3. Philadelphia Eagles
When your center makes more money than any of your
quarterbacks, you're serious about wanting to get people
blocked. The Eagles' first free-agent pickup this
off-season was center Steve Everitt, who left the Ravens to
sign a five-year,
$11.5 million contract, immediately lifting his salary past those
of quarterbacks Ty Detmer, Rodney Peete and Bobby Hoying.
Two years ago the big-money pickup was running back Ricky
Watters. Last year it was cornerback Troy Vincent. The
Eagles have always been active in the free-agent market,
which is a luxury you can afford when you don't have a lot
tied up in your
quarterbacks. But a center seldom gets the big
deal.
Everitt is that good, though, and coach Ray Rhodes is that
concerned with putting a good line in front of Detmer and,
particularly, Watters. Three of the five teams in the NFC
East are located in cold-weather cities, so it's sensible
to want to run the
ball. No one knows that better than
Rhodes.
Let's take the figure of 123 yards rushing. In two years
under Rhodes, the Eagles have hit that number, or bettered
it, in 20 games, counting playoffs. They've won 18 of those
games.
On the 15 occasions
they've run for less than 123 yards, they've lost
11.
What's more, the
Eagles haven't had a Pro Bowl lineman since Jerry Sisemore,
15 years ago. That means they've been grinding out all
those yards without any stars up front, which is a tribute
to their determination and, of course, to Watters. But just
think what would have happened if the line were anywhere near
the caliber of, say, the
Cowboys'.
Well, Everitt's a start. He was flirting with Pro Bowl
recognition for a couple of years, but last season he tore
a pectoral muscle and appeared in only eight games. Now he
says, "I'm kind of looking at this like being a rookie
again, like having to
prove myself. I think that before I hurt myself last year I was
playing as well as I've ever
played.
"I love this offense," Everitt adds. "It
seems like the last few years I've been in an offense where
the whole idea was to take what the defense gave you. Here,
you make them take what you give them. You dictate from the
first
play."
Not that the Eagles were operating with a stiff at center
last year. Raleigh McKenzie was a respected veteran, but he
was 33, and in Everitt they have a player seven years
younger. The rest of the line? Hog-type drive-blockers.
Philadelphia is solid at
guard, with Joe Panos and Mike Zandofsky, but the tackles
have only one career start between them. Rhodes will go
with
Jermane Mayberry, the club's first-round pick in '96, and
third-year veteran Troy Drake, who appeared in 11 games
last year as a backup. If either falters, Barrett Brooks,
last year's left tackle, might break back
in.
Watters had more carries than any back in the NFL last
season—353, for 1,411 yards—yet he still moaned about not
handling the ball enough, even though he wore down
noticeably in the stretch. That concern will be addressed
with not one but two backups to
share the load. Charlie Garner's 5.4 yards per carry in
1995 was the best in the NFL, and he averaged 5.2 yards
last year, though on just 66 carries. At
5'9" and 187 pounds, Garner wears down when he gets more
than six or so carries in a game. That sets things up for
Duce
Staley, a 220-pound slasher out of South Carolina, the
best-looking rookie runner in Philadelphia since Wilbert
Montgomery in
'77.
Rhodes must address another problem, though, and that is
the shaky way the Eagles ended the '96 season. They
staggered into the playoffs and were shut out by the 49ers
in the first round. His
driving, high-emotion approach had taken them only so far.
"We ended up a tired football team," he says.
"Maybe there was too much hitting in practice, too
many hours on the field. As a coach I've got to look at
myself."
What he sees might be a coach with one of the NFL's more
brutal and elemental
attacks.—Paul Zimmerman
SCHEDULE
SKINNY
The Eagles could dig themselves into an early hole with
four of their first six games away from home. They open on
the road against the Giants, return home for the Packers,
then travel to Dallas for a Monday nighter; after a bye
week they go to
Minnesota, entertain Washington and travel to Jacksonville. The
payback is a three-game home stand starting on
Nov. 23—Steelers, Bengals and Giants—but then Philadelphia
closes on the road against the Falcons and the Redskins.
The finale could have serious playoff
implications.
STRENGTH OF
SCHEDULE
NFL rank: 7 (tie)
Opponents' 1996 winning percentage:
.516
Games against playoff teams:
7
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