After playoff loss, just questions for Eagles

The Eagles opened their locker room to the media one final time yesterday as the players officially checked out following Saturday night's 34-14 first-round playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Lots of questions followed them through the doors as they searched for answers to what went wrong in the final two weeks, when a six-game winning streak morphed into consecutive lopsided losses to the Cowboys that brought the season to an abrupt end.

As is often the case for coach Andy Reid and the Eagles, the quarterback issue is front and center, and perhaps the debate won't just be waged on talk radio, in barber shops, and on barroom stools this off-season.

Reid, team president Joe Banner, and soon-to-be-named general manager Howie Roseman might seriously discuss whether the Eagles' best chance to win an elusive Super Bowl rides with the aging arm and legs of Donovan McNabb or the still unproven Kevin Kolb.

If Reid thinks the Eagles have a chance to win it all next season, he'll probably be more comfortable with McNabb.

On the other hand, there are recent examples of first-year starters taking their teams to a Super Bowl title. Kurt Warner did it in St. Louis in 1999, and Tom Brady did it two years later with New England.

Reid's initial response to a question on whether he thought McNabb would be back came in a three-word answer late Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium: "Yeah, I do," he said.

McNabb and Kolb have one year left on their respective contracts. It's possible one of them will be traded in order to fill other glaring needs, particularly on defense.

The Eagles' other big offensive decision is running back Brian Westbrook, who had just one catch and no carries Saturday night. Two concussions and eight missed games left Westbrook with his least productive season since his rookie year.

"I don't think right now is the time to talk about my future," Westbrook said after the game.

If Westbrook returns, he'll be paid $7.25 million next season, a hefty sum for an older running back who missed considerable time this season. Westbrook said he still believes he can be productive.

"I think I can, yeah," he said. "It's tough on any player that misses off-season training, misses training camp, misses games throughout the season - you just miss so much time to get prepared for games. It's tough to get out there and compete on the level that you want to. I tried my best."

The Eagles could choose to go with the running back duo of LeSean McCoy and Leonard Weaver, who assumed the bulk of the ball-carrying duties during the Eagles' six-game winning streak.

Tight end Brent Celek said the Eagles' offense should continue to have high expectations regardless of what decisions are made at quarterback and running back.

"I love both" McNabb and Westbrook, Celek said. "I like playing with them. I don't determine who plays here. I think we have good players here. Whoever they decide to put in there. . . they believe that we can win it and we believe that we can win it."

Celek said he'd have confidence in Kolb if he became the starter.

"Yeah, if it's his deal, then I think he would be ready," Celek said. "You guys are asking me questions, and I don't know if you're trying to set me up, here. I'd rather talk about Dallas and what happened yesterday. I don't know what's going to happen in the future."

The offensive line was the primary focus of the Eagles' off-season last year and even though injuries turned it into a makeshift unit that wasn't nearly as good as hoped, the focus this off-season is more likely to be on a defense that was torched in the two games against Dallas and even in some of the games during the six-game winning streak.

"This team needs to be healthy in the worst way," veteran cornerback Sheldon Brown said. "We missed a lot of guys that we went to training camp with and I think that kind of hurt us in the end."

The Eagles are convinced that the return of middle linebacker Stewart Bradley, who was lost for the season to a knee injury in training camp, will make a huge difference. The linebacker corps changed with each game and each down after the Bradley injury. Things just got worse when Omar Gaither also landed on injured reserve.

"It's hard when you have to put different guys in some positions because of injuries and stuff," Brown said. "When we lost Stew in the middle, we had to start to rotate and doing those types of things, but I think we did do a good job of fighting through that."

If Bradley returns, the Eagles will still have decisions to make at weakside and strong-side linebacker. They would seem to have good depth at weakside linebacker with Will Witherspoon and Akeem Jordan, but there's no telling if the Eagles believe that rookie Moise Fokou is the answer at strong-side linebacker, even though he started at that position in the Eagles' final three games.

Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott must decide if rookie Victor "Macho" Harris is the answer at free safety, a position that proved to be a weakness in the Eagles' first season without Brian Dawkins.

After a one-and-done postseason, the Eagles' players have checked out of the NovaCare Complex until off-season workouts begin. Now, a lot of difficult decisions need to be made.