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Paul Domowitch: Eagles to new QB Kolb: Go West (Coast), young man

TECHNICALLY, the Eagles are changing quarterbacks, not offenses. They ran the West Coast offense for the 11 seasons that Donovan McNabb was behind center, and they will continue to run it now that Kevin Kolb is replacing him.

TECHNICALLY, the Eagles are changing quarterbacks, not offenses. They ran the West Coast offense for the 11 seasons that Donovan McNabb was behind center, and they will continue to run it now that Kevin Kolb is replacing him.

But while the playbook will be the same and the formations will be the same, the version of the West Coast that the Eagles will run with Kolb at the controls won't quite be the same as the version McNabb ran.

"No two players are exactly the same," Kolb said. "There's got to be some things that will change. I'm a totally different style guy than Donovan."

The West Coast offense, as designed by Bill Walsh, is supposed to be about short passes and yards-after-the-catch. But that wasn't McNabb. He had a big arm and was one of the league's better deep-ball throwers but never was particularly accurate, as evidenced by his .590 career completion percentage, and lacked touch on his short passes.

So, while the sign in the window said "West Coast," the McNabb-led Eagles ran more of a vertical passing offense as the team's head coach, Andy Reid, tried to play to his quarterback's strengths.

Kolb, though, is a more prototypical West Coast quarterback. While his arm is plenty strong enough to throw the deep ball, his greatest asset is his accuracy. He is a rhythm passer who gets the ball out quickly and accurately to his targets, allowing them yards-after-the-catch opportunities.

"Kevin's accuracy is going to be the biggest factor [in the offense's success]," tight end Brent Celek said. "If you get it there accurately, the guy can catch it and turn upfield. If it's not [accurate], you've got to turn your body and it slows you down and the defense can catch up quicker. Getting the ball out fast and getting it to you in a position where you can cut up the field quickly is what it's all about."

Bottom line: The Eagles will run a more traditional West Coast offense with Kolb, heavier on short and intermediate routes that will give the Eagles' talented receiving corps more yards-after-the-catch chances.

"We will be different," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. "You always play to your [quarterback's] strengths. Kevin is a quick decision-maker. He typically throws a ball on time with accuracy.

"Donovan, there's no question he had one of the stronger arms, maybe of all time. He could make the brilliant play. Kolb is very, very consistent."

All you have to do is look at Kolb's two early-season starts last year, against New Orleans and Kansas City, to see how the offense will be different with him at quarterback.

"We did a study last year of the yards-after-the-catch with he and Donovan," said ESPN "Monday Night Football'' analyst Ron Jaworski. "With Donovan, the yards-after-the-catch were 41 percent of his total yards. With Kevin, it was 52 percent of his total yards. That's a big difference.

"To me, that's about accurate throwing, getting the ball out in front of receivers, the receivers creating separation and the throw allowing the receiver to keep that separation. So you're going to get the short throw/long run as opposed to what you saw with Donovan, which was a deeper throw."

This is not to suggest that the Eagles are going to totally abandon the vertical game. That would be foolish considering the speed they have on the outside with DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin. But if they can be as effective underneath as they hope, it will open things up down the field.

"I don't think you'll see DeSean run a lot of inside routes," Jaworski said of the Eagles' 5-10, 175-pound Pro Bowl wideout, who averaged 18.5 yards per catch last season. "But what will open up when you start running those shorter routes and those safeties start creeping up a little bit is going to be the deep stuff. That's when [Jackson] becomes extremely valuable. You get [Jason] Avant underneath, Celek underneath, Maclin underneath, now you're going to get those one-on-one opportunities [on the outside]. The short passing game will open up the deep passing game for DeSean."

Maclin is confident the Eagles still will throw the ball deep.

"When you've got guys out there who can run like me and DeSean, why would you take that out?" he said. "DeSean has tremendous speed. He can run by anybody. He's going to get a lot of chances downfield. [But] I definitely think [throwing underneath] is something to look at. To get the ball in my hands and DeSean's hands and Jason's hands in ways like that. But at the same time, we also can stretch the field."

The Eagles finished fifth in scoring and 11th in total offense last season. But they were a big-play offense. A league-high 18 of their 41 offensive touchdown drives were four plays or fewer. But too often, if they didn't get to the end zone quickly, they didn't get there at all.

The Eagles finished 18th in the league in three-and-out percentage last season. A whopping 44 of their 192 offensive possessions, or 22.9 percent, were three-and-outs. That was the worst percentage in the NFC East, behind the Cowboys (1st, 15.1 percent), Giants (7th, 20.2) and even the Redskins (12th, 21.5). They finished 28th in time-of-possession and 23rd in third-down efficiency.

"With Kevin at quarterback, I think you'll see an offense that won't have as many three-and-outs," said NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger. "I think there's going to be more rhythm to it."

"This offense is built on rhythm and it's built on using the short passing game as an extension of the run and just dissecting people," Kolb said. "There's a lot on the quarterback's shoulders. It's built on the quarterback making decisions at the line."

Send e-mail to pdomo@aol.com