Philadelphia Eagles Team Needs for 2012

Philadelphia Eagles
2011 Season: 8-8
Offense: 399.1 YPG (4th), 256.9 Passing YPG (9th), 142.3 Rushing YPG (5th), 24.8 PPG (8th)
Defense: 324.9 YPG (8th), 212.3 Passing YPG (12th), 112.6 Rushing YPG (16th), 20.5 PPG (10th)

2012 Potential Free Agents: DT Antonio Dixon, WR Desean Jackson, DEs Victor Abiamiri and Juqua Parker, FB Owen Schmitt, WR Steve Smith, QB Vince Young, OT King Dunlap, OG Evan Mathis

Third up in my 2012 offseason preview is my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles.  Nothing more needs to be said than that 2012 was a complete and utter disaster and almost couldn't have panned out worse.  The Eagles were projected to win 9.75 games based on their points per game and points allowed per game, but constantly collapsed in the fourth quarter, choking away at least five fourth quarter leads to lose games. Newly appointed defensive coordinator Juan Castillo couldn't do anything right the first half of the season.  He moved Nnamdi Asomugha away from the right cornerback spot at which he had so much success over the past years, playing him at safety and even nickel linebacker, although Nnamdi isn't known for his exceptional tackling.  The Kevin Kolb trade that brought in Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie probably brought with it a pressure to get Asante Samuel, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on the field together, even if in most situations, each was being put in the complete worst situation to succeed with their respective skill sets.

We all know the criticisms of Andy Reid.  His offense has been pass-happy even before the passing craze swept across the NFL recently.  The only problem with that is that he's had a top 10 runningback in the NFL for almost the past decade, whether it was Brian Westbrook in his prime or Lesean McCoy now, that he refuses to utilize properly.  He's horrible on challenging plays, to the tune of a 32.8% success rate (Philly.com provided the research back in 2009).  Additionally, he's quite possibly the worst coach with clock management.  Remember back to the Super Bowl when with 7 minutes left, the Eagles' offense was still huddling while down 2 scores.  Or when the Eagles had the ball at midfield with 1:50 left and one timeout, down 7 against the Saints in 2007, and punted the ball to them on 4th and 10, basically surrendering the game.  Reid's on the hottest seat in the NFL coming into 2012, and if he doesn't get this team to the playoffs, heads are going to roll.  But as with all NFL teams, we've seen about all the coaching changes that will take place this offseason, so I'll move on to addressing the Eagles' major problems.