Notice the location of Dunlap's hands as he kick-steps.


The Eagles announced on Thursday that left tackle Jason Peters underwent successful arthroscopic surgery to repair torn meniscus in his left knee. That's the good news. The bad news is that Peters will obviously miss a lot of time -- most are optimistically saying 4-6 weeks.

In his place, King Dunlap, a former seventh-round pick, will start at left tackle. And since Michael Vick is still ailing a rib injury and has yet to practice this week, Dunlap will be protecting the blindside of Kevin Kolb.

In case you haven't been watching, Kolb does a good enough job of getting himself sacked and doesn't really need Dunlap's help.

But what Dunlap brings to the table is a guy who is clearly very physically gifted (at about 6'9"), but his technique is -- to say the least -- lacking. Instead of using his astounding height to his advantage, he constantly exposes his chest to the defender and allows much smaller guys to bull-rush him without much of a fight because he's so off balance.

Justin Smith, a guy who has given up his focus on rushing the passer after leaving the 4-3 scheme in Cincinnati to play space-eating defensive end in the 3-4 in San Francisco, absolutely handled Dunlap.

It had nothing to do with quickness because Dunlap was almost always finished with his kick-step by the time he was engaging with Smith. It had nothing to do with raw strength (although Smith clearly had the advantage) because when Dunlap got his hands on Smith, he was usually able to control him.

The problem was all about Dunlap's technique with his hands.

Dunlap, as most left tackles do nowadays, started in a two-point stance (without a hand on the ground). At the snap of the ball, he began his kick-step, but immediately had his hands down at his side like Doc Holliday at the O.K. Corral.

Linemen, and tackles especially, are supposed to have their elbows tucked in at their sides, palms facing the defender, and punch with both hands at chest-height as they kick-step. That way they can get their hands on the defender quickly without having to waste time bringing their hands up from their sides, and also prevent from exposing his chest to the defender.

Unfortunately, Dunlap breaks every cardinal rule far too often and gets himself beat. If Vick were playing, that would be bad enough, but at least Vick is very mobile and would be looking at the defender as he runs past Dunlap.

Kolb, on the other hand, will now have to worry about his blindside being exposed. And as we've seen, when Kolb has to worry about the protection he becomes very shaky and skittish in the pocket. This causes him to press throws, never set his feet, or simply curl up and take sacks.

Needless to say, that will kill any chances of beating the Atlanta Falcons or any other team.

Dunlap could have a bright future, but he's just not ready yet. Instead, Todd Herremans should slide out to left tackle and Reggie Wells should start at left guard. That way, the team's five-best linemen are on the field and Kolb has a lot less to worry about.

And if Kolb has less to worry about, it could give the Birds a chance against an Atlanta team that, at this point, is clearly the best the NFC has to offer.
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If Reid wasn't going to play him, why trade for Wells?


During the first quarter and a half of the Philadelphia Eagles' game against the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, Michael Vick was under constant pressure from the middle of the offensive line and was running for his life.

Then, from the middle of the second quarter on, something changed and Vick suddenly was given time to throw from the pocket. He had time to look down the field, make his reads, and step into his throw which, of course, made him more accurate.

So what exactly changed? Nick Cole and his two left feet found their way to the bench and Reggie Wells was inserted at right guard. From there, Vick started rolling and threw two more touchdowns and also ran for one -- right behind Wells and the right side of the line.

Cole was sloppy and just plain lazy. He's a clear weak link on what could be an otherwise very good offensive line, and Wells proved that. Wells was certainly not without faults, but it was his first time playing as an Eagle and it was in the middle of the game. The fact that he only had two bad plays (by my count) is incredibly impressive.

With more time, Wells could definitely become the full-time starter and make the Eagles' offensive line much, much better.

But, instead, Max Jean-Gilles has been taking the reps at right guard while Cole has missed practice every day this week as the team prepares for the Washington Redskins and their new-look 3-4 defense.

