Part of the reason the Eagles wanted to bring in someone to compliment Cole was to alleviate some of the pressure on him. He’s a great player and with another talented rusher opposite him, he should be even better.

Cole is a Pro Bowl talented and has already had two seasons in which he’s recorded 12.5 sacks. However, I don’t think he’s considered to be in that dominate pass rusher category with guys like Jared Allen or Julius Peppers.

In 2010, I think he can take his game to a whole new level. Cole is in the prime of his career (turning 28 during the season) and should be a menace rushing the quarterback since he’ll be getting some solid contributions opposite him.

I also think Cole can help himself by helping others. Brandon Graham and the crew of young defensive ends definitely have plenty of talent. They should be able to learn a lot from Cole, especially Graham. After the Eagles drafted Graham, people immediately started comparing his high motor play to Cole’s style of play.

Imagine having a Trent Cole lined up on both sides of the ball and the production that would come from it. That could essentially be what we see this season. Between the two, you could see 25 or more sacks.

I’m very excited to see what Cole does this year and fully expect him to set a personal record for sacks in a season.

With all the changes that have taken place, many have wondered whether there will be a slide in the success the Eagles have seen over the past decade. The team still has loads of talent, so it’s hard to think they will have a mighty struggle. However, the team is young and will need some time to gel with one another.

Keeping all of that in mind, many people have really written off the Eagles for this year and aren’t setting the bar very high. Expecations are definitely down from year’s past although I’m not convinced the talent level is any lower.

I think there are a lot of people who aren’t exactly sure to expect. Many think that things could go one way or another. Some are worried about the play of the defense and others are worried about the play of Kevin Kolb. People are scared of the youth of this team and that they lack leadership.

The confidence level just isn’t there for many fans and I can understand why.

So am I ready to write the Eagles off for this year? Hell no. Am I willing to accept a sub .500 season? Absolutely not. I think this team is better than that and they should take it upon themselves to prove the critics wrong.

This team has all the talent in the world and no excuse to have a “down year.” I want to see big things out of the Eagles this year, and I’ll be disappointed if they don’t step up to the plate.

Let’s start by looking at the current defensive linemen on the roster:

DE Victor Abiamiri
DE Trent Cole
DE Brandon Graham
DE Eric Moncur
DE Juqua Parker
DE Ricky Sapp
DE Darryl Tapp
DT Brodrick Bunkley
DT Antonio Dixon
DT Trevor Laws
DT Jeff Owens
DT Mike Patterson
DT Boo Robinson

As you can see, there’s about an even split between new and returning players. The Eagles defensive line has some definite room for improvement and some of these new guys will definitely look to step in to contribute.

In the middle, Bunkley and Patterson will continue to be the starters. They have developed into quite a solid combination and should continue to be solid for many years to come. The interesting battles will be the one’s taking place behind them. You have two guys returning in Laws and Dixon and two new additions to the team in Owens and Robinson. Dixon will be the automatic front-runner for the third spot due to his play in 2009 as well as Laws’ inability to make an impact. This may very well be Laws’ last chance to show the Birds he can be a contributor to their defense. Owens and Robinson will have some real work to do but should have a good opportunity to make the roster.

The defensive end position will be watched a lot in Training Camp as the Eagles did a lot in the offseason to try to bolster the spot. Trent Cole is your only clear cut starter as of now. Starting opposite of Cole will most likely be Graham or Tapp. Graham was quite the costly acquisition on draft night, so you have to believe the Eagles would love to see him come in and shine right away.

However, the Eagles shed defensive ends the same way that they brought them in so a lot of new players will get opportunities to see the field. Versatility is something the coaches seem to hold very high and we will see a lot of the ends seeing time in the middle of the line as well as dropping back as linebackers.

The Eagles have four rookie defensive ends and a veteran who is yet to take any snaps for the team. There are a lot of young guys with a lot to prove and this should be a very fun position to watch throughout Training Camp.

Overall, there’s plenty of young talent spread out on the defensive line. Some of these players need to step up and show they’re ready to make an immediate impact.

In the 2010 draft, the Eagles surprised a lot of people by trading up to the 13th overall selection to select defensive end Brandon Graham. They continued to surprise people by drafting a ton of other LB/DE types in the later rounds.

With the way the Eagles drafted, the typical 3-4 conversation began to come up. Out of their defensive ends, the Eagles seem to have two categories. There are a group of smaller guys who are high-motor pass rushers and another group of bigger guys who look like they could be DE/LB hybrid players.

Sean McDermott has acknowledged the fact that they will use some of these hybird players and show some 3-4 formations in 2010. So now that we know we will see it, the question will be how much?

You have to believe that they won’t overuse the formation. The Broderick Bunkley and Mike Patterson combination in the middle is too good to not utilize as much as possible. Also, they don’t have that super big body guy that’s essential for the 3-4.

However, I am excited to see what they can do in the formation. They have all different types of players that could fit in there and be effective. They’ve got a bunch of speed they could line up and send multiple pass rushers at a time, or they could use this speed formation to try and do a better job covering the tight end.

