FYI: The NFL season begins in T minus seven weeks for our beloved Philadelphia Eagles. I don’t know about other Eagles fans, but I have never been more excited for the season to begin.

When you look at the Eagles’ roster, there are two players with 10-plus years of experience–David Akers and Juqua Parker. This team is young, energized and ready to prove themselves.

“It’ll be exciting, everybody, including ourselves, will get geared up for what’s to come,” Kolb said in an interview with the media.

Are you geared up for what’s to come? I know I am. But, I also know there are a lot of questions to be answered and concerns to be had.

First let us begin with the transition from McNabb to Kolb at QB. Eagles fans have enjoyed an inordinate amount of success since 1999. It is only logical to feel unsure about the future of our beloved Philadelphia Eagles after the departure of McNabb. However, logical doesn’t always mean right. For Reid to trade his pride and joy—McNabb—Kolb had to be ready to step in and lead the team. There is no better time than now to move things in a different direction—Kolb under center, the young, speedy WRs DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, the dynamic running back LeSean McCoy and Brent Celek at TE to move the chains, can now all grow together and begin a new decade of winning.

Although there is a change at QB, the offense will stay the same—West Coast style. Reid played to McNabb’s ability, which was the long ball. McNabb, rhythm and short, accurate passes were never in the same sentence unless you were complaining. That will change with Kolb under center. Although Kolb has a strong arm, he is known as a rhythm passer, who relies on short, quick, accurate passing. Kolb’s quarterbacking style plays into the receiving corps’ abilities to create and produce yards after the catch.
“Kevin’s accuracy is going to be the biggest factor [in the offense's success],” tight end Brent Celek said. “If you get it there accurately, the guy can catch it and turn up field. If it’s not [accurate], you’ve got to turn your body and it slows you down and the defense can catch up quicker. Getting the ball out fast and getting it to you in a position where you can cut up the field quickly is what it’s all about.”

With an offense based on moving the chains and using the clock, the defense now has the potential to perform at a high level. The longer the drive, the more resting time the defense will have. This is important with such a young, unproven defense. The probability of winning games increases the longer our defense sits on the bench.

Don’t get me wrong; I, in no way, shape, or form, believe this team will go 16-0. But I do think the Eagles will be fighting for the Wild Card spot in the NFC. Call me optimistic, but all signs point in that direction. Yes, this team is young and inexperienced on both sides of the ball, but Andy Reid has proven time and again that he knows how to coach—pre-gameday—and prepare his team for Sunday. An inability to execute on gameday has been the down fall of previous Eagles teams—such as McNabb’s inability to execute a simple six-yard pass. If all reports are true, and I believe they are, Kolb’s ability to execute a simple six-yard pass so that the receiver can gain yards after the catch will make Reid look like a genius.

Quick side note on execution of game day: Greg Cosell, of NFL films, was on 97.5 the Fanatic the other day. While talking about the upcoming Eagles season he said something that really stood out to me. He was talking about the Eagles vs. Cowboys, in the final game of the regular season before the playoffs began. Cosell said, “When you watch the coach’s film of that game, you see wide receivers open—wide open—but an inability, on McNabb’s part to accurately throw the ball”. Cosell continues by saying, “the average football fan watching at home just saw a QB who had no time to release the ball. The game plan was there, and working. It wasn’t executed properly”.

I threw that side note in to make my point about Reid’s coaching ability and execution. For the past ten years, when the Eagles would have a poor game, fans would sometimes put the blame on the coach’s inability to change the game plan during game time—the key word is sometimes, since Reid has had some idiotic moments, such as calling timeouts in the first quarter. Maybe, just maybe, the team’s lack of success was due to an inability to run a true West Coast-style offense correctly. That is not the case anymore. Expect big things from this young team for years to come.