rooting for Goliath

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

They resigned Runyan which helps, but they're still going to be starting Artis Hicks, Hank Fraley, and Shawn Andrews in the interior of the line. That's terrible, considering how much cap room they have.

So why did they draft Shawn Andrews? So they could burn a top 20 pick on a guy with a weight problem, and then play him out of position because they don't need to run the ball anyway? He's a great interior pass blocker, because he doesn't need the quickness to block ends, but he's next to useless in the finesse run game (the kind they use).

Although I believe that if a team has the ability to run the ball, the defense will respect it even if they choose not to run, the Eagles DON'T have the ability to run consistently. They have to throw a high percentage of the time, and defenses know that.

Donovan McNabb, meet Andre Carter, Michael Strahan, and Demarcus Ware. You'll be seeing a lot of them this year. It's gonna be interesting to see how the guy responds to consistent pressure, something he's never had to face in his career.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

So why did they draft Shawn Andrews? So they could burn a top 20 pick on a guy with a weight problem, and then play him out of position because they don't need to run the ball anyway? He's a great interior pass blocker, because he doesn't need the quickness to block ends, but he's next to useless in the finesse run game (the kind they use).

Although I believe that if a team has the ability to run the ball, the defense will respect it even if they choose not to run, the Eagles DON'T have the ability to run consistently. They have to throw a high percentage of the time, and defenses know that.

Donovan McNabb, meet Andre Carter, Michael Strahan, and Demarcus Ware. You'll be seeing a lot of them this year. It's gonna be interesting to see how the guy responds to consistent pressure, something he's never had to face in his career.

Yeah I'd consider Andrews an average guard at this point in his career. Fraley is on the downside and Hicks just sucks. Overall it's a rough interior there. They could have used Hutchinson and Bentley.

Tra Thomas will be back healthy this year, and Runyan is back in the fold. Their tackles are definitely the strength of the line, so I think DEs aren't at the forefront of their concerns. Tra Thomas was hurt last year, that's why McNabb got pummelled so bad.

The Eagles can go pass happy when they have the protection and they have receivers who can get open and make plays (TO). But they don't have the receivers this year. The tackles are back, so pass protection should get better. But without good receivers, they're going to need to run the ball effectively at times. That interior line still isn't set up for it. They'll be better on offense this year than last, but I still see a pretty average offense, even with McNabb healthy.