Eagles Hunting for Bear... or Packers

I normally don't comment much about other teams in this blog, unless it's to taunt the Vikings on firing of their coach, or their stadium implosion, or their general status as a society...  Let me re-phrase that, with the exception of the Vikings... or Bears, I don't normal comment much about other teams on this blog.  But what the Philadelphia Eagles have engineered in free agency the last 48 hours is nothing short of impressive.

Sometimes you are just ready for championship... or a piss.

Let's break this down for a second: Eagles lose home divisional playoff game to the Packers, decide they need to get active in the free agency market to get over the proverbial hump -- a hump, incidentally, the Eagles have been stuck on for the better part of 50 years.  Apart from losing appearances in Super Bowls XV and XXXIX, the Eagles haven't tasted a championship since 1960.  That's quite a dry spell.  If the Packers had gone 51 years without a championship (not to mention 0-for-2 in the Super Bowl era), we would all be getting a little antsy -- almost as antsy as this die-hard Eagles fan was to find a porta-potty without a line.

After their humbling loss to end the 2010 campaign, the Eagles wasted no time, after a short 5-month lock-out, in stacking up their defense.  And their moves have been almost as impressive as the squatting pose struck by this fan.  First was the deal everyone was anticipating, shipping Kevin Kolb to Arizona in exchange for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.  Great move -- particularly once they signed Vince Young to a one-year deal to back up Vick.  Kolb's style was very different than Vick's.  And if/when Vick gets hurt, which I suspect he will, Vince is a much better back up that doesn't force them to change the way they call the offense.  Shrewd.  If this were the only move the Eagles made, it would have been a big upgrade.  But they weren't done.

Yesterday came the news that the Eagles had landed the top free agent prize of the year: Oakland cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha.  Asomugha had gone somewhat forgotten in Oakland, but his skills are un-questioned.  Dallas, NY Jets and Houston were rumored to be the most likely destinations, but the Eagles swooped in and stole perhaps the top corner in the league.  Him, coupled with Cromartie and, presumably, a re-signed Asante Samuels will instantly give the Eagles one of the most high-octane defensive secondaries in all of football.  But they still weren't done.

This is when it really touches Packer nation -- today the Eagles announced the signing of our very own Cullen Jenkins.  Jenkins fits very well with their defense and should have plenty of time to get to the quarterback with their newly-signed shut-down corners.  I'm not sure I would have given a 5-year, $25 million contract to a 30-year-old defensive end, but it was one of the last missing pieces for the Eagles defense.

Eagles fan sending a message: "Get the beer guy!"

Clearly the Eagles are sending a message: we're not going to be runners up again.  We're blowing our wad this year to make a run at this thing.  Anything less than a Super Bowl championship will be a disappointment. And Eagles fans are sending a message too -- you can practically hear them shouting, "Get me anutha' cheesesteak!" and "Whadda you lookin' at!" and "The line fo' da pissa is way too freakin' long!"

Whether this will be enough to finally get the Eagles past the Packers and on to Super Bowl glory, time will tell.  But if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that this classy fan base finally deserves a Lombardi trophy.