Eagles Ready To Soar Into Kolb Era

Hi, Eagles fans, I've been here several times but in case you're not familiar with me, here's my bio. I am a broadcast journalist/statistician for Mid-Utah Radio in Manti and Richfield, Utah and am going about writing NFL predictions in alphabetical order. Today, the lot fell on the Eagles, so please feel free to comment as all feedback will be fairly evaluated, whether it be propitious or otherwise. Thus, have at it!

For Philadelphia sports fans, emotion and passion are in the words of Rita Coolidge, continually at “an all-time high.”

As one who has some Italian extraction like most Philadelphians do, I understand this perfectly.

The Eagles are at the crossroads of one of their most exciting (or exasperating) epochs in their modern history as (in my opinion) future Hall of Famer Donovan McNabb has left the Eagles, resurfacing with the hated Redskins.

In McNabbs’ stead is the erstwhile Kevin Kolb (nearly 65 percent of his passes completed, 4 TD’s, 3 INT’s), who in limited instances last season proved to do a solid job.

Nevertheless, the Stephenville, Texas, native definitely has his work cut out for him to placate the passionate fans of Philly.

Luckily, he has numerous solid weapons around him, such as Brent Celek (76 rec, 971 yards, 8 TD’s), DeSean Jackson (62 rec, 1,156 yards, 9 TD’s) and Jeremy Maclin (56 rec, 773 yards, 4 TD’s).

Additionally, LeSean McCoy (4.1 yards per carry average, 4 TD’s) serves as a reliable weapon in both the running and receiving games for Philadelphia.

On defense, the swift Trent Cole (12.5 sacks) promises to wreak plenty of havoc against NFC East offenses once again while the return of Stewart Bradley will only bolster a defense that ranked a solid 12th overall in NFL annals in 2009.

Obviously, Cornelius Ingram remains an intriguing prospect that no one in midnight green can get a handle on and I hope he’s one day healthy for you guys.

Now, with all of this said, I think the Redskins and Giants are both solid and the Eagles should contend with them for the division crown.

While it’s true that Vegas loves the Cowboys, the savants at The Venetian and Caesar’s Palace have overlooked one vital component: Wade Phillips is their coach so nothing but inevitable failure will result in the Metroplex.

I see the Eagles as a legitimate 10 win team, especially since many of their tough games (Indianapolis, Houston, Atlanta, Washington, N.Y. Giants) are at the Linc (incidentally, the Skins and Giants are also road tests for the Eagles as you know).

Additionally, the NFL Record & Fact Book also confirms that the Eagles have won an astounding 64 percent of their road games in the past decade so expect Philadelphia to maintain their road warrior persona they’ve often shown in the Andy Reid era.

Thus, I can see Philadelphia getting, at the worst, a wild card berth, a position they’ve often thrived in, so anything can happen.

Thanks for reading and let the games begin!