2006 Philadelphia Eagles season

The 2006 Philadelphia Eagles season began with the team trying to improve on their 6-10 record in 2005.

Offseason

Eagles President/Chief Operating Officer Joe Banner had his contract extended through the 2010 season[1][2].

In the 2006 NFL Draft, the Eagles used their first pick on Florida St. DT Brodrick Bunkley. They then used their next pick (acquired from the Tennessee Titans) on Southern California OT Winston Justice. The rest of their picks included California Polytechnic St. DE Chris Gocong, Georgia Guard Max Jean-Gilles, Michigan WR Jason Avant, Colorado WR Jeremy Bloom, Tennessee LB Omar Gaither, and Southern California DT LaJuan Ramsey.

At the start of the Eagles 2006 training camp, things already began to show signs of doom with injuries to Todd Pinkston, Reggie Brown, Ryan Moats, Jevon Kearse, and Jeremy Bloom. [3] Local sports and media outlets continued to point out the fact that the Eagles have not acquired a go-to "#1" wide receiver to fill the slot left open by the releasing of Terrell Owens, thus putting pressure on McNabb to make miracles happen in the passing game. Concern was also shown with regards to the Eagles linebackers and running backs as Westbrook and Ryan Moats are too small for the Eagles to have a power-running ground attack.[4]

Legal problems also surfaced as the newly acquired receiver (and later released) Jabar Gaffney was arrested on gun possesion charges in New Jersey and contract disputes with their number one draft pick Brodrick Bunkley.[5][6]

Before the 2006 season even began, the Eagles cut two players from the team. They let WR Todd Pinkston go, due to some pain soreness and his training camp holdout. Also, they released back-up QB Koy Detmer when Jeff Garcia (formerly of the Detroit Lions) was signed.

With nearly a week left until the regular season began, the Eagles made a trade to get Donté Stallworth from the New Orleans Saints for LB Mark Simoneau and a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2007 hoping that he would become the #1 wide receiver on the team to replace the void left by Terrell Owens. With Correll Buckhalter back as the #2 RB after two years on IR (and an impressive pre-season), depth at the O-line and D-line, and the addition of A.J. Feeley at the #3 QB spot, The Eagles have been making steady improvement in hopes of getting back to the top of the NFC East.

Regular season

Houston Texans

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	14	7	3	24
Texans	7	3	0	0	10

The Eagles opened the regular season on the road against the Houston Texans on September 10. The Eagles trailed early as Texans QB David Carr completed a 25-yard TD pass to WR Eric Moulds. The Eagles would respond in the second quarter as QB Donovan McNabb completed a 42-yard TD pass to WR Donte' Stallworth. Even though Texans kicker Kris Brown would make a 34-yard field goal, the Eagles would take the lead for good as McNabb completed a 5-yard pass to WR Reggie Brown. In the second half, Philadelphia would wrap up the win with a 31-yard TD pass to RB Brian Westbrook in the third quarter and Kicker David Akers making a 42-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

New York Giants

The Eagles home owner began similar to the game against the Houston Texans, the Giants marched downfield on their first drive with a touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Amani Toomer. Similar to the Houston game, the Eagles would proceed to destroy the Giants offense with 8 sacks and amass over 400 yards on the Giants defense going a 24-point scoring run. However in the 4th quarter, the Eagles completely collapsed on offense with a Brian Westbrook fumble, dropped passes and the inability to convert key 3rd downs to run out the clock. The defense failed to capitalize on a Plaxico Burress fumble in the redzone which turned into a touchdown for the Giants and began giving Eli Manning time to connect with his receivers downfield. Towards the end of regulation, Eagles defensive end Trent Cole was flagged for a personal foul which allowed Giants kicker Jay Feely to tie the game with a field goal.

The game proceeded to overtime with the Eagles offensive woes continuing and the defense allowing the Giants to score a miraculous touchdown on 3rd a long from Manning to Burress. To add to the loss, the Eagles perhaps lost Jevon Kearse for the remainder of the season with a knee injury.