Offensively, you always have to look to the quarterback first. I think that the young offensive players already respect Kevin Kolb and from what we’ve heard, wanted him to be in the position he’s in.

The offense is in Kolb’s hands and he will need to embrace that. He needs to know that offense better than anyone else on the team; he needs to understand what each player is responsible of doing on every single play.

I think Kolb has the leadership qualities a quarterback should have and is ready to run with this offense. Also, I think he may get some help from Brent Celek who seems like he could emerge as a leader. His on the field play increased in 2009 and I can see his leadership qualities doing the same in 2010.

Outside of Kolb and Celek, I think the Eagles will have mostly “lead by example” type players on offense. I think DeSean Jackson is a player that fits this bill. He’s a high-profile player but he’s going to lead by making plays on the field.

Defensively, you have to look to Quintin Mikell first. Mikell got to experience Brian Dawkins leadership first hand and has definitely seen the mold he should try to fit as a leader on defense.

There are a ton of new players trying to learn the defense and make contributions, so they’re going to need someone to go to and ask questions. I think Mikell will be that guy.

The return of Stewart Bradley should also help a lot. He is a natural leader and the middle linebacker position is a place that demands these type of qualities. I can see Bradley being the leader of the Eagles defense for years to come.

You can look at Asante Samuel, but I think he is similar to DeSean Jackson on the offensive side of the ball. He is a lead by example type of guy and although he might be very vocal on the field, he doesn’t project as a leader.

As the 2010 season gets closer and closer, it will be interesting to see what Eagles emerge as team leaders.

Macho Harris, who originally was listed to be in the competition for free safety, is now taking reps at cornerback opposite Asante Samuel. The Eagles have Marlin Jackson running with the first team at free safety with Nate Allen running with the second team. Jackson has primarily played corner in the NFL, but the Eagles brought him in with the intention of lining him up at safety.

There is all sorts of shuffling going on right now and this will probably continue to happen through Training Camp. The Eagles have players that can play multiple positions, which isn’t a bad thing at all. However, I want to see them make some choices so that players can take reps just at one position. I’d rather see players focus on one position instead of spending time trying to learn two.

As far as Macho Harris goes, I’d like to see him stay focused on the corner position. This is where he played in college and no one was super excited about his safety play last year. I’m not convinced he’s a starter, but I think he should compete for the spot. Last year he saw some time covering the tight end, so this could be an option to use him as well.

With Jackson, you have to be nervous about his knees. He’s still running around showing signs that he’s not recovered and I could see him being a complete bust. I’d really like to see him contribute to this team but I’m not convinced he’s going to. This puts a lot of pressure on Nate Allen to step up and start out of the box. Allen doesn’t have a whole lot of competition so if he can play well enough in Training Camp, he could be a starter in the opener.

There’s plenty of other guys on the roster that will compete for starting and depth spots on the team but none of them over excite me. The secondary is definitely going to be something to watch over the next few months.

It will be nice to see the participants from the Eagles play on Sunday but at the same time it would be much nicer if they were gearing up to play the following Sunday.

Here is the full list of Eagles that will be playing:
DeSean Jackson – WR
Leonard Weaver – FB
Jason Peters – OT
Asante Samuel – CB
Trent Cole – DE
David Akers – K
Jon Dorenbos – LS
Donovan McNabb – QB
Quintin Mikell – S

Best of luck to the Eagles players this weekend!

Last Sunday, the two runners combined for over 180 yards on the ground. That’s ridiculous. Unacceptable. The Eagles were getting pushed around on the line and making poor tackles, leading to large gains on the ground for both running backs. They are two different types of runners but both were able to find plenty of success. It’s hard to allow any team to be able to run the football like that and find a way to win. Did the defense hold it’s own to some degree? Yes. They had a red zone interception and held the Cowboys to a field goal opportunity that was missed. However, if you had to give an overall grade to the defense it would not be good.

Was their improvement in the second half? Yes, there was. The Eagles only allowed seven points in the second half and it came on a 49 yard run by Felix Jones. We hope that the second half defense is the one that shows up this Saturday and not the one who looked horrific in the first half. Either way, we know that the first priority is going to have to be stopping the run. Dallas is going to come out early and try to do it again since they had so much success last week but the Eagles need to take a stand. Load the box and shut it down early.

Defensively, Quintin Mikell is the player I look for to really step it up this weekend. I called him out a few weeks ago and he’s the player you have to call out whenever the defense doesn’t perform. His personal performance was not strong and he also has to be a better leader on the field. Jeremiah Trotter is there for leadership but he doesn’t see the field nearly as much as Mikell. Q needs to do a much better job tackling, especially around the line of scrimmage. I also want to see some guys really go after the ball and force some fumbles. One turnover that was somewhat a fluke isn’t going to cut it. This defense has got to perform better.

To start, the game has been moved to a 4:15 start due to the snow storm currently in the area. Right now in the San Francisco area, the typically weather hits highs in the high 50s or low 60s. This team is not used to frigid temperatures with snow.

Also, the 49ers had to travel all the way from the west coast. Typically, teams who have to travel from one coast to the other aren’t as successful. We’ve seen that twice with the Eagles as they lost to both the Raiders and Chargers out on the west coast.

You can look at other things like the Eagles playing at home, the fact that it’s December, they’re a hotter team, etc. and it all points in the Birds favor. There are no excuses for the Eagles to lose tomorrow. They need to continue their push towards the playoffs with the one game at a time mentality Quintin Mikell has talked about recently. Sunday is the Eagles Super Bowl with the 49ers and it is just as an important game as the rest that remain on the schedule.

The fiasco with the linebackers has been going on for what seems like forever without stopping. It seems as though there’s a new starting group every week. Will Witherspoon has played well and I think Chris Gocong and Akeem Jordan have played well when fully healthy as well. However, there are a group of other players that fit into that equation that have shown a lot of inconsistency. Many of these guys are young and really need to get more snaps under their belt. Waiting for this game experience to come doesn’t help a team who is looking to go deep into the playoffs. The learning curve has to be quick and those players who have underperformed so far need to step it up quickly. I believe there are a lot of cracks in these linebackers and I hope don’t get taken advantage of too bad.

More recently, the defensive woes have trickled into the secondary. Our top four cornerbacks are either gone or banged up, and the guys behind them are young and unproven. Sean Jones has filled into free safety spot and has been playing some solid football. The safety position isn’t what worries me. I am scared about our corners. Sheldon Brown played through obvious pain against the Bears and I appreciate his effort. However, there were a lot of instances where he seemed to be moving slow and you questioned if he was healthy enough to play. They got by with a win but it makes you wonder if they will be alright in the upcoming weeks. Only time will tell I guess.

Right now I think it is very important for Quintin Mikell to be the leader of this defense. He has got to keep the defense fired up and not let them get down if they give up big plays. Everyone knows the loss of Brian Dawkins was more than just losing a great player, they lost a great leader. Jeremiah Trotter brings leadership to the team but he’s not on the field as much as Mikell. Q is there on every play and needs to really step up his leadership down the stretch here. A lot of young guys are getting opportunities to play on defense now and are going to make mistakes. Mikell needs to make sure they put it behind them and maintain focus. He can make a big difference on this defense by doing more than just playing well on the field.