The point Sheldon Brown is making in the locker room of the NovaCare Complex is this: Every team in the NFL believes it has a chance to reach the Super Bowl. If you don't think you're good, you don't belong in the league. With that, of course, is the understanding that until the games start for real, nobody knows for sure what they have.
Count Brown in on both of those lines of thinking.
"On one hand, you don't know what to expect because we have a lot of new faces here and that is something we haven't had before," said Brown, in his eighth season as an Eagles cornerback and one of the veteran leaders on this team. "The bright side is that we have a chance to accomplish a lot of great things, because I can definitely see the talent. We're playing a very good Carolina team on Sunday that can help us establish our identity. They went undefeated at home last year. It would speak volumes about our character to go in there and play well and win the ballgame."
Brown lives about 25 minutes away from Bank of America Stadium, Carolina's home field. He is as excited as he has ever been for a season after last year's trip to the NFC Championship Game. In his seven seasons with the Eagles, Brown has been to four trips to the NFC title game and has reached one Super Bowl. With all of that winning, players know when they are on a good team. They see it build through the spring and into training camp. They feel it emerging from the presason.
Wednesday's locker room mood was vibrant. Tons of energy. The season is upon us and the level of intensity ratches up several notches.
"We know what is out there, what we are capable of doing, but come Sunday, it's about proving it," said Brown. "When I watch film and I look at our defense, I'm looking for guys I can trust. I need to know what everybody around me is doing. We have nine starters back and I know those players. I know Omar (Gaither) at middle linebacker. I know we have a rookie (Macho Harris) at free safety who has to grow up in a hurry. It's up to everyone to come prepared to do our part and to help in any way we can.
"That's how you win as a defense and as a team. Everybody helps everybody."
Nobody could imagine that when Brian Dawkins left in free agency the Eagles would have a rookie fifth-round pick who played cornerback in college starting at free safety in the first week of the season. But Harris has earned the job over second-year man Quintin Demps and while Harris met the cameras and reporters after Wednesday's practice and admitted that he was "surprised" to be in this position, Brown sat at his locker and spoke about the situation.
"Never in my mind did I think a rookie would be starting," said Brown, "but to be honest, he went out and played well. And I think Q is capable of being that guy, too. We're going to need him there as well. It's a long season. You know how it is with injuries and how long this season is. We have a defense that, I think, can be very good. We have to jell and we have to have those guys up front play great football.
"See, that's what I look at. If those guys don't play well, we're all in trouble. If they play well, our jobs are much easier to do. It starts with those players and we know they have to be on their 'A' game against Carolina. The Panthers are big and physical. They aren't going to play a lot of tricks. They're going to try to pound you."
The scouting report on Carolina is the same as it has been for years and years: The Panthers have the running game cranked up and ready to go. They will run, run, run and then use play-action passing to go up top to receivers Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad.
It isn't tricky, but it sure is effective. If Carolina came out and called 15 straight passes ...
"It would shock the heck out of me," said Brown. "They run, run, run and then throw the ball and run again. They did it all last year and they won 12 ballgames. They use two backs, power formation, and then they go regular with two wide receivers. They don't play games. They try to run the ball and control the clock.
"We have to be very sound in what we do. I know we'll be prepared. I have a lot of faith in Coach (Sean) McDermott (defensive coordinator). I've seen him grow up in the scheme. He coached me for a couple of years and he is a great coach. I believe in his plans and what he puts together. It's going to be up to us to execute what he wants us to do.
"We're going to find out what we're made of. This is a team sport. If we all do our jobs and our sound in our technique, we'll be fine. If not, we're going to be scrambling. That's just the way it is in this league."
Everybody has a chance. It is the beauty of the NFL. It is what makes this the greatest game in the world. Maybe Brown doesn't yet know what the Eagles are as a team, but he knows what they *can *be.
And that is the exciting part as the season opener is right around the corner.
