Defense shines as QB situation clouds up

And the season is off to a flying start!

I am usually so pumped for the first week of the NFL season that it doesn’t really matter how the Eagles do, just that they are on the field for a meaningful game.

However, in the 2009 season opener, the Eagles’ defense provided fireworks, while Donovan McNabb scared an entire fan base.

The Eagles’ 38-10 victory over the defending NFC South champion Carolina Panthers would have immediately cemented the Super Bowl talk coming from national media outlets during the preseason, if not for one cracked rib on their star quarterback.

Since the Phillies won the World Series last year, I have tried to be more positive about Philadelphia sports, and take less of a gloom-and-doom approach, so I will start with a breakdown of the 35-point fantasy football effort by the Eagles’ defense before I rip Kevin Kolb apart.

Sean McDermott, the Eagles’ new defensive coordinator, came up with a brilliant scheme to shut down the run-heavy Panthers.Before even delving into the seven turnovers or five sacks, the job that the front seven did on DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart was simply spectacular.

Last season, the Panthers’ duo combined to rush for 2,351 yards, and averaged 5.1 yards per carry. McDermott’s boys limited “Smash and Dash” to just 72 yards on 25 carries, for an average of 2.9 yards per carry.

With the running game thoroughly contained, the defense was able to fly around Bank of America Stadium, picking off passes and slamming Carolina QB Jake Delhomme and his two replacements to the turf.

As predicted in this space six weeks ago, McDermott took Jim Johnson’s foundation and combined it with 10 years worth of schemes that he was dying to try out, and it resulted in the Eagles forcing seven turnovers, registering five sacks, and bruising three quarterbacks’ egos.

The most impressive part of those stats is that those five sacks came against the exact same Panthers offensive line that allowed just 20 sacks in all of 2008.

In this game, Trent Cole, who usually gets double-teamed on passing downs, rushed the quarterback from an upright “Joker” position, instead of off the edge from a three-point stance. On several obvious passing downs, McDermott used Sheldon Brown, who picked off two passes to start his season-long quest for a new contract, as a safety, moving Macho Harris back to the cornerback position, which he played at Virginia Tech.

We all expected the defensive line and the secondary to play well because those units are filled with Pro Bowl caliber players, but the biggest surprise came from the linebackers. Last year, the linebackers came up with 9.5 big plays (5.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 1 interception) but against Carolina, they provided more than one-third of that production.

In a stark change from last year, Akeem Jordan came up with a sack and an interception, while Omar Gaither provided half a sack and a fumble recovery. The lone downside to last Sunday’s performance was that Chris Gocong picked up right where he left off last year, providing almost nothing from the strongside linebacker position.

Switching to offense, it was tough to get a read on the revamped unit because they never needed to put together a long, sustained drive, but in the brief time they were on the field, the offensive line looked very solid. Other than the false start penalties, the line, which was playing with two reserves, provided holes for Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy and Leonard Weaver to rush for 5.3 yards per attempt on 23 carries.

Now for the biggest story of the game—another Donovan McNabb injury. Regardless of how the NFL ruled, a blatant late hit cracked the ribs of McNabb, forcing Kolb into action. And I am using the term “action” loosely, because Kolb’s performance did not resemble that of an NFL quarterback.

Kolb, who came into this season having thrown an interception every nine passes in his career, was 7-for-11 for 23 yards, fumbled twice and threw two passes that were dropped by the Panthers’ secondary.I’m not buying the excuse that he doesn’t get repetitions with the first team because it is week 1, which means he got plenty of reps all summer, so he should be up to game speed.

The problem with Kolb is that he doesn’t play at NFL speed, and doesn’t realize that he can’t force the ball to the first option if that player is double-covered.

Kolb needs to learn how to go through his progressions while watching out for the blitz, but that is something that can’t be taught, which means Kolb is not now, nor ever will be a quality NFL quarterback. If the Eagles are going to keep throwing him out there, he should at least be trained to hold the ball with two hands when he feels the pressure coming, and possibly even to run from that pressure, instead of spinning in a circle and falling down, like we saw several times in the preseason.

Then, after about 24 hours of expressing confidence in the former second round pick, Andy Reid went out and signed Jeff Garcia. Yes, the same Garcia who went 5-1 with the Eagles in 2006, leading them to a division title.

If Kolb is under center, chalk this one up as a loss, because even a solid performance by the defense would mean holding the Saints in the 20s, but Kolb doesn’t have the talent to get the Eagles’ offense on the board before garbage time, let alone win a shootout. His performance also may determine his future with the Eagles, because someone will be cut once Michael Vick is eligible to play.

If Garcia gets the start, the Eagles aren’t in bad shape, but because of his weak arm, his style of play really doesn’t mesh with the current roster of speedy wide receivers, so the offense would have to change its style.

Personally, I think McNabb throws on a flak jacket, takes a cortisone shot and plays on Sunday. After all, this is the same guy that threw four touchdown passes on a broken ankle in 2002, and then put up MVP numbers through the first half of 2005 while playing with injuries that would have put each of us in the emergency room.

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Like the “On the Edge” blog? Hear more of my opinions about Philadelphia sports every Friday at 3:30 p.m. on WBCB 1490 AM during the Coffee with Kahuna show. This week, we will discuss how the Eagles match up against the high-powered Saints, and talk about the shocking revival of the ageless Pedro Martinez.