Things that need to happen for the Eagles to contend for a Super Bowl this year

It's that time of year again... NFL training camp. Games that count don't start until September so it's time to dream. While we're at it, let's dream big. But what needs to happen for the Eagles to at least contend for the Ultimate prize? I've broken it down to 5 simple (but not easy) things that need to go right.

1) Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook must stay healthy for at least the vast majority of the season. If either one of the aforementioned players goes down for a considerable amount of time with an injury, you can start thinking about next year and those 2 first round picks the Eagles have accrued.


2) Stewart Bradley and the rest of the linebackers need to be good. Damn good, in fact. Bradley showed signs that he could be The Man in the middle towards the end of last year. If he takes another step forward, considering the secondary we will be able to trot out there, then our D should be lights out. The defense used to be the strength of the Eagles team in the early andy Reid era, but the front offices' attitude of indifference to putting talent at that position really caused the defense to slide in the last 4 years. How many times have we had to sit through a team getting 5 yards a pop up the middle all game long? Too many to count lately, but the Eagles' brass finally realized the error of their ways and made strides to correct it. Will the LBs be better this year? We'll have to wait and see. If not, once again, you can kiss our Super Bowl chances goodbye.

3) Reggie Brown needs to make The Leap. We all hoped that last year would be the year he turned into an elite wideout but unfortunately it was more of a lateral move for him rather than a giant step forward. Kevin Curtis is a very good #2 wide receiver, but he's not the stud number one that we have all been drooling over ever since TO left town (bastard). If Reggie Brown matures this year the way we thought he would last year, all of a sudden you go from average receivers to an exceptional receiving core.

4) The old Donovan must return. Early last year his knee wouldn't allow him to have that explosive first step which resulted in him buying that precious extra time for one of his receivers to (finally) get open. We all remember that play against Dallas where Donovan scrambled for 14 second behind the line of scrimmage before bombing it down the field to hit a streaking Freddie Mitchell for a huge gain (Anyone else in the league would've scored on that play, by the way, but good ole Freddy got caught from behind, of course). That's the Donovan we need or it won't matter how good Reggie Brown is this year.

5) Finally, the special teams needs avoid putting us in a hole all game long. I don't have to remind you how awful they were last year. We all remember the first game against Green Bay in which our punt returners single-handedly lost the game for us by muffing 2 punts. After which the Eagles decided to bring Reno Mahe back. I'm sure he's a nice guy, and he can at least catch the damn ball, but he is the only return man in the league that has zero chance of breaking one. the only large return I ever saw him make, he got caught from behind in the open field. The Eagles drafted DeSean Jackson to change all that. He doesn't have to be Devin Hester but he does need to have the odd 40 yard return so our offense isn't starting at their own 15 all game. That was the biggest problem with the offense last year, not the well-documented red zone woes. NFL defenses are too good to march down the field at 4 yards a play anymore, so an 85 yard TD drive is very difficult. Eventually they will stop you three times, and hold you to the dreaded 30-yards-or-shorter field goal. Better starting field position will help the offense immensely.

Now, I know that none of these 5 things may come to pass, but if they all do, the offense will be dynamic and the defense will be shutting teams down and maybe, just maybe, we'll finally have something to celebrate around these parts. That's the dream anyway - and since it's still only July, dream on my friends, and dream big.

- Murdock

p.s. While we're dreaming we might as well dream about an unprecedented 0 - 16 season for the Carolina Panthers. The Lombardi Trophy and the number one pick in the draft, that's not too much to ask, is it?