The next two, three of four years while Donovan McNabb is still the team's quarterback and Andy Reid is still the team's head coach, the Birds had better go all out after that elusive Super Bowl title
or chances are it will elude them for another decade. In two, three or at the most four years, I think the Birds will be headed into a transition period, where they will slide back into the pack among NFL football teams.
The three factors or advantages which have separated the Eagles from the pack of good football teams will be lost when they let McNabb go. The first one has already been lost. Eagles President Joe Banner has been a pioneer of strategic cap management and was years ahead of the rest of the league. His method of locking up the team's young, talented, emerging players, by enticing them with substantial signing bonuses on the front end of long term deals. That method is now being copied all around the league and it has already led to fewer big-time talents getting to free agency.
Banner’s planning used to allow the Birds to miss on draft choices and free agents, but still have the money to correct their mistakes, but that will no longer be the case. This was a valuable advantage for the Birds in the past, but it won’t be one in the future. It will force the Eagles to either improve their drafting or fall back into the pack.
The 2nd factor which kept the Eagles at the top of their league was the defense. Jim Johnson did a great job of keeping offenses off balance with his series of blitz packages, but they’ve caught up to him and his schemes. Rather than allow Johnson and the Birds to employ their tricky blitz schemes on third down, teams stay out of 3rd and long situations by throwing the ball on first or second down. The word is utilize a conservative game plan against the Eagles by running the ball and throwing short on first or 2nd down. The Johnson scheme has shown a weakness versus the run, to the point that teams are able to render the blitz schemes null and void, by pounding them on the ground. For years Jim Johnson's defenses kept team under 20 points but of late, the Eagles defense gets dominated and never seems to step up when the game is on the line. If it weren't for the late season heroics of Brian Dawkins, the Birds wouldn't have been any where near the playoffs in 2006.
The third factor which has allowed the Eagles to dominate, has been McNabb and his ability to run Andy Reid‘s short passing attack without turning the ball over. He has the second best TD-INT ratio in NFL history for any QB with at least 100 touchdown passes. The combination of McNabb’s ability to read a defense, buy additional time with his feet and get the ball to his receivers, have allowed the Eagles to build their offense around their passing game and move the ball, despite playing with average to poor receivers. When McNabb leaves Eagles fans will start to appreciate him much more when they realize that most NFL quarterbacks throw a lot more picks.
With the two forementioned advantages already lost, the Birds had better make sure they know what they're doing when they decide to move McNabb. Everyone will see what I'm talking about when Eagles fans wake up one morning and read that the Birds have traded Donovan McNabb, it will mark the end of the "winningest" period in the history of Eagles football. Unfortunately, this event will likely be followed by a major drop off in the team's success.
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