Making up for the 3-headed monster
Peter King has some very reassuring opinions about the ability of the Eagles to bounce back in 2006 in his Monday Morning QB column.
King nails it as far as offensive output with and without TO – and the utmost importance of B. Westbrook to the offense.
Still, a friend has this interesting perspective (and calculations about making up for TO’s lost yardage and TDs):
He writes: I agree with everything King says - the Andy Reid line that there isn't too much difference among the '02, '03 and '04 Eagles offenses in terms of output.
BUT, there is one MAJOR difference between the '03 offense and the '06 offense: no Duce Staley, no Buckhalter.
Remember that 3-headed monster? All 3 rb's in '03 ran for 500-plus yards. I think they combimed for almost 20 tds (including 36's returns for td).
In '04, they replaced Duce and Buckhalter with TO - effectively giving up ground game for high-powered passing (TO's 1,200 yds and 14 tds in '04 almost identically matched Staley and Buck's output combined in '03).
However, looking ahead to '06, we have a massive glaring whole offensively. I agree with No 5's assessment that we can win the division, and I think we will, but we are no longer the prohibitive favorite to win the NFC and go to the Super Bowl because we've lost 1200 yds and 14 tds on offense from '03 and '04, and I don't know how we make up those yds and points.
