Few answers yet on Eagles offensive line

If you enter the words "Eagles," "offensive line" and "question" a Google search turns up roughly 226,000 hits.

That's been the label stuck to the offensive line from the start of minicamp through now, the eve of the regular season. The unit as a whole, and the individuals who make it up, enter 2010 amid an air of uncertainty.

Even that description seemed generous after its preseason performance, when free blitzers made the line seem less like a question and more like a sure liability.

But Eagles coaches have deflected criticism, saying mistakes elsewhere have made the line appear worse than it is.

Tangible help may also be on the way with the returns of Todd Herremans, Nick Cole, and, most likely, Jamaal Jackson, plus the trade for guard Reggie Wells. Still, Herremans, Jackson, and Cole are all coming off injuries and arrive with, yes, questions of their own.

The ultimate answers, to be delivered over the next 17 weeks, will be crucial to the Eagles' season.

All of the eye-popping talent on the young offense can be neutralized, or at the very least diminished, if the front line can't give quarterback Kevin Kolb time to get the ball to DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Brent Celek, and others.

"It always starts - run and pass, and how good you can become offensively - right there with the offensive line," said offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg.

The signs have been worrisome. The Eagles' aggressive defense got the better of most training-camp battles. The Bengals pushed the line around in the preseason, and then the Chiefs, one of the NFL's worst defenses in 2009, battered Kolb with blitzes.

Talk to the Eagles coaches and their offensive linemen, and they say the team just needs to work on technique and focus.

"Really, if we're healthy, I think they have an opportunity here to be one of the very best offensive lines in this league," Mornhinweg said.

Health has been the source of one of the most significant concerns facing the line.

The top-choice line - Jackson at center, Winston Justice and Jason Peters at tackles, Herremans at left guard and now Cole on the right side - has not played a game together since December. Jackson, Cole, and Herremans logged little practice time in training camp and Wells is entirely new to the team.

The line's anchor, Jackson, faced the toughest road to the season. Out of action since suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee Dec. 27, he returned to practice less than eight months later, and coach Andy Reid said he expects him to be on the field for Sunday's opener.

Whether he can be as effective as before the injury, though, is unclear. Other NFL players - including Donovan McNabb, Stewart Bradley, and Carson Palmer - have returned to practice or live competition in similar time frames as Jackson. But, as with any serious injury, recoveries vary by individual. Without any preseason sample, we won't know how football-ready Jackson is until he faces a real pass rush.

If Jackson can't go, the center spot will fall to Mike McGlynn, who has never made a regular-season start.

The rest of the interior of the line brings up other worries. Herremans, one of the team's most reliable blockers, sat out most of training camp as the team monitored the left foot he hurt in 2009. It still bears watching.

On the other side, the Eagles are attempting a last-minute change at right guard. With Saturday's Stacy Andrews trade, Cole is now the team's first choice there. He manned that spot for most of 2009 but also missed much of camp with a mysterious knee ailment.

The team added another option Friday by acquiring Wells, a longtime starter for the Cardinals, but one who had lost a preseason competition and was shipped out of Arizona.

There is no question, meanwhile, about who will play tackle. Just uncertainty over what they offer.

Justice has been solid overall but is not dominant. The Eagles boast a Pro Bowler on the other side in Peters, although he only sometimes looks the part. When he is focused, Peters patrols his territory with force. But he is also penalty-prone, having drawn four flags in six quarters of preseason play.

Will the team's fixes outweigh its early problems? As the Eagles enter the season, that's a big question.