. Other than on the first drive of the game, he did an excellent job of taking care of the ball. He was under constant duress but didn’t make rash decisions and when it was time to be clutch he was as clutch as can be. The Vikings defense has intercepted 13 passes which is right in the middle of the pack for the entire league. Vick has thrown 5 on the season. With the speed of the receivers he’ll be throwing to and the Vikings’ inability to shut down quarterbacks I am expecting a huge game from Vick.

Is this the first week in which the Eagles have a better special teams than someone? The Vikings’ special teams coverage are pretty horrid as evidenced by Devin Hester’s two huge returns last week. DeSean Jackson is among the most explosive return men in the league and that was also evidenced at the end of last week’s game. You already know what happened. The Vikings have a solid kicking game with place kicker Ryan Longwell making 14 of 15 field goal attempts. However, he does not have a particularly strong leg as his longest field goal as been 41 yards. David Akers continues to have an excellent season and even Sav Rocca isn’t breaking down late in the season.

The Vikings are among a handful of teams that decided to go with an interim head coach this season and their man is Leslie Fraizer, their former defensive coordinator. Fraizer was among the first coaching staff that Andy Reid implanted back in 1999 back when he joined the Eagles. Since then he’s risen to his current position on the Vikings. I like Frazier as a coach. He’s been responsible for many very good defenses and the Vikings have been playing slightly better under his leadership. But, at the same time I cannot go against Andy Reid in December. He is darn near unbeatable at this point in the season.

HOW I SEE IT:
The Eagles are going to win the NFC East this weekend. This was literally the most boring preview I’ve ever written because the Vikings really are awful. Nothing about the Vikings really scares me at the end of the day. The Eagles showed me a ton in their win last week and I firmly believe this team is en route to the playoffs and very possibly a first round by. I like the Eagles to win it convincingly at home on Sunday Night Football.

If the Eagles beat the Vikings, they will clinch a playoff spot. Again, it won’t be time to coast. If they get a win against the Vikings and then beat the Cowboys and the Bears lose one of their final two games, the Eagles will get a first-round bye.

There is still a lot at stake for the Eagles and it all starts this week against the Vikings. They need to beat the Vikings, and here are three key match-ups to watch for while they try to get the win.

1. Eagles Secondary vs. Vikings Receivers
With Asante Samuel returning to the lineup last week, I thought the Eagles secondary would have a solid game. However, I was very wrong. Although Samuel played well in his return, the Giants were able to pick apart Dimitri Patterson.

Patterson has been the number one corner for the Eagles while Samuel has been out and has played very well. While he was the main corner, the secondary played poorly but it all came on the opposite side of Patterson. Against the Giants, Patterson was the weak link.

The Vikings will bring in a group of receivers that look similar to what the Eagles saw against the Giants. They have a tall and physical receiver in Sidney Rice who resembles Hakeem Nicks. They also have a speedy receiver in Percy Harvin who resembles Mario Manningham.

Although we don’t know who will start at quarterback for the Vikings, and probably won’t know until minutes before kickoff, it won’t matter if the secondary performs like they did last week.

This Vikings team isn’t as good as many thought they would be, but they still have a lot of talent on offense. Coming into Sunday’s matchup, the Vikings will look to expose Patterson and the secondary the way the Giants did in the first half last week.

2. Michael Vick vs. Vikings Defense
Let’s be real here. Michael Vick is a matchup disaster for every team that has to try to defend him. He’s proven to be the ultimate weapon this season. While in Atlanta, teams could focus on shutting down Vick on the ground because he looked to run often and wasn’t as big of a threat throwing the ball.

This year is a different story. Vick has turned into a pocket passer in the Eagles system, but always has the running card up his sleeve when he needs to use it. We’ve seen Vick get pressured in the pocket but not immediately take off running like he would in the past. When he drops back, he wants to throw the ball first. Running is his last resort.

He’s been great progressing through his reads and isn’t throwing very many interceptions. He has made defensive coordinators have to game plan for his arm first. With the weapons Vick has to throw to and the way he’s been throwing the ball, it’s a scary combination.

On Sunday, the Vikings defense will have a tough task. They will need to make sure Vick can’t throw the ball as he pleases, but also make sure he can’t run all over the field like he did late last week against the Giants.

It’s going to be a challenge, and it’s one that most teams have not found success doing.

3. Eagles Linebackers vs. Visanthe Shiancoe
Although Visanthe Shiancoes numbers are down this year compared to last year, he’s still a very talented tight end.

If you’re an Eagles fan, you know that the Eagles just can’t cover tight ends for some reason. It’s inevitable. Whenever the Eagles find themselves matched up against a top tight end, you have to worry.

Shiancoe is coming off a game where he recorded six receptions. He will look to pick up where he left off. If Brett Favre is unable to play, the Eagles will see Joe Webb. He is a young guy and young quarterbacks love to hit their safety valves often, the tight end and running back.

I’d like to see the Eagles linebackers keep a close eye on Shiancoe and make sure they try to bump him off the line as often as possible. Bumping the tight end off the line disrupts the route and also gives the defensive line more time to get to the quarterback.

Third down will be an important time to watch Shinacoe as we’ve seen the Eagles give up a lot of first downs conversions to teams using their tight end in these situations.