Two of the key weapons in the west coast offense designed by Hall of Fame head coach Bill Walsh were the fullback and the tight end positions.
Those positions were utilized in the short passing game to keep the sticks moving and take advantage of the fact that defenses were more concerned about the wide receivers and the linebackers were the weakest part of a defense’s pass coverage.
Of course Brian Westbrook has been a featured target in Reid’s version of the west coast offense but the addition of fullback Leonard Weaver and the emergence of tight end Brent Celek will give Donovan McNabb some dependable targets and safety valves in the passing game.
Weaver is a solid receiver and Celek looks like he's ready emerge as a quality tight end in the league.
Most of the time the Eagles designate a linebacker on the opposing team which they consider to be poor in pass coverage. This is guy who they try to get isolated so they can attack him.
The fact that the Eagles might have three dependable receivers at the tight end, fullback and running back positions, will give them a chance to utilize the scheme which Walsh designed decades ago.
The fact that the Birds can put so much speed on the field in the person of DeSean Jackson, Kevin Curtis, Jeremy Maclin and Cornelius Ingram will prevent the safeties from helping the linebackers a great deal.
This will allow Reid and Marty Mornhinweg to get the linebackers isolated.
I guarantee you’re going to see a lot of two tight end sets, reminiscent of the last Green Bay Packer which won a Super Bowl.
In Green Bay, Reid was the tight end coach during the year the Packers won the Super Bowl under Mike Holmgren and they had two Pro Bowl tight ends, Mark Chmura and Keith Jackson.
I know Reid must have thought about Chmura and Jackson as he watched Brent Celek and rookie Cornelius Ingram run their routes this week at the mini camp. Both Celek and Ingram have the athletic ability and ball skils to be big trouble for any of the league's linebackers.
They could pose the same kind problems for defenses which we saw with Chmura and Jackson over a decade ago.
