It's Not Curtis

Paul Domowitch gives us a little more of that sweet "how stupid are the fans" lovin' today:

Curtis caught 77 passes, which was the fourth most by an Eagles wideout since the league went to a 16-game season in 1978. He had 1,110 receiving yards, which was the seventh most by an Eagle since '78. And he averaged 14.4 yards per catch, which was eighth among NFL receivers with at least 60 receptions this season.

But while Curtis might have long ago earned the respect of Dawkins and his other teammates, the rest of Eagles Nation seems to be a little slower in coming around.

They've been showing their appreciation for Curtis' impressive season by calling the talk shows and/or sending out e-mail missives to the media clamoring for an upgrade to the wide-receiving corps.

Welcome to Philly, Kev

With the possible exception of Hank Baskett and/or Jason Avant, there's no one in Philly who wants to get rid of Curtis.  He had a very nice season here adjusting to a new offense and playing with a rusty and at times ineffective quarterback.  (Although let's not pretend that 77 rec / 1,110 yards / 6 TDs is putting anyone on the road to Canton.)

But there's a line there, between "very good" and "dominant," and we shouldn't kid ourselves about which side the Eagles are on.  Adding a solid veteran receiver to help move the chains on third down wouldn't be a bad move, but it's a far cry from bringing in Moss, Stallworth and Welker to re-shape your entire offense. 

We don't want to replace Curtis, just to give him some help.

Two more points about something else Domo wrote:

Curtis is one of just five white starting wide receivers in the league. But the notion that he's slow is a fallacy. He ran a 4.41 40 at his predraft workout in 2003. That's faster than Javon Walker (4.43), faster than Deion Branch (4.51), faster than Bernard Berrian (4.59), faster than Reggie Wayne (4.55), faster than Larry Fitzgerald (4.52), faster than many receivers who are considered more dangerous vertical threats than the Utah native.

First of all, notice that he didn't include Donte Stallworth in that list.  For a reason.

And secondly, the question isn't: "How fast is he?"  It's: "Can he beat guys deep?"  And the answer -- for whatever reason -- is: "Not often." 

This isn't to take anything away from Curtis.  He's a fantastic intermediate threat, he runs some of the best routes in the league, and he's very effective in this offense.  But the Eagles tried many, many times to throw to Curtis running 'go' routes down the sideline against single coverage and we never saw him gain a step on the corners.  Even that incredible one-armed catch he had earlier this year came on a play where the coverage was right there, he just made a great play and beat the guy.

Maybe it's because he just timed well at the combine, maybe it's because he's a smaller guy and so it's easier to slow him up at the start of his route -- I have no idea.  All I know is that we've seen Todd Pinkston and Donte Stallworth running the exact same routes against the exact same coverage with the exact same quarterback, but Curtis wasn't able to get the deep separation that forces teams to put safeties over the top to protect against the bomb.

It doesn't hurt to have one of those guys around.