Cole is officially listed as questionable and head coach Andy Reid has already made it clear that Jean-Gilles, and not Wells, will be the guy if (when) Cole is officially ruled out.

Jean-Gilles? The guy who had to have lap-band surgery to get down to an unimpressive 350 pounds, can't read a blitz if the defense spelled it out for him, and has the feet of my grandmother is going to be the guy Reid counts on for the most important game the Birds have played so far in this young season?

Let me just ask: what in the hell is he thinking?

Jean-Gilles belongs on a run-first team. He can be a road-grater due to his size, but when it comes to the athleticism needed to play guard on a pass-first team Jean-Gilles doesn't even come close to passing that test.

I'm not exactly sure what Reid sees in Jean-Gilles (and Cole for that matter) and what he's not seeing in Wells, but he and I are certainly not watching the same games. Cole and Jean-Gilles have been nothing but disappointing, and Wells' two and a half quarters of play were far superior to anything those two have done this year or years prior.

Reid made the right choice and put the best quarterback on the field, now he needs to make the right choice and give him the best five offensive linemen he has.
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Reggie Wells will be the starting RG sooner or later.


The Philadelphia Eagles' official injury report hit my inbox Friday, and the first thing I noticed was that Nick Cole did not practice. He is listed as probable (as are a handful of other guys), but it's never good when you're held out of the last real day of practice as Saturdays are usually nothing more than a walk-through.

"(Cole has) a little knee inflammation so I kept him off the turf today," head coach Andy Reid told the media Friday. We still have him listed as probable and he did practice the last couple of days, but I just thought it was best to keep him out of there."

Reggie Wells, the newly-acquired guard from the Arizona Cardinals, took all the first-team reps on Friday and could be the guy to the right of Mike McGlynn on Sunday.

Reid did not trade for Wells so he could be a backup. He traded for him because Wells has a lot of starting experience and Cole is not a starter.

Cole has no feet and he's not good at picking up the blitz -- two things that will absolutely destroy a pass-first team. He will take his first kick-step, but then his feet stop moving and he just begins lunging and guys.

And at only 6 feet tall, Cole doesn't have the arm length to reach for guys successfully. Todd Herremans, at 6'6, can get away with that from time to time, but Cole has no chance to be a successful pass-blocker if he's not willing to use his feet.

Wells, on the other hand, has shown he's a more than capable pass-blocker and an overall better player than Cole. Reid recognizes that, and I think he will do everything he can to find an excuse to see how far along Wells really is with the playbook this week.

Cole will likely dress as the primary backup along the interior, but I would actually be surprised if he starts the game.

There will probably be a couple problems with the line calls due to the lack of continuity with Wells getting thrown in there, but there's no better time than now to work those things out.

Wells will eventually be the starter anyway, they're playing a sub-par defense in the Jacksonville Jaguars, and it's already Week 3. Waiting any longer to insert Wells could prove to be a big mistake, so I think Reid is setting himself up for a reason to toss Wells in as the starter.

And if he doesn't play as well as Reid would like, he has an easy excuse to reinsert Cole in Week 4 simply by saying he's coming back from injury. Reid, as always, is covering himself just in case things don't go the way he has them planned.

I don't expect that to be necessary, however. Wells is the better player, and I think having him in the lineup will show that immediately. We'll see a lot less pressure coming up the middle from the 'A' gaps which will allow Michael Vick to stand in the pocket a little longer and give him extra time to find his receivers.

Cole is the weak link on that offensive line, and with him on the bench that will become obvious.
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Andrews wanted out, and is now very, very far away.


According to Adam Schefter, the Eagles have sent offensive lineman Stacy Andrews to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a late-round pick in next year's draft.

The trade allows the Eagles to get out of paying any money to Andrews and sticks the Seahawks with paying him at least $5 million this season, unless of course they convinced him to re-work his contract.

