Well what do you know, Andy Reid is in love with his wide receivers. They do have their strengths and I expect DeSean Jackson to have a better year in 2009 than he did in 2008.
DS: How do you look at this group of wide receivers moving forward?
AR: "I like our wide receivers. It was great to get DesSean (Jackson) in the action there (in 2008). I think this is a big year for him because teams are going to do just like we're doing. They're studying our offense and they're going to study DeSean Jackson. They're going to slow it down, watch it, look at his tendencies, his physical abilities, what type of routes we're running him on, so we've got to take it to another level with DeSean. DeSean has to continue to work hard in this off-season, get stronger and more precise in his route running, all of those things. And then we have a big challenge as coaches of coming up with new things to make sure that he has an opportunity to catch the football.
"Kevin Curtis, I think the exciting thing about Kevin Curtis, is, even though he's a little bit older, in NFL years, fairly young. He had gone on a church mission when he was in college, so there is a two-year differential there in his NFL years compared to his age. Kevin is coming off sports hernia surgery that, as we know here, slow you down a little bit. I don't think Kevin was feeling what he normally feels as a football player until probably the last three games of the season and you were able to see that as we went into the playoffs.
"We've got young guys around them – Hank Baskett and Reggie Brown, who is a starting-caliber player and who has started a lot of games for us. We consider him a starter in this mix. Jason Avant, you saw him bloom into this third receiver who was virtually unstoppable as an inside receiver. He just had a phenomenal year, and he was coming off a sports hernia surgery from the year before and was also banged up just a little bit as we went down the stretch. We expect good things from him and for him to take another step up."
I agree with some of what Reid had to say but he doesn't talk at all about the weaknesses of this wide receiver group. I don't blame him for that as long as he does something to remedy their weaknesses.
Jackson and Curtis do have speed which is something Reid should have always had in his wide receivers because of the fact that throwing deep is one of the strengths of McNabb's game.
On the negative side, the Eagles two smallish speedy wide receivers can be shut down by good corners in man to man coverages.
The Washington Redskins or any quality secondary with two or three good cover corners, move up into bump and run technique and delay their releases. The Eagles have to find a remedy for this.
