Line dancing: Birds put up brave front as they learn new steps in period of great change

CERTAIN GROUPINGS become familiar enough to seem permanent. The Art Museum anchors one end of the Parkway, City Hall the other. Gaze north up the Delaware on a clear day from the middle of the Walt Whitman Bridge, you know you'll see the pale-blue span of the Ben Franklin.

That's how it has been with the Eagles' offensive line and its tackles, Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan. One hundred thirty-four regular-season games, the Birds played with those very large, talented men bracketing the guards and the center. They were a big part of the foundation of Andy Reid's success. Reid inherited Thomas, drafted 11th overall in 1998, the year before the coach arrived. Runyan was Reid's first big free-agent addition, in 2000 - a tough, durable soldier whose mean streak was legendary.

The next 3 years, the only change along the line was when Hank Fraley replaced injured center Bubba Miller, in 2001. The Eagles talked up stability and cohesiveness as keys to the line's performance.

But when the veterans report to Lehigh on Wednesday, there will be no Thomas or Runyan. In an offseason of significant change for the Birds, nothing changed more than the offensive line. Stacy Andrews was the key free-agent signing that allowed Reid to move Stacy's brother, Shawn, to Runyan's right-tackle spot. Runyan became a free agent at 35 and had microfracture knee surgery that has kept him from working out for potential employers. Thomas, a year younger, also was allowed to drift into free agency and found himself signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Eagles replaced him by trading for Buffalo Pro Bowl tackle Jason Peters.

If the configuration remains as Reid envisions it - Stacy Andrews has yet to experience contact rehabbing from ACL surgery near the end of last season - only left guard Todd Herremans and center Jamaal Jackson would occupy the same spots as a year ago. With the Eagles being touted as Super Bowl contenders, it seems relevant to mention that none of their prospective offensive-line starters played in Super Bowl XXIX, 4 1/2 years back.

Expectations are high, though.

"We're going to try to be the dominant line in the league," Peters said recently. "We've got some big guys. Big, athletic guys, not just big guys."

That much is apparent even to Runyan, who is watching from afar these days.