Marty Mornhinweg

If you read about Bill Walsh today, you're bound to come across a sentence that describes him as the brains behind the West Coast offense. Walsh, the former San Francisco 49ers coach and general manager who died yesterday at 75, was much more than that, according to Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. "He really was an innovator both on the field and off with the way he handled personnel and the way he practiced," Mornhinweg said yesterday at the Eagles' Lehigh University training camp.

Looks as if an Eagles coach could be going to Cleveland, but not the one initially rumored to be headed there. NFL.com reported last night that the Browns are expected to look at Dick Jauron as a candidate to be defensive coordinator under new coach Pat Shurmur, a former Eagles assistant who most recently ran the Rams' offense. Jauron, who coached the Birds' defensive backs this season, was on Browns president Mike Holmgren's Green Bay staff in the 1990s before becoming a head coach in Chicago and Buffalo.

The phone calls and text messages have been pouring in to Skyler Mornhinweg as news of Joe Paterno's ouster broke yesterday. Mornhinweg, the St. Joseph's Prep quarterback, is among the 16 high school seniors who have given verbal commitments to Penn State. Players cannot sign binding letters of intent until February. Through his mother, Lindsay, Skyler had no comment on the current situation. His father, Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, said he would have no comment on his son's situation or rumors that he could succeed Paterno out of respect for the victims in the sex-abuse case against Jerry Sandusky.

In a sign that college football recruiting efforts have become more aggressive than ever, St. Joseph's Prep sophomore Skyler Mornhinweg has, according to some reports, already orally committed to play for Stanford. Mornhinweg, a member of the Class of 2012, is a 6-foot-3, 190-pound quarterback and defensive back for the Hawks. His father, Marty, is the offensive coordinator for the Eagles. Mornhinweg declined to comment on his decision last night and said that a news conference to announce his college choice has been tentatively set for Tuesday.

Ty Detmer, who began last season as the Eagles' starting quarterback, is close to signing with the San Francisco 49ers. A person close to Detmer said the quarterback was leaning toward the 49ers after also visiting Atlanta, Chicago and Cincinnati. In San Francisco, Detmer would serve as a backup to 37-year-old Steve Young and a tutor for Jim Druckenmiller, last year's first-round draft pick. Detmer, 30, would be reunited with Niners head coach Steve Mariucci and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, who coached the quarterbacks in Green Bay while Detmer was with the Packers.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - It finally happened. A pass hit Jason Avant's fingers, and then the grass at Lehigh. Let the record show it happened Sunday morning, during an 11-on-11 drill, on a short throw over the middle from Kevin Kolb. By the coaches' count, it was Avant's first drop of Eagles training camp. Until then, he had kept the pigskin pristine. By offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg's count early last week, Avant had caught 80 passes in competitive drills (seven-on-seven or full team)

St. Joseph's Prep quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg is expected to end the suspense surrounding his football future with an announcement that could come as early as Monday. On Friday, several reports had the 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior switching his commitment to Florida from Penn State. "As of two days ago, based on a really good source, he was 100 percent going to Florida," Mike Farrell, of Rivals.com, said Sunday evening. "Unless he's had second thoughts, I think it's a done deal.

As a freshman and sophomore, Skyler Mornhinweg remembers listening to upperclassmen telling him how lucky he was to have a few years left of high school football. Monday, as the sun had set and the Center City skyline lit beautifully against the night sky, Mornhinweg listened as St. Joseph's Prep football coach Gabe Infante ended his passionate post-practice speech with a reminder. This was the seniors' last practice in full pads. "Now it's like it's over. It's kind of hitting home right now," Mornhinweg, a senior quarterback, said after the practice.

St. Joseph's Prep quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg, who commited to Penn State last summer, has changed his mind and made a verbal commitment to Florida. ESPN reported the commitment today, and GatorCountry.com confirmed it. Florida offensive coordinator Brent Pease played college football at Montana with Skyler's father, Marty Mornhinweg, the Eagles' offensive coordinator. GatorCountry.com said Skyler visited Florida with his mother. The website said that Pease and Gators head coach Will Muschamp visited Mornhinweg at the Prep on Wednesday.

As a freshman and sophomore, Skyler Mornhinweg remembers listening to upperclassmen telling him how lucky he was to have a few years left of high school football. Monday, as the sun had set and the Center City skyline lit beautifully against the night sky, Mornhinweg listened as St. Joseph's Prep football coach Gabe Infante ended his passionate post-practice speech with a reminder. This was the seniors' last practice in full pads. "Now it's like it's over. It's kind of hitting home right now," Mornhinweg, a senior quarterback, said after the practice.

