Ten Things to Watch for in Baltimore

The almost-real season finally starts for the Philadelphia Eagles and their fans on Monday in Baltimore, just down I-95.  At kickoff, it will have been 223 days, 19 hours and about 20 minutes since the team's hopes were dashed inside the Louisiana Superdome. 

Not that anyone's been counting.

The Eagles enter the 2007 season with a legitimate Super Bowl chance.  Much will depend upon the health of McNabb's right knee, the development of the younger players and a few key veteran additions, and of course, the great scourge of playoff dreams -- injuries.  But looking around the NFC, it's hard to pick out another team that looks like it deserves to be in Florida in February more than the Eagles.  Things always change, some teams get hot, some teams fail to reach their potential, but if you look up and down the roster, the Eagles really, truly look like a team ready to make a title run.

With that said, we are getting ahead of ourselves a little, however.  As Andy Reid always says, you have to focus on the next game in front of you and everything else will work itself out.  So let's tick off 10 things we're most interested in seeing in this first preseason game:

1) How will McNabb look?
The guess is he'll look fine ... standing on the sideline with a towel wrapped around his neck.  He isn't expected to play.

2) Will we see what we have at linebacker?
If there's one position in flux right now, it's the linebacking corps.  We know Spikes will play on the weakside, we're just not sure if it will be at "just better than the recent crap" level or "return to all-pro form" level.  In the middle, Trotter is the presumptive starter.  This will be our first chance to see if he's got the legs to move out of the phone booth he played in most of last year.  On the strong side, we finally get our first game-action look at Chris Gocong.  A word of warning, young man -- 50 percent of the fans in Philadelphia will form their everlasting impression of your abilities based on your first handful of snaps tomorrow.  No pressure.

Behind the starters we've got Stewart Bradly and Omar Gaither, two guys who could both be major factors this year depending on how the people in front of them play.  Gaither made all kinds of plays last year in limited action.  Should be interesting to see if he can upstage his mentor at the MLB position. 

3) Will special teams be improved?
The kicking game can be kind of ugly in the preseason.  For one, you have a lot of guys who won't be anywhere near the final roster out there trying to work as a cohesive unit.  A returner can look great in his early action just because one of the coverage guys forgot which lane he was supposed to be in.  So we're not going to be able to tell much about the big picture.  We should, however, get a chance to see if there's some explosiveness in Jeremy Bloom's body and Saverio Rocca's right leg. 

Let's also hope Akers makes it through the preseason relatively unscathed.  His head-case moves are starting to worry me.

4) Can the Eagles' front seven stop the run?
The Ravens are a team that likes to pound the rock.  With new number one tailback Willis McGahee, this should be a good first test for the Eagles' defense.  I'm specifically looking to see if Bunkley can control the line of scrimmage.

5) Just how good are all these backup offensive linemen we've been hearing so much about?
We know what the Eagles have in their five starters up front, but the odds are pretty good that group won't make it through another complete season unscathed.  If these guys are as good as everyone says they are, Justice, Jean-Gilles, Cole, Young and McCoy should be manhandling the Ravens' second-string line.  In fact, I won't be surprised if Holcomb looks the best of the three backup quarterbacks tomorrow, since the Eagles have such good depth that their second-team should be able to do very well against the Ravens' backups.  (Once we get to the third team though, it's a crapshoot, so hopefully no one gets Kolb killed.)

6) Speaking of which, it's time to unwrap our new top draft pick and see what he can do.
It's a long journey.  Tomorrow is the first step.  I'm as intrigued as you are.

7) And while we're on the subject, will the Eagles' new rookie middle linebacker live up to his college and pre-draft hype by leading his team with nine solo tackles, looking extremely quick on a delayed blitz up the middle on a sack, an even contributing on special teams -- all the while appearing to be exactly what we thought he would be: a rock-solid foundation for the defense for the next decade?
Oh right, we decided not to draft Paul Posluszny so now he plays for the Buffalo Bills.

8) But since we're talking about former Penn State players, how will Tony Hunt look tomorrow in his first chance to claim the "power back" role in the Philadelphia offense?
I'm really hoping we get a chance to see Hunt make a carry or two with the first team line.  Even if he doesn't, what I said above for Holcomb may come into play here as well.  I'm expecting a strong debut.

9) How will Reid/Mornhinweg call the game?
Will second-and-ten again be a running down or will we keep jamming in pass plays?  The early calls will be interesting, not because they will provide much insight into the strategy in the regular season, but because they may reveal what the offensive coaches most want to emphasize.  If the Eagles go heavy on the run, it might be a continuation of Reid's mood-setting, hitting-heavy camp.  If it's a lot of passing, it suggests they're most interested in the development of guys like Curtis, Celek, Schobel and...

10) AJ Feeley.  That Falcons game was fun, but now it's another chance to see how he looks playing with the first team against a very, very good defense.
I think we all know why.