|
The 2007 Philadelphia Eagles season marked the 75th anniversary of the Eagles franchise. The team compiled an 8–8 record and a last-place finish in the NFC East. After a playoff run in 2006 and the return of Donovan McNabb from injury, the Eagles were considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender. With McNabb and bona fide star running back Brian Westbrook, the offense was an obvious weapon, but there were questions about the defense. However, the team's first few games displayed a tough Jim Johnson "bend but don't break defense" and an inconsistent offense. The Eagles dropped three of their first four, but they unleashed an offensive outburst in a Week 3 blowout over the Detroit Lions 56–21. A primetime loss to the Dallas Cowboys in early November left Philadelphia 3–5. The Eagles rallied and won a road game over the Washington Redskins the next week, and followed that with a win at home against the Miami Dolphins. In the win over Miami, McNabb went down with another November injury, the fourth time in six seasons that had occurred. The next three games, all against winning clubs, would prove to be the crux of the season for Philadelphia. Backup A.J. Feeley almost pulled off a big upset of the New England Patriots, who would finish the regular season 16–0, but a fourth quarter lead was surrendered. The Eagles would again lose second half leads to the Seattle Seahawks and their rival and eventual world champion New York Giants. These losses wiped out any chances of making the playoffs. The team finished the season with three straight wins, including a 10–6 win over the Cowboys, who were 12–1 entering the game. Despite missing two games, McNabb threw for 3324 yards, 19 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. Westbrook had one of the top seasons of any running back in the league, rushing for 1333 yards and seven touchdowns, and catching 90 passes for 771 yards and 5 touchdowns. New acquisition Kevin Curtis led the team with 1110 receiving yards and six touchdown receptions (half of them coming against Detroit). Third-year receiver Reggie Brown had a slow start, but finished with 780 receiving yards. On defense, Trent Cole's 12.5 sacks earned him a Pro Bowl spot and second-year linebacker Omar Gaither led the team with 103 tackles. As a unit, the defense came up with several important goal-line stands throughout the season. ==Offseason== After returning to the top of the NFC East in 2006, it was an offseason of controversial transactions for the Eagles. The fates of quarterback Jeff Garcia and wide receiver Donte' Stallworth were the two immediate questions facing the Eagles after the season ended. Ultimately, the team decided to keep neither of them. The Eagles signed A.J. Feeley to a three-year contract to be the backup quarterback, allowing Garcia to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March 2007. A week later, Stallworth inked a deal with the New England Patriots. Philadelphia filled the new hole in the receiving corps by signing free agent Kevin Curtis from the St. Louis Rams. They then made a trade with the Buffalo Bills on March 26, 2007,〔(Eagles, Bills agree to trade )〕 sending longtime defensive tackle Darwin Walker to the Bills in exchange for Takeo Spikes to provide much-needed linebacker help, and backup quarterback Kelly Holcomb. In the draft, the Eagles traded down, selecting University of Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb in the second round. The selection of Kolb sent a signal that the Eagles were looking towards a point in the future past Donovan McNabb, who had missed significant time in the three of the past five seasons. In training camp and the preseason, McNabb, wearing a knee brace, showed that he had recovered from his knee surgery and was ready to go. He stated, as he did the season before, that the team was capable of reaching the Super Bowl. He was stunned when Eagles' management decided to cut veteran middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter on August 21.〔(Stunned McNabb seeking answers )〕 The talk of the preseason turned out to be the booming punts of Australian rules football import Saverio Rocca. The Aussie outbooted veteran Dirk Johnson to earn the starting job. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「2007 Philadelphia Eagles season」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|