NFL Preason: 7 Things to Take Away from the Philadelphia Eagles' Preseason

The Philadelphia Eagles, the offseason winners, finished their round of preseason games last night. Now the Eagles can set their sights on the St. Louis Rams in Week 1.

Philadelphia has had plenty of headlines over the past six weeks including a certain contract that got penned this week.

The Philadelphia Eagles have a lot to clear up between now and Sept. 1. However, in honor of Michael Vick's new deal, we will go over the list of 100 million things we could take away from the Eagles' preseason.

Joking...We'll just stick to seven things.

1. The Defense Will Take Time

For all of those caught up in the hype of the free agency frenzy that took place, the preseason was a kind reminder that continuity cannot be overlooked.

The Philadelphia Eagles upgraded at nearly every position across the board on defense.

I know. I know. The Eagles still need a middle linebacker. Or simply a veteran linebacker in general.

What did you expect them to do? Buy 11 new players? Let's be realistic here.

The Eagles brought in Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Cullen Jenkins, Jason Babin and Nnamdi Asomugha amongst others to significantly overhaul their defense.

All big names in their own right and all have attended at least one Pro Bowl in the past three years. A nice coup for a team that severely needed an extra push up front and to plug some serious holes in the secondary.

Andy Reid threw a curve ball early in the offseason into the Eagles defense hiring offensive line coach Juan Castillo as the defensive coordinator. Talk about a move coming out of left field. Reid also hired the best defensive line coach in the business in Jim Washburn to assist Castillo.

Castillo has to prove he can handle the in game situations and call the correct audibles on the fly. Washburn no doubt will have his guys ready to play along the line. That man could make a sailor blush.

I think Castillo will prove to be an astute hire for the birds. He is allowing his guys to play loose and athletic rather than play in a complex ivy league type scheme.

This defense has all the makings of being an excellent unit, but it will take time to develop. The question is, how many weeks or months will that take?

2. They Are Not a "Dream Team"

If Vince Young wanted to make an early impression upon the Philadelphia Eagles faithful, he chose the wrong way to do so.

We are not in Texas any more Vince. Philadelphia has a cynical nature to its sports teams. Philadelphians have suffered too many heartaches to buy into any "dream team" bull crap.

Remember you're a quarterback that essentially just got expelled from Tennessee for talking back. You would think he would be smart enough to come in, keep his head low, and get to work.

Nope.

He gave the sound bite that the entire media had been waiting to hear slip out of someones mouth.

The Eagles were embarrassed on national television when they played their cross-state counterparts in the Pittsburgh Steelers. Michael Vick looked like the Vick of old. The same Vick who would look for his first read, maybe his second and then either throw up a prayer or run.

He threw three despicable interceptions and made one bone-head attempt at tackling Troy Polamulu.

Juan Castillo's unit got eaten alive by screens and a mature veteran quarterback in Ben Roethlisburger. Asante Samuel bit hard on a pump fake that let the Steelers' wide receiver waltz into the endzone.

All around it was pretty ugly.

Roethlisburger exposed the Eagles despair at the safety positions. Nate Allen and Kurt Coleman started that game and forced the Eagles to sign a veteran safety the week after with their porous display. 

There are simply too many holes at offensive line, linebacker and safety. The specialists also remain unproven as they start a rookie kicker and rookie punter.

3. Michael Vick Gets Paid to Play in the Regular Season

For those of us who wanted to see if Michael Vick could continue his out-of-this-world level of play from 2010 in the preseason, we were left disappointed. Vick clearly looked nonchalant during his preseason starts.

After knocking off the rust against the Baltimore Ravens, Michael Vick put it in cruise control. He threw three interceptions in the Pittsburgh Steelers game that he simply would not throw in the regular season.

Why?

He forced balls toward wide receivers that he more than likely would choose to tuck and run with when the game actually counts for something. Vick plays with a reckless abandon in the regular season. In the preseason, Vick's confined to a short rope.

Rightfully so.

Andy Reid does not need to see how Vick can play. He gives his starting quarterback a few throws to loosen him up and a few plays that lets the quarterback get his legs warm.

Let us not fret over meaningless things. The preseason for Michael Vick is as meaningless as it gets when it comes to judging how the NFL's most dynamic player will perform during the regular season.

4. The Philadelphia Eagles Want to Win Now

This should come as no surprise to anyone who pays attention to the NFL. The Philadelphia Eagles have upped the ante and pushed all their chips to the center of the table for this season.

In case you did not believe that notion, the Eagles signed Vick to a six-year contract this week. A $100 million contract that has kicked the Eagles' plan-for-the-future approach to the curb.

However, I will say if you break down the numbers the Eagles made a very, very smart deal that satisfied their superstar and kept the books balanced going into the future.

