GRADE: B-
Running back
Maybe the most troubling part of the postmortem following Sunday's loss in the NFC Championship Game was how Andy Reid insisted Brian Westbrook was OK in the postseason. Westbrook sure didn't look OK, in running 12 times for 45 yards Sunday, or in much of the previous playoff action, or in most of the regular-season contests.
His 4.0 yards per carry in the regular season was seven-tenths of a yard off his career average, his average of 7.4 yards per catch was 1.8 off his career mark. I think it had to do with injuries and blocking, but at 29, with a chronic bad left knee, can you just assume Westbrook becomes a Pro Bowl-quality back again next season?
Why the Eagles don't use Correll Buckhalter more is a mystery, but at 30 I don't see Buck suddenly becoming a difference-maker. The Eagles need to find one, though. And a fullback.
GRADE: C-
Offensive line
I guess pass-blocking and run-blocking really are totally different skills, because the Eagles were good at one and terrible at the other.
A recovered Shawn Andrews, Philadelphia's largest and most colorful pescaterian, can help there, if he is so inclined, but I wouldn't leave it there. This is where free-agency money should be spent. As everyone knows, the two tackles, pillars of the Andy Reid era, are on the verge of free-agency. It would be hard to change both. I'd be inclined to keep Tra Thomas and reluctantly part with Jon Runyan. And while I like Jamaal Jackson, I liked the 2006 version that won the job away from Hank Fraley a whole lot more.
GRADE: C
Receivers
DeSean Jackson was one of the best draft picks of the decade. Imagine what things would have been like this season without him. Wherever the Reggie Brown of 2005 and '06 went, I sure miss him. So long L.J. Smith, happy moping in some other locker room.