Apparently there is some concern from the league office that the trade was actually not completed before the 6:00PM EST deadline, but I don't see that actually affecting anything. At the very worst the league makes both teams do some quick roster shuffling and change a few timestamps.

Either way, Andrews will be on his way to Seattle and newcomer Reggie Wells is likely to take over as the starting right guard since Nick Cole is still not at 100 percent.

This is the best scenario for both sides. Andrews clearly wasn't happy with the move to right guard, but with Winston Justice's emergence there was no need for him at right tackle as they might have thought when they brought him in.

So, for the Eagles, there were really only two choices: either keep him on the roster as a starter or backup and hope he doesn't cause a problem, or trade him. There was no way they were going to cut him and pay him $5 million to either sit at home or play for a different team.

And for the Seahawks, they could be getting a quality right tackle for next to nothing other than Andrews' somewhat bloated contract.

But ask me to feel sorry for Paul Allen having to spend a little extra money and I might laugh until I fall over and literally split my sides.

Getting all they could for Andrews has got to have the Eagles pleased, but it better have them very worried as well. Right now, the only guys they have to step in are Wells and Cole, but Wells is brand new and Cole is dinged up.

Starting Wells might not be an option if he can't at least start grasping the playbook very, very soon, and Cole might not be healthy enough in just over a week to be the man. So even though one problem has been solved, another very big problem has arisen.

UPDATE: According to Chris Mortensen, the league has given both teams the green light and the trade is official.

UPDATE #2: Howie Roseman says Nick Cole is the starting right guard. For now.

UPDATE #3: The team was forced to cut Max Jean-Gilles to get the roster under 53, but say they want to resign him as soon as possible.

UPDATE #4: Eagles receive seventh-round pick for Andrews. Wow.

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At worst, Wells adds great depth along the line.


As the Eagles were hard at work today deciding who would be the first 10 players to get the axe, they were also in the middle of swinging a trade for Arizona Cardinals left guard Reggie Wells.

A sixth-round pick for a guy who hasn't missed a game in four years seems like a no-brainer, but what are the rippling effects of the move? Clearly the fanbase seems very unhappy with Stacy Andrews at right guard, and the Eagles organization doesn't appear thrilled with him either.

It's not so much that's he been bad, but he's certainly not living up to his paycheck. I'm one of the few people defending him, but even I can't say with a straight face that's he been worth the money he's making to this point.

But, if we back up for a second, you'll see that I said Wells is a left guard. That's what he's always played during his seven-year NFL career, so it seems unlikely they'd move him to the right side and part ways with Andrews.

Andy Reid loves versatile linemen, but if Wells has the versatility necessary, he hasn't been asked to show it too often.

He has played some right tackle for the Cardinals, but probably not enough to breed any confidence that he could step in, build a rapport with the other guys along the line, and perform any better than Andrews could at guard.

Instead, this looks like an indictment of Max Jean-Gilles. He has done everything he can this offseason to get in shape, including undergoing lap-band surgery, but he's been inconsistent during the preseason and still doesn't show that he truly grasps the blocking scheme.

There were a few times he would get caught up combo-blocking with whomever happened to be playing center at the time, only to stand there and watch as a linebacker came flying past him and untouched into the backfield.

Jean-Gilles was a guy who got caught as a restricted free agent under the rules of an uncapped season, so it wasn't surprising to see the Eagles bring him back. Had he hit free agency, it's likely he wouldn't even have been on their radar.

There is definitely a chance Wells could have been brought in to take over Andrews' spot, but only if the Eagles are confident they've found a trade partner for Andrews. They owe him $5 million this season if he's on the team or cut, so it would at least make sense to keep him for some depth at the very least should they not be able to move him via trade.

Finding a team to take Andrews and his lofty contract would certainly be difficult, but his versatility to play right guard or tackle could be attracting enough for a bad team to take a leap and hope he can get back to the level of football he was playing in Cincinnati.
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