2006 Eagles Should Return to Past Success

Even though I was born and raised in the “City of Brotherly Love” and know from firsthand experience exactly how passionate Philadelphians can be about their professional sports teams, I have to admit that I am amazed at the overall consensus of ominous dread that most fans think is surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles.

My personal feeling is that the Eagles will return to being one of the elite teams in all of football and although I’m not prepared to make any bold predictions concerning what they may or may not accomplish, I expect them, at the very least, to regain the franchise-wide tranquility that helped them reach four consecutive NFC championship games and one Super Bowl.

I can see the Eagles’ detractors’ point of view to a certain extent. All three of the Eagles’ division foes, the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and New York Giants all appear as if they are headed in the right direction and will be better than the competitive teams that closed out the 2005 season.

However, as a coach myself, I am a firm believer in not worrying about what anyone else is doing. If the Birds take care of their own business – which they have done almost without peer for the last half-decade, I think they will bounce back better than a 1970s “Super Ball.”

Let’s review the debacle that was the 2005 season before previewing the upcoming draft, free agency and the 2006 season.

First of all, I firmly believe that the 2005 season was a case of Murphy’s Law for the Eagles. Nearly every possible thing that could go wrong for a professional football team went wrong for the Eagles.

The ongoing Terrell Owens saga was an albatross hanging around the Eagles’ necks before the regular season ever began. Combine that with the fact the starting quarterback Donovan McNabb got hurt early on and head coach Andy Reid seemed to be calling his offensive plays like he had never been a head coach before, and what you end up with is team that couldn’t reach the playoffs after five consecutive trips to the postseason party.