Listen Up Cowboys and Giants Fans: The Eagles Are Still a Major Force

Up through Sunday this offseason was poised to be one of the quietest for the NFC East in recent memory.

The Giants addressed one of their biggest needs on the first day by inking safety Antrel Rolle to the most lucrative deal for a safety in NFL history.

The Eagles have been quietly filling voids while loading up on draft picks and two of March’s typically biggest players—the Cowboys and Redskins—were re-arranging their draft boards instead of acquiring veterans.

That all changed on Sunday.

By the time this is published the McNabb to Washington blockbuster will be old news, but the ripple effect will be felt throughout the NFC East for a very long time.

At a minimum, it establishes that the NFC East will continue to boast three top 10 quarterbacks. McNabb experienced turbulence in Philadelphia, but very rarely did he fall enough to be considered a mediocre quarterback.

Barring an unforeseen change, Tony Romo should feed off the momentum he built up in December last year and continue to play at a high level. And Eli Manning has quietly become one of the league’s most productive quarterbacks.

Instead of Jason Campbell being the odd guy out in a division loaded with all sorts of quarterback accolades, that honor is now thrust into the chest of Kevin Kolb.

With 885 career yards to his name the Eagles are placing Kevin Kolb in a situation akin to what Aaron Rodgers has had to go through the last couple of years.

The Packers chose to resist the temptation of bringing back Favre after he decided to un-retire, provoking every microscope to lock onto every pore of Aaron Rodgers, specifically his throwing hand.

Though the Packers disappointed in 2008, Rodgers did not. He was tremendous, but the team around him floundered to a 6-10 record.

It had appeared that Rodgers managed to stave off the Brett Favre gorilla as Brett retired once again following the 2008 season. Instead, Favre did another 180 and rubbed more salt in his protégé’s wound by allying himself with a former rival: the Minnesota Vikings.

Now Rodgers had to contend with reviving a 6-10 team and beating Brett Favre. He managed to accomplish one of the two goals, bringing the Packers within an average defense of playing for the right to knock off New Orleans in the Divisional round of the playoffs.

But he and the Packers were convincingly knocked out by the Brett Favre led Vikings in both games. And while his second straight impressive season has reinvigorated a fragile franchise, the questions continue to loom.

What if Favre was still in Green Bay? Would he have been able to will this Packer team to greater things than Rodgers?

These are worthless questions.

With a good, but not great supporting cast around him, Rodgers has put together two straight impressive seasons, regularly displaying his talent but also showing evident progress. It’s been fun to watch and the sky appears to be the limit for him.

In a year, Kolb and the Eagles may be facing the same undeserved quandary. The situations do parallel.

In this upcoming season, he will most likely match up against his mentor for three years in primetime one, if not two, or even potentially three times.

Like Rodgers, the drafting of Kolb took many by surprise, and irked the legendary current starting quarterback.

Like Rodgers, Kolb has ridden the pine for his first three seasons behind the franchise’s best quarterback of all time.

The Packers fan base wasn’t prepared to say good-bye to their legend; Philly’s seemingly couldn’t wait to ship him. Except that goodwill is washed away by the fact they know that McNabb will legitimize a regular bottom-feeder in the NFC East since the start of the century.

But perspective has to be placed following this trade.

The Redskins are certainly better coming out of this shocking transaction, Andy Reid admitted as much. But the Eagles are in transition mode. They have placed themselves in prime position to reload a slow and aging defense, among other problems.

They have six of the draft’s first 105 picks and 11 overall. They possess dynamic weapons at every skill position on offense, in addition to an elite left tackle and talented tight end.

Additionally, I hate to say it, but being an NFL quarterback isn’t nearly as hard as it was 10 years ago. Offenses are more creative, skill players are more athletic, and scouting is as thorough as ever. Frankly, it would be surprising if Kolb doesn’t step in and perform as an above average quarterback from day one.

And for crying out loud, they have made a blueprint from converting borderline crazy decisions into wins for over a decade.

The McNabb era started with a controversy of high magnitude, and has now fittingly ended with it. But, that doesn’t mean all is lost with this Eagles team. Much may be up in the air, but the talent is there, along with the potential for more.

So take those smirks off your face Cowboys and Giants fans.

The guys in green remain a force. They still hold a four game winning streak over Big Blue and have complied 86 total points in the last two games. And they still are capable of preventing the Giants from playoff prowess for the third straight season.