I think they will work on this a lot in Training Camp, so it’s going to be even harder for the rookies to pick up the defensive system. If the younger guys want to make the roster, they are going to have to grasp the concepts of both the 4-3 and 3-4.

If the Eagles can find success in the 3-4 in certain situations, it will definitely be a big help.

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!

David Akers, placekicker
Trent Cole, defensive end
* DeSean Jackson, wide receiver/returner
* Jason Peters, tackle
* Asante Samuel, cornerback
* Leonard Weaver, fullback

* Denotes a starter.

I’m very happy for both DeSean Jackson and Leonard Weaver. These two individuals definitely deserved it and I’m very happy to see both as starters. Jackson is also the teams kick returner. I would have liked to see Brent Celek and Sheldon Brown make the team but they weren’t able to make the cut. However, the Pro Bowl is the week before the Super Bowl this year rather than the week after so the roster is definitely subject to change. Of course we’d like to see the Eagles be the ones to drop out of the Pro Bowl for a more important Bowl the following weekend.

Positives:
Leonard Weaver – The guy had 19 touches last night for 70 yards. I never would have thought a fullback would be so involved in an Andy Reid system but I am loving it. He did have the bonehead play before half but he did apologize after the game and the Eagles were able to get a field goal.

Donovan McNabb – It wasn’t the best game he’s ever had, but it was another 300 yard passing day. He did what he needed to in order to get his team a victory. I liked seeing him pull the ball down and run for a touchdown but there were a lot of other opportunities during the game in which he should have run the ball. You also don’t want to see those interceptions.

Defensive turnovers – The Eagles forced Alex Smith to throw three interceptions and also recovered a fumble on the day. Forcing an offense into turnovers takes a lot of pressure off your own offense and puts your team in a position to win. This is exactly what the Eagles did yesterday.

DeSean Jackson – No surprises here. The guy had another big day catching six passes for 140 yards and a touchdown. He also got behind defenders and could have had another 50+ yard touchdown but Donovan overthrew him by a step or two. He also became only the third 1,000 yard wide receiver in the Andy Reid era joining Kevin Curtis and some other loser.

LeSean McCoy – I read an article last week that suggested McCoy had hit a “rookie wall.” This didn’t seem to be the case against the 49ers. He carried the ball nine times for 48 yards and scored a touchdown. His longest run was only eight yards so you can see he was consistently picking up nice chunks of yardage. Combine him with Weaver, and you got a 100 yard day between the two on the ground.

Brent Celek – Despite the injuries Celek has, he still played and performed well on Sunday. He was the second leading receiver behind DeSean with four catches for 73 yards and had a real nice play that netted in a 43 yard reception.

Asante Samuel – Surprisingly, we saw Asante drop the hammer on a real nice hit yesterday. Not so surprisingly, we also so him record another interception and also saw him recover the fumble that was knocked out by Sheldon Brown.

Trent Cole – He accounted for two out of the three sacks on Alex Smith and is just a warrior. The guy has been flying around all year and is just really fun to watch. He never quits on plays and is exactly the type of player you want on your football team.

Negatives:
Michael Vick – He left the game with a thigh contusion and was not able to contribute much of anything on Sunday. I hope that he can battle through this as I’d like to have his playmaking threats down the line here. He also adds another phase to the running attack.

Andy Reid’s 4th down call – You all know what I’m talking about, and I’m sure you’re all still scratching your head like I am. Not necessary. The defense bailed Andy out on this one but that still doesn’t make it right. C’mon Andy.

Tackling – Improved from the Giants game? Yes. At the level it needs to be? No. I don’t know if the poor weather the past two weeks has anything to do with it but it really has to improve. This is a playoff team now and you’re not going to go far in the playoffs if you can’t tackle.

Kevin Curtis – We did see the return of Kevin Curtis and he was able to haul in one reception. However, I would have liked to see them try to get him involved a little bit more. He could be a big help down the stretch so they really need to try to get him up to speed.

What positives and negatives did you see against the 49ers?

The Eagles have a pretty decent Pro Bowl resume: Mike Quick, Reggie White, Randall Cunningham, Eric Allen, Keith Jackson, Jerome Brown, Brian Dawkins, Hugh Douglas, Jeremiah Trotter, Troy Vincent, David Akers, Donovan McNabb, Tra Thomas, Brian Westbrook, Trent Cole, Asante Samuel…. And that only partially covers the last 25 years.

Now the question is, who from the Eagles should be voted in this year? While it would be nice to see all Eagles on the ballot get voted in, we know that’s not possible. At this point in the season, the Eagles players that have proved to me they deserve a vote are DeSean Jackson, Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown, Trent Cole and Broderick Bunkley. Voting will remain open until December 21.

Do you agree with me? Let us know who you plan on voting for and why.

Vote for the Pro Bowl!

This isn’t just happening in Philadelphia. The samea allegations have just come out with Demarcus Ware and it has also been said that Peyton and Eli Manning have fake accounts with thousands of subscribers.

Although NFL players are free to do what they want, I think it would be in most of their best interest not to join the Twitter craze. Short statements on Twitter can get blown out of proportion and you don’t need that type of distraction coming back on your team. So for the thousands of NFL players that read this, I’d recommend not opening your own Twitter account.