Some Buzz as Eagles Head to Camp

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As we sit at our desks today—whether they be in our office or cubicle, a table at the local coffee shop, or on the sofa with a half-eaten bowl of Cap'n Crunch—rookies and selected veterans are descending upon Lehigh University for training camp, the same as they've done every July for 15 years.

Sounds very routine when you put it like that.

Except every football fan knows nothing about the 2010 season will be routine for the Philadelphia Eagles. For the first time in over a decade, the quarterbacks who are set to report tonight do not include Donovan McNabb. That's not exactly news, but is a fact not easily dismissed today.

This is the beginning of a brave new world for the Birds.

Coaches and players have been using buzz words like "energy" to describe the feeling at practices. Here's another one: enthusiasm. This is a young team filled to the brim with ascending talent on offense and lots of new parts on defense. There should be excitement about the direction they are headed.

Yet I get the sense not everybody shares those sentiments. Instead there is trepidation. The national media is afraid of the Birds. Won't touch 'em. Those of us who live the team are aware there are questions, there seem to be some holes. Obviously we're all wondering whether they made the right decision at quarterback.

All of which is fair, and then some. This is professional sports, not blind faith. Wishing for a Super Bowl doesn't suddenly cause that goal to become any closer to accomplished.

Since you brought it up though... what else are our expectations supposed to be?

It's a stretch, to be sure. A first year starter under a literally unknown center, along with a collection of unproven or otherwise underwhelming names at roughly half the positions on defense, and anybody is suggesting the Eagles could be playing in Dallas come February? Kulp finally went off the deep end, eh?

Unlikely as it may be, it goes back to that enthusiasm. All perfectly reasonable questions aside, a squad still somewhat resembling the one that finished 11-5 and a win away from a playoff bye last season is set to take the field. They may not be a great team in 2010, but the Eagles don't seem like a "bad" team either.

What they are is a new team, and any new team in the NFL should be judged with caution. For the first time in 10 years, there is no frame of reference for this football season. That can prove to be very bad, but it can also wind up far better than any reasonable person would have predicted.

In other words, you might as well keep an open mind, because if nothing else, it should be fun just finding out what happens next. It's new, and when it's July, new is always good.

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