Three Key Questions for the Eagles' Playbook

Every offseason, things change.

Players, coaches, playbooks, style, attack, planning; it all gets rebooted or tweaked over the course of just a few months.

With the moves the Eagles made, or didn’t make, this offseason, they too will see some significant changes and need to make some significant adjustments to their plan of attack. So, let’s highlight the three key changes for this 2009 squad.

1. The anticipated loss of defensive coordinator Jim Johnson

This one is especially difficult as Johnson is battling cancer in his spine and most likely won’t be able to coach the defense this year, as he’s already taken an indefinite leave. His focus is rather on beating the deadly disease rather than beating opposing quarterbacks, so with that, secondary coach Sean McDermott is poised to take over the reins.

McDermott has been in Philadelphia for 11 seasons and built his way up the coaching ladder. He was a safety for four years at William & Mary and right after his career ended, went into coaching.

The focus of Johnson’s defense, as we all know by now, is blitzing. The Eagles would often stack seven, eight, sometimes even nine men in the box and throw all kinds of different players from all kinds of different directions at the offensive line and quarterback.

With solid, cornerstone cornerbacks like Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor, Sheldon Brown, Lito Sheppard, and now Asante Samuel, Johnson has always had the ability to leave his corners in single coverage along the outside, knowing they would stick to the wideouts.

McDermott trained and learned from Johnson during his time with the Eagles. But, everyone has their own different style, their own way of doing things. So, the question now becomes, what will McDermott do?

Will he blitz the hell out of the opposition like Johnson? Will he work in more zone schemes and trust his guys to stay at home? Will he keep the safeties back in pass coverage and trust his lineman to put pressure on the quarterback?

Most likely the basis of Johnson defense will remain, but McDermott, as acting defensive coordinator, will most certainly tweak things here and there. The defense was built to Johnson’s standards—shutdown corners, a deep defensive line, hard-hitting safeties than get can cause pressure—so we’ll see how McDermott takes someone else’s personnel and runs with it.

2. 2. The addition of LeSean McCoy

Surely, the Eagles didn’t draft Shady to stick him on the bench.

Well, at least we hope not.

But, either way, with this kind of talent in the backfield, Andy Reid and Co. should certainly look to run the ball a little bit more than they have in the past. And by a little bit more, I mean at least a few a carries here and there.

Because, really, how many times have the Eagles passes on first down? On second down and short? On third and inches? Just about all the time. Like almost 100 percent. See, doing this once and while, perhaps involving play action, is fine. It changes things up, it keeps the defense on their toes, figuring you’re going to pound it inside to pick up those few yards, but maybe, just maybe, you’ll try something short out in the flats or over the middle to the tight end.

But, when you’re the Eagles, it’s fairly obvious that you’re going to throw a 10-yard crossing route to a mediocre wide receiver or try something downfield when all you need is a few inches. It’s fairly obvious when the fact that you can’t run in between the tackles is compounded by the fact that you don’t even remotely try to do so.

My pent-up anger with the Eagles’ play calling aside, the fact is they have one of the best young running backs in the NFL on their roster right now. And, not to mention, still have a little player named Brian Westbrook hanging out at the top of the depth chart. That one-two punch, and yea, they are more or less the same size and same type of runner, could be lethal. If Reid uses them right.

And with his massive offensive line, using them right is simply giving each a minimum of 10-15 carries per game. That needs to be done, there’s no question about it.

3. The loss of Brian Dawkins

B-Dawk leaving hurts more inside than it does on the roster, but still, the safety and security he offered leaves a void the Eagles might never be able to fill.

Dawkins was not only the vocal and emotional leader of the Eagles, he was a Pro Bowl caliber free safety. He could knock you out, pick you off and was a player every opposing quarterback needed to eye on every offensive possession.

The Eagles have replaced Dawkins with a two-headed monster of second-year player Quintin Demps and free-agent acquisition Sean Jones. Jones had some starting experience with the Browns, while Demps filled in on passing downs and other packages last year for the Eagles.

Demps has the chance to be a pretty good player. He’s athletic, he’s fast, he’s quick, he can make plays on the ball. But, as we saw last year in the NFC Championship game, he’s got a long ways to go before he can be fully trusted to not give up the kinds of plays he gave up to Larry Fitzgerald.

Jones, meanwhile, has put up pretty good numbers. He can tackle (111 in 2006, 96 in 2007, 56 last year while battling injuries), he can cause turnovers (14 career interceptions), he has the right mindset (wanted to sign a short term deal to prove his value).

So, now we must worry about how Jones and Demps can replace Dawkins. Will McDermott have to call less blitzes? Can he use these guys in remotely the same way Dawkins was used? Will the Eagles give up more big plays? Will they have to anticipate that?

While Jones was a strong safety in Cleveland, it shouldn’t be that hard to make the adjustment to free safety. So, the Eagles could be looking at a solid player on their hands. The question is can they use him correctly, and if all goes well, will he sign a long term deal here?

That question, on top of the others asked, all remain to be seen.