On offense, Brian Westbrook quietly had a 2,104 all-purpose-yard season, scoring 12 touchdowns along the way. Consider that his quarterback was coming off a serious knee injury in 2006, and that the Eagles did not have a dominant receiving corps, Westbrook should be applauded for his productivity in 2007. He is the most complete running back in the NFL not named LT.

Donovan McNabb did fairly well coming back from knee surgery. He started 14 games, and had 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions to go with his 89.9 QB rating. Kevin Curtis and McNabb had good chemistry at times. Curtis was able to finish with 1,110 yards receiving and six touchdowns.

However, as usual the main strength of the Eagles was their defense. Under Jim Johnson, the Eagles have been a mainstay in the top rankings of the NFL’s defenses. The Eagles’ 300 points-allowed ranked ninth in the NFL. They also ranked 10th in yards allowed, and seventh in rushing-yards allowed. Trent Cole registered 12.5 sacks.

Weaknesses: The Eagles had three main weaknesses in 2007. The first was a lack of quality playmakers. Other than Brian Westbrook, there is no one on the Eagles that keeps defensive coordinators up game planning into all hours of the night. Some will point to Kevin Curtis and suggest that he has the potential to be a number-one receiver, as evidenced by his 1,110 yards and seven touchdowns. That is blindly looking at stats, and not looking at how they were obtained.

In Week Three, Curtis had the game of his life. He had 11 catches for 221 yards and three touchdowns. That means, in the other 15 games, he averaged 4.4 catches for 59.3 yards and one touchdown every five games. That just is not acceptable from a number-one receiver.

Reggie Brown also regressed in 2007. He went from eight touchdowns in 2006 to four in 2007, and his yards dropped from 816 to 780. He did not have the breakout year he was hoping for. The Eagles did add DeShean Jackson via the draft, to provide depth in the return game and at the third-receiver spot. However, they were not able to obtain that impact wide-receiver they were lacking this  past season.

The second problem was their return team. The punt-return fumbles they had in the game against Green Bay cost them that game. They needed to find a quality return man, as Westbrook is too valuable to risk injury playing at that position. Jackson should make an immediate impact in that regard.

The final weakness was in the secondary. The Eagles ranked 18th in yards allowed, and their defense finished tied for last in the NFL in interceptions with just 11. Part of that was due to the rash of injuries they suffered in their secondary at the beginning of the season. That was the motivation for landing the prize of the 2008 free-agency period in Asante Samuel. He is a great playmaker that should fit into the Eagles’ secondary.

If Brown, Shepherd, and Dawkins can avoid injures, the Eagles should have the potential to make a lot more plays in the secondary. It will also give Jim Johnson more flexibility to blitz, knowing that he has the secondary to cover the receivers in one-on-one coverage. That should be a big boost for the Eagles in their team’s sack numbers.

Prediction: The problem with picking the Eagles to do anything is that you never know if Donovan McNabb is going to play a whole season. 2004 is the last season he stayed healthy. Since then, he has missed 15 of a possible 48 games with injury. If he is not able to play 13-16 games, it is difficult to imagine that the Eagles have the necessary parts in place to survive in a brutal NFC East.

Regardless, you can always count on Andy Reid and Jim Johnson to keep the Eagles ship steady, and that starts with their strong defense. I don’t see McNabb returning to his 2004 numbers. I don’t believe the Eagles have the offensive weapons in place to do so. However, they don’t need him to do that. If he could just get back to his 2000 and 2001 production, when he threw in the low 3,000-yard range and low 20-touchdown range, then the Eagles should be in great shape, given the emergence of Brian Westbrook as an elite NFL playmaker and a defense that is capable of stopping people.

Donovan McNabb completing passes and taking care of the ball is enough for this team to win. That is something he is very good at, as his interceptions per attempt is one of the best in NFL history. He started to look more like his old self at the end of the season.

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