St. Joseph's Prep quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg is expected to end the suspense surrounding his football future with an announcement that could come as early as Monday. On Friday, several reports had the 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior switching his commitment to Florida from Penn State. "As of two days ago, based on a really good source, he was 100 percent going to Florida," Mike Farrell, of Rivals.com, said Sunday evening. "Unless he's had second thoughts, I think it's a done deal.

St. Joseph's Prep quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg, who commited to Penn State last summer, has changed his mind and made a verbal commitment to Florida. ESPN reported the commitment today, and GatorCountry.com confirmed it. Florida offensive coordinator Brent Pease played college football at Montana with Skyler's father, Marty Mornhinweg, the Eagles' offensive coordinator. GatorCountry.com said Skyler visited Florida with his mother. The website said that Pease and Gators head coach Will Muschamp visited Mornhinweg at the Prep on Wednesday.

This originally appeared yesterday by Les Bowen on Eagletarian, the Daily News' Eagles blog, at www.eagletarian.com .   I'M SEEING all kinds of speculation erupting from the fact that Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg is scheduled to interview for the Oakland Raiders' head coaching position this weekend, and might be in the Indianapolis picture as well. First, for the hard-core Andy Reid haters who want to spin that Andy's assistants are fleeing because he's in such a dire spot - no. Marty came here in 2003 after being fired from the head coaching spot in Detroit.

JEREMY MACLIN hustled downfield and threw blocks on at least a couple of key plays Sunday against the Jets. Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg noticed. "Jeremy has been blocking like a madman, and you kind of expect that [from him], but he did a heck of a job in ways that sometimes you don't see, or don't get credit for," Mornhinweg said yesterday. What makes a wideout a good blocker? "Guts," Mornhinweg said. "The big, strong, physical guys are typically a little bit better, and he's a pretty strong and physical guy. " Mornhinweg said wideouts coach David Culley emphasizes blocking and does a good job teaching it. "You're helping your teammates," said Maclin, who seems finally close to 100 percent in his recovery from a hamstring injury.

They say a good debater can take either side of an argument and win. I am not a good debater. But I am very interested in whether the Eagles will part ways with Andy Reid at the end of this season. And the other night, somebody accused me of having said several weeks ago that Reid would definitely be fired, and then saying more recently that he definitely wouldn't be fired. I don't think I did that - although, with newspaper stories and columns, blogging, TV and radio yakking, Twitter and whatnot, it's possible.

Michael Vick is back. Cue "Ode to Joy. " OK, so Vick hasn't been that good this season, and Vince Young wasn't as bad as some have suggested - he did engineer an 18-play, game-winning drive against the New York Giants last month. But if the Eagles are to have any chance of closing out the 2011 season with four straight victories, they need the 2010 Vick, specifically the one from the first half of last season. We've seen glimpses of that quarterback this season.

Everyone agrees the Eagles' 4-7 record is unacceptable, given the expectations and the talent. The question is which is worse, the 4 or the 7? Seven losses in 11 games, and 10 in the last 14 going back to the end of 2010, is obviously not very good. But the Eagles' wins are every bit as aggravating and frustrating - two of them, especially. On Oct. 30, the Eagles stomped the Dallas Cowboys at the Linc for their only home win of the season. On Nov. 20, they went to the Meadowlands and beat the New York Giants physically as well as on the scoreboard.

Eagles coach Andy Reid said that he spoke to Marty Mornhinweg and Jim Washburn after their sideline spat, that the offensive coordinator and defensive line coach had cleared the air, and that the Eagles had moved on and were focused on Thursday's game at Seattle. "It's an emotional game," Reid said Tuesday at the NovaCare Complex. "It doesn't matter if you're coaches or players, things happen. You take care of business like grown men. They've talked. I've talked, and they've worked it out, and we're fine here.

WITH THE Eagles playing again Thursday at Seattle, reporters aren't going to get to talk to Marty Mornhinweg this week, until after the game. The usual weekly press conferences with the coordinators aren't being held. So by the time we get a chance to ask Marty about his dustup on the sideline with defensive-line coach Jim Washburn during Sunday's crushing loss to the Patriots, it will be very old news. But the fact that two of Andy Reid's coaches had to be separated during the first half of a game, and were said to be still jawing as they came onto the field for the second half, will become part of the lore of a lost 2011 season.

It's been more than eight years since Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie uttered the infamous phrase gold standard. While the team's critics haven't missed an opportunity to toss Lurie's regretful assessment of his franchise back in his face, several meetings with the New England Patriots over that span have made it clear which team was the gold standard in the NFL. The Patriots are the best team of the last decade even if they haven't won...