I was at David Akers' charity event last night in Philly and I got a chance to see Jeremiah Trotter for the first time in months and he looked good.
His weight is down and you can see he's been working out very hard. That made me start thinking about the guy who will be on the hot seat more than anybody else when the Birds start the season.
A lot of people think that guy is Donovan McNabb but I doubt that he and the Eagles will have any trouble moving the ball and putting points on the board. He was headed to another record setting year last year when he was hurt. McNabb had 18 TD passes and only 6 picks, and that was without a dominant running game. He now has that dominant running game, if the Eagles choose to use it, and that should open up the passing game even more.
To me, the guy on hotseat is Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. The defense has been smelling like the Philly airport area for the past two seasons, despite the Eagles going out and getting Johnson any and everybody he's wanted. His defenses were the key to the Birds success in his first five or six years with the team, but the last two years have been major disappointments.
A few years ago, the Eagles defense could be counted on to hold an offense to 17 points of less. They always could be counted on to set the Eagles offense up in position to score with turnovers a time or two each game. Now they have numerous games each year where they're dominated, give up over 30 points and come up with no turnovers. During these contests, Johnson makes no adjustments.
In 2005 with the T.O. nonsense in full bloom, nobody focused on the Eagles declining defense, which went into Denver and accomplished something no defense has ever done in the tens of thousands of games which have been played in the history of the National Football League. They allowed two hundred yard rushers and a three hundred yard passer in the same game. Let me repeat that, this was the only time in the history of the game that an offense has been able to do that in the same game.
Last year Eagles defense was last seen being violently assaulted by the New Orleans Saints as the clock was running out. Don't forget the mauling and public flogging they absorbed at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts. The mugging was so bad that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was thinking about penalizing the Colts under his new behavioral standards. Rather than the Eagles defense leading the way to victory, they have been leaking oil and breaking down constantly.
Again this off season the Eagles have added personnel and Jim is running out of excuses. I have no confidence in his handling of the defense because he doesn't adjust. He'll stand over on the sideline and watch a team beat his brains out with the same play and never adjust. Remember that Colts game. They ran the same play again and again. With Marty Mornhinweg taking more of the responsibility for the offense, Andy Reid has got to find out what's broken on the defense or talk of a Super Bowl is just a faded dream. Jim might as well issue a copy of his game plan to opposing offenses because everybody knows it anyway.
Saints head Sean Payton has always dominated Johnson, now other offensive coordinators are starting to pick Johnson apart, as well. It's either put up or shut up. He tried to shift the responsibility for this season's defense on the back of 2nd year defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley, by saying that Bunkley would be the key to how the defense played this year. With the signing of veteran run stopper Ian Scott that excuse no longer exists. If Bunkley isn't playing well, Scott can be inserted and has proven he can do the job.
With Takeo Spikes acquired in a trade, Trotter's weight down and all the starting linebacker jobs open, the linebacking situation should be much improved. There is no excuse for Johnson and his crew not being able to shut down the opposing team's running attacks.
