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If you're looking for a reason to believe the glass is half-empty, go watch the tape of the Redskins' Sunday win over the Cowboys or imagine Brian Westbrook and Shawn Andrews being out for another couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, here's a paint-by-numbers portrait of the first four games:
5 GOOD NUMBERS THAT MATTER
9: The number of turnovers the Eagles have forced thus far. The only team in the league with more is Tennessee, which has 12. Not bad for a team that finished 2007 last in the league in takeaways (19).
Particularly promising are the five enemy fumbles they've recovered. Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson hasn't had a fumble-forcing unit in a while. The last time the Eagles had more than 13 takeaways via fumble was '02 when they finished with 23. The Eagles are on a 36-takeaway pace through four games, which would be the third most in the Johnson era and the highest since '02, when they had 38.
95.7: Donovan McNabb's passer rating. The 31-year-old quarterback is off to an excellent start. Despite the fact that he's been without his top wideout, Kevin Curtis, he's eighth in the league in passing, has a .651 completion percentage, is fifth in the league in passing yards (1,100) and tied for seventh in touchdowns (six). McNabb, who owns the lowest interception percentage in NFL history, has thrown just two picks in 146 attempts.
62: The number of receptions by Eagles' wide receivers in the first four games. The focus of the passing game thus far has been on the wideouts, even though Curtis has missed all four games and their other '07 starter, Reggie Brown, was sidelined for the first two.
The wideouts have 24 more catches and 389 more yards than last year at this point. In fact, they have 18 more catches and 55 more yards than the Terrell Owens-led '04 WR corps had a month into the season.
Rookie DeSean Jackson has had a profound early impact as a receiver (22 catches, 14.9 yards per reception). The fear that the little guy would get manhandled at the line by press coverage has been unfounded. Corners have been so fearful of his speed that they've been playing off of him. He even has safeties playing deeper than usual.
2.6: The average yards per carry by opposing ballcarriers this season. It's early, but not too early to suggest that this probably is the best run defense of the Jim Johnson era. The Eagles are first in the league in both yards allowed per carry and rushing yards allowed per game (53.8).
Their athletic, young linebackers still are a little rough around the edges in coverage, but they've been outstanding against the run. The Eagles have held their first four opponents to three yards or less on 59 of 84 rushing attempts, including zero or negative yards 21 times. They've allowed just five runs of 10 yards or more and only one rushing touchdown.
17: The Eagles' league-best sack total. With the exception of the Dallas game, when Tony Romo had time to shower and chug a glass of Chablis before throwing the ball, Johnson's blitz-happy defense has made life miserable for opposing QBs. And that's been without any contribution whatsoever from the guy they brought in to beef up their pass rush, Chris Clemons, or the projected season-opening starter at left end, Victor Abiamiri, who's recovering from a wrist injury.
The starter at left end, Juqua Parker, who had just two sacks in the last 13 games last season, already has a team-high 3 1/2. The linebacking corps, which had just three sacks last season, already has 3 1/2 in four games.
5 BAD NUMBERS THAT MATTER
12: The number of points the Eagles have managed to score off their last seven takeaways. The Eagles are tied for second in the league in takeaways with nine. But they have just four David Akers field goals to show for the last seven of those nine.
In Sunday night's 24-20 loss to the Bears, they had four takeaways, but turned them into just six points. It was the first time the Eagles have lost a game in which they had at least four takeaways since Dec. 28, 2002, when they forced four turnovers in a 10-7 overtime loss to the Giants. Their 26 points off of turnovers is the 10th most in the NFL. But they are 22nd in points per turnover (2.9).
18: The total number of second-half points the Eagles have scored in the last three games. Fifty-four of the 72 points they've put up since Week 2 have come in the first half. Take out their Week 1 route of the Rams and they've averaged 5.6 yards per offensive play in the first half and just 4.0 in the second half.
McNabb has a .724 completion percentage and has averaged 8.3 yards per attempt in the first half of the last three games, but a .582 completion percentage and 4.6 yards per attempt average in the second half. Maybe Reid needs to hire somebody to give halftime pep talks. Or increase the Red Bull intake.
"We have to get better there,'' he said. "That's my responsibility to make sure that we are dialing things up the right way so our players can have some success there.''
3.5: The Eagles' rushing average through four games, tied for fourth lowest in the league. As long as Reid is the head coach, the Eagles will be a pass-first team. He firmly believes that's how you win. But while the Eagles don't run the ball a lot, they usually run it fairly effectively. Only twice in the Reid era have they averaged less than 4.3 yards per carry - in '99 (4.1) and '05 (3.9). Interestingly, those are the only two losing seasons they've had under Reid.
One contributing factor to the low rushing average is that fact that McNabb no longer is interested in running with the ball when the opportunity presents itself. His 10 rushing attempts are the second fewest through four games in his career. The only time he ran less in the first four games was in '05 (eight) when he was playing with a sports hernia.
6: The number of touchdown passes the Eagles have allowed. Despite spending $56 million on a Pro Bowl cornerback in the offseason, the Eagles have given up the seventh most TD passes in the league through four games, and one more than they gave up at this point last year.
If there's any good news in those six touchdowns, it's that there have been no repeat offenders. Linebacker Chris Gocong, safety Quintin Mikell and cornerback Asante Samuel each gave up one in the loss to the Bears. And linebacker Stewart Bradley and safeties Brian Dawkins and Sean Considine were the guilty parties in Romo's three TD passes against them in Week 2.
Still, they're on pace to give up 24 TD passes. The Eagles have given up more than 20 only twice under Johnson - in '99 (22) and '05 (24), the Eagles' only two losing seasons under Reid.
4: The number of receptions by Eagles tight ends in the last 11 quarters. When L.J. Smith had five catches in Week 1, including four inside the 20, it appeared that all was finally right again with the Eagles' red-zone world.
But the Eagles haven't had a tight end catch a pass for a first down or touchdown since Brent Celek' 19-yard reception in the first quarter of the Dallas game. Smith had one catch against the Cowboys, none against the Steelers and missed the Bears' game with a back injury.
After converting seven of 11 red-zone opportunities in the first two games, the Eagles are 2-for-7 in the last two games. *
Send e-mail to pdomo@aol.com
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