Every once in awhile the Philadelphia Eagles front office foresees their current period with the best potential to make a Super Bowl run for an extended period of time. All you have to do is take a look back to 2004 when the Eagles signed Jevon Kearse and Terrell Owens.

The Eagles needed a receiver to compliment their offense and help them get over that pesky NFC Championship hurdle. So they went out and got one of the most dangerous wide receivers in the game at that position.

Andy Reid added Jevon Kearse to help a defense that needed a little more oomph up front. "The freak" had arguably been the best defensive end in the game at the time.

What happened after Joe "Nickels" Banner brought out the check book?

A Super Bowl run for one of the best teams of the 2000s robbed of bringing home that sexy lady, "Ms. Lombardi."

Everyone in Philadelphia hopes that this season's offseason moves will have the same results, except this time around they'll do one better and bring home the goods.

5. DeSean Jackson May Actually Get Paid

Prior to this week's big story coming out of Philadelphia, the likelihood of DeSean Jackson getting a new deal seemed to be dwindling away. Anyone who has balanced a budget in their lifetime realized that the Philadelphia Eagles needed to take care of Michael Vick before they got to their big play wide receiver.

Michael Vick had been franchised during the offseason. The franchise tag would have paid the Eagles starting quarterback a healthy $16 million for 2011. That price tag did not exactly leave the Eagles front office too much wiggle room after their offseason spending spree.

Jackson's scheduled to be paid an underwhelming $600,000 for the 2011 season. Certainly a gross undervalue compared to his on the field contributions.

He certainly does not deserve top five monies for his position when you look at the numbers. Look at the contrasting statistics in my article that compares him to the best wide receiver in the league Larry Fitzgerald. Pretty stark difference between a top-10 wide receiver and the No. 1 guy.

The Eagles explosive wide receiver has had concussion problems in his short career and if he signs a new contract he will only be returning punts in emergency situations. But this offense does not flow smoothly if their burner at wide receiver is unhappy and not playing to his max.

Joe Banner know he needs to pay the kid. There's no justifying all the offseason expenditures without paying your own.

Besides, when's the last time you remember a wide receiver wanting a new contract and being this quiet? A deal must be around the corner. He just had to wait for a certain domino to fall first.

Last time I checked, Drew Rosenhaus still represented No. 10.

6. Vince Young Will Be the Go-to Backup

Last night's proceedings only confirmed what I already believed. Vince Young will be the one called upon if Michael Vick goes down.

Despite his slow start to the preseason and minor injury scare from last night, the Eagles new backup will be ready to roll if called upon. Even though the former Tennessee Titan has roughly had only a month and change to grasp the Eagles complicated offense he showed promise last night.

The much maligned backup went 15-of-23 in the Eagles last preseason game versus the New York Jets. Young marched the second string down the field for two first-half scores before suffering a hamstring injury that forced him to leave the game.

Reid commented on Young's performance saying, "He appreciated the opportunity to play, and he took it serious."

Several questioned whether Young could digest the playbook in time to be considered the second string quarterback by opening day, including myself. Mike Kafka has had a full year in the offense and has received plenty of praise from Andy Reid during the offseason.

But as planned, Young's performance against the Jets last night should solidify his spot as No. 7's backup

7. The Offensive Line Is the Biggest Concern

You hand your starting quarterback a $100 million contract and say "Go get 'em." Oh, one other thing, you will be running for your life for the first half of the season until we fix things up front—if we can.

That's basically the message the Philadelphia brass has given Michael Vick because they sure didn't invest in protecting their most valuable asset.

Seems a bit daft don't you think?

Good thing Michael Vick has the best pair of wheels of any quarterback in the league because they'll be seeing a lot of miles come their way if things don't improve.

The offensive line's performance versus the Cleveland Browns exposed a particularly important weakness. And that was against the Browns. You know, those same Browns that have been terrorizing opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks for years now.

A few words come to mind when describing that performance: woeful, paltry and ignominious.

Howard Mudd and his troll-like looking self had been brought in as one of the league's best offensive line coaches of the past few decades to patch things up. I guess it's safe to say his techniques won't have an instant impact.

I understand the offensive line has had no continuity over the past year or so. And sure the Eagles were experimenting with two rookies starting alongside each other that night, but my word, that game sent out the wrong message.

Todd Herremans ("the Toddfather" to you) quickly got moved to right tackle after that debacle. At least they're giving Vick protection from what he can't see with that move.

Rookie Danny Watkins has yet to impress and the regular season does not exactly present the greatest opportunity for him to learn the position. The Eagles need to fix their offensive line problems and fix them quickly.

If Vick goes down, the Eagles shot at winning the Super Bowl goes out the window. The offensive line plays a huge role in seeing that the Eagles $100 million man stays healthy.