When the "experts" say Eagles will win NFC East, I worry….

It’s not a bad thing to be getting raves from FoxSports.com or ESPN or Pro Football Weekly on the Eagles’ offseason acquisitions and overall progress in improving the team. But it scares me a little when guys like Matt Mosley (ESPN.com) and others flat-out report their belief in the Eagles’ winning their division before a single pad has been popped or a coin tossed or a flag thrown…

We all know how great it is to see Donovan McNabb happy and enthusiastic about his new offensive teammates and of course his new contract extension (guaranteeing him $12 million a year for the next two seasons). That’s great, and it didn’t hurt that McNabb was so active in all the voluntary mini-camps this Spring.

But all this unusual media hype forecasting an Eagles’ romp through their division is premature at best and incredibly dangerous for fans to swallow as we enter the dog days of July.

As good as things look for the Eagles right now, let us not drug ourselves with false confidence that our guys are going to shred the NFC East and the NFL in general coming right out of the gate.

The way the “experts” are talking, Philadelphia is going to put 500 yards of total offense on the Carolina Panthers in the away opener on September 13.

Warning: probably not, and definitely the Eagles offense will be a re-tooled work in progress well into the second half of the regular season.

It will still fall upon the defense to hold it together until McNabb and his new supporting cast realistically get things going on offense.

Sure, it’s great that LT Jason Peters will be protecting McNabb’s blind side now that Tra Thomas is gone. But Peters still has to bounce back from a rather bland season with Buffalo last year, where he was unhappy with his contract and actually gave up a lot more sacks than usual. Experts say he will develop into one of the best tackles in the league. But the key word there is “develop”….

Oh, and how the experts rave about Brian Westbrook at RB…but it seems they are oblivious to the fact of Westbrook’s offseason surgeries and how it may be 6 weeks into the season before we see the “real” Brian…

And speaking of defense, It may take a while for DB Quintin Mikell to overcome the psychological burden of being the guy who has to replace Brian Dawkins, the former “spiritual leader” of the Eagles’ defensive squad.

Yes, I think realistically, and I expect a real learning curve to be required before the Eagles are capable of clicking on all cylinders.

Meanwhile, Dallas has become obsessed with getting to a playoff game, and they’re counting on WR Roy Williams and WR Miles Austin to help Tony Romo get them there. The Giants may have lost Plaxico Burress (who used to absolutely kill the Eagles), but they have WR Hakeem Nicks to replace him, and the G-Men also have Domenik Hixon and Steve Smith in the wings to help their receiving game stay constant. Eli Manning is relieved to be rid of the Plax drama not to mention the old Shockey nonsense, and he still has the best running game in the division. The Giants are still big-time and for real. And don’t count out the Redskins…Washington didn’t have any major losses of personnel, although Shawn Springs was a solid moral presence in their locker room and will be missed. But RT Stephon Heyer is the real deal on the offensive line as he replaces veteran Jon Jansen. And I believe it will shape up nicely for the Redskins as a solid defense, strong running-game type team that will excel in control of possessions and the clock.

So I don’t think we should get carried away with the pre-season flattery of the “experts” who are calling the 2009 Eagles the “dominant team in the NFC East”. I think there is no dominance in the NFC East, but rather a game-by-game struggle for survival and a relentless quest for an 11-5 or a 10-6 finish…if you’re lucky.

(Thanks to all our readers here at Eagles Eye—I’m having a problem with my server so temporaily I’m posting from a remote location….I’ll soon have that fixed and will go deeper into the above topic next time.)