Big free-agent question surrounds Jackson
While much of the blame for the Eagles' disappointing season has been heaped on Juan Castillo's defense, the offense also played a major role in the team missing the playoffs for the third time in the last seven years.
The Eagles finished fourth in total offense and eighth in scoring, but turned the ball over 38 times, the second most in the league. They blew five fourth-quarter leads, but the offense scored a total of three points in the fourth quarter of those five collapses.
Quarterback Michael Vick's wreckless style of play caused him to miss three games, and while he finished an OK 14th in passing, he was ineffective in critical situations, finishing 26th in third-down passing and 25th in fourth-quarter passing. By comparison, the Giants' Eli Manning finished third in third-down passing and second in fourth-quarter passing.
Vick, who finished 23rd in interception percentage, threw just three fourth-quarter touchdown passes the entire season. He had more interceptions (six) than touchdown passes (five) on third down.
Head coach Andy Reid is hopeful that the fact that his coaching staff will have the entire offseason to work with Vick should make him a better quarterback in 2012.
"He gets his first offseason with us since he's been here as a starter, which is an awesome thing," Reid said.
Vick had six turnovers in the red zone, including four interceptions. He finished with 14 interceptions overall.
"The offseason will give him an opportunity to go back and study those things and what you can do and what you can't do," Reid said. "How to move subtly in the pocket to make throws so the ball might not be tipped, whether it's a screen, whether it's a short (or) intermediate pass, the timing of each route and getting it coordinated with your two (starting) receivers who really didn't have a training camp."
The Eagles' biggest free agency question mark is wide receiver DeSean Jackson. The team is not close to re-signing him, and it remains to be seen whether they are willing to put the franchise tag on a guy who had just four touchdown catches and two red-zone receptions this season.
"I will tell you that the last six games, he did a nice job for us," Reid said. "I was proud of him for that. We haven't come to any conclusions on anything, but we're going through that (deciding what to do about Jackson). Again, you saw progress there. You saw a different attitude the last five or six games there."
Running back LeSean McCoy emerged as one of the league's top running backs in his second pro season, rushing for 1,309 yards and a league-high 17 touchdowns. Ronnie Brown wasn't particularly effective as his backup and isn't expected to be re-signed. The Eagles probably will be on the lookout for a veteran running back in free agency to throw into the mix with Dion Lewis behind McCoy.
Copyright (C) 2012 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.
