Recently there have been several notes about the Eagles Defense.  Mark Eckel wrote this weekend about the linebacking corps, Igglesblog had an interesting take about the defense's supposed speed and Tommy Lawlor had a nice homage to Buddy's 46. 

I personally find it easier to come up with defensible things to say about the offense because that is the side of the ball which gets emphasized during network broadcasts.  Prior to the snap the camera is focused on the offense and afterward it follows the ball.  It's only during shows like NFL Matchup where we get to see any coaches tape showing the whole field.  

NFL Network recently rebroadcast last year's Cowboys victory and I rewatched their highlight reel a couple of times.  Several plays stuck out.  Three of the Eagles eleven interceptions on the season came in that game.  Unfortunately one of them resulted in an immediate turnover (screw on your head before buttoning your chinstrap Quintin), the second, Lito Shepard's pick before halftime, led to the games only TD, and and the last, which turned into Brian Westbrook's infamous knee, was Dawkins' only pick of the year.  Certainly you can't generalize based upon a sample size of one, but this example sure seems to say something about turnovers.

These plays were great, but one play - a 9 yard pass reception by Jason Witten - was the one that really got me thinking.

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Mark Eckel interviewed another one of his nameless "personell guys" to get his thoughts on the Eagles defensive line. All in all, the anonymous football guy seemed to like most of the guys.

"I like Cole," a scout said. "He's a real good player who has gotten better every year. He works real hard. When he got there he couldn't stop the run at all, now he's not bad."

"I've always been a fan of Patterson," the scout said. "(I) loved him at USC. He's high energy. And he's productive. Some people are trying to compare Laws to him, but I don't think Laws is as good. That's just my opinion."

"I'm not nearly as big a fan of Bunkley," the same scout said. "I'm not saying he's a bad player, he's not. But I don't think he's anything special. You ask me to take one or the other and I'm taking Patterson no questions asked."

The unnamed guy seems high on Victor Abiamiri as well.

The Eagles website had some more stuff from Reid and Considine about his previously failed shoulder surgery.

"I think he'll tell you that it feels better than the first surgery," Reid said.  "The first one didn't quite work out, so the doctor went in and repaired it and tightened it up in a little bit of a different way. He says it feels great; much stronger and tighter."

Considine is now in his fourth year out of Iowa and with rehab he is ready to work his way back onto the field.

"This offseason was dedicated to getting healthy, strengthening my shoulder gaining confidence with that."  Considine said.  "Obviously you want to get in shape and put on a little strength too."

This is probably a make or break year for Considine.

Finally, even though this really has nothing to do with anything... As some readers may know I'm a fan of the other kind of football as well. Especially the european leauges. There's an Irish soccer player named Andy Reid, and I got a kick out of hearing announcers talking about a guy named Andy Reid playing soccer

I think it's safe to say that this Andy Reid is the more athletic of the two.

Geoff Mosher of the News-Journal says so ... So does Jim Johnson.

"Not everybody is going to be a Trent Cole, but he's got that kind of speed and he will get bigger," defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said of Smith. "He should be a good pass rusher."

Smith is impressing the coaching staff with his arsenal of moves and techniques. With fast hands that almost mirror the lightning under his feet, Smith uses them to push and pull his way around blocks.

"It's like driving a car," he said. "If you got the hands on the wheel, you can turn the car whichever way you want to go."

As always, I'll be sure to keep you update if there's any news in the Bryan Smith weight watch. This article claims that he most recently weighed in at 241.

Found this little tidbit in the latest Spads article

Johnson has some options, for sure. He admits that using more of a 3-4 look is "in the back of our minds," depending on what the team does on first and second down. Johnson remains committed to stopping the big play first, but he also recognizes that the run defense made tremendous strides last season and that Patterson and Bunkley are emerging as one of the best young tandems in the league. The linebackers are all young, fast, physical and intelligent. The secondary has a bunch of good cover men.

We saw a little bit of this against the Patriots and it worked quite well. The Eagles certainly have the personnel to run the 3-4 in certain situations. They don't have the big 2 gap nose tackle to run it all the time, but on passing downs I could absolutely see the likes of Gocong, Clemons, Cole, and even Smith rushing from a standup LB position.

It also presents a potential nightmare for opposing offensive coordinators having to prepare for a team that can show you a 4-3 or 3-4 look on any given play.