ESPNMAG.com - Philadelphia Eagles

LAST SEASON: 11-5, lost to Rams in NFC championship
PROJECTION: 1st in NFC East


	Hawkins is the all-purpose DB.

The Eagles are built for the playoffs, and their D is talented and deep enough to match up with the Rams O. Will they get bored going 12–4 in the NFC East?

STRONG SIDE

DB: The Eagles' ability to blitz anywhere, anytime is what sets the tone for the league's second-ranked pass D. Seven-year FS Brian Dawkins is the prototype DB: fast enough to cover wideouts, big enough to crush QBs. Left corner Troy Vincent will go to his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl because his mind works as fast as his feet. Bobby Taylor is another veteran who blankets anything in front of him. So what did Philly do? Added hard-hitting S Blaine Bishop and drafted CBs Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown and S Michael Lewis with its first three picks. Now that's Ram tough.

WEAK SIDE

RB: You know a team is loaded when it fields two former Pro Bowl-caliber players at a position and that's still considered its weak link. No one knows if Duce Staley will ever be the same after suffering a bizarre Lis Franc sprain in his right foot in 2000. Certainly not the Eagles, who searched all off-season for his replacement before settling on another injury-prone back, ex-Packer Dorsey Levens.

NFC East

1. Eagles

2. Giants

3. Redskins

4. Cowboys

Scouting Report Index

OTHER UNITS

QB: Donovan McNabb is the game's only five-tool QB: He can beat you with his arm (3,233 yards passing), his feet (482 yards rushing), his brain (84.3 rating), his heart and his leadership. Kurt Warner is top gun now, but McNabb might outshoot him this year -- if he can get the Eagles to the Super Bowl.

WR: Finally, some targets for McNabb. TE Chad Lewis was underused last year after a Pro Bowl season in 2000. Once Antonio Freeman learns the O, Philly will have a deep threat. Freeman makes it easier for James Thrash, Todd Pinkston and Freddie Mitchell to find space in the middle and on the outside.

OL: The Eagles can't dominate with their interior linemen -- C Hank Fraley and G's John Welbourn and Jermane Mayberry. But Tra Thomas will be a Pro Bowl tackle, and so will the giant Jon Runyan (6'7", 330), if he ever learns how to block Michael Strahan.

DL: DE Hugh Douglas corners toward the quarterback like an Olympic downhill skier, and T Corey Simon is one of the game's best young space-eaters. T Darwin Walker (6'3", 294) has to step in for Hollis Thomas, who will miss this season with a broken foot.

LB: Can three solid 'backers (Shawn Barber, Levon Kirkland, Barry Gardner) replace two very good ones (Jeremiah Trotter and Mike Caldwell) lost to free agency? Absolutely. Barber's health is an issue, but Kirkland is a pure run-stopper.

ST: K David Akers made the Pro Bowl. That hadn't happened in Philly since 1969, when P Sean Landeta (NFL record 1,216 punts) was all of 7. Returner Brian Mitchell, 34, is another oldie but goodie.

This article appears in the September 16 issue of ESPN The Magazine.