Eagles O-line may require 'major' overhaul

The Philadelphia Eagles sit at 3-3 and their offensive line has allowed the sixth-most sacks in the NFL. If the team is to avoid a second-straight disappointing season, that unit has to improve.

Rich Hoffman of Philly.com believes that changes need to be made, and the Eagles have three options. They can hope things get better, make minor tweaks, or do a major overhaul. Hoffman advocates the latter:

3) Major surgery: This is the toughest, obviously, but if I had to guess, this is where I think they will head. I'm rooting for it just because it will be the most revealing of what the club really thinks about its personnel. This could take a couple of forms.

One would be to bring in somebody from the outside, either via trade or by picking up a guy on the street; former Bears first-rounder Chris Williams was in for a visit Wednesday. To me, this seems the least likely as an immediate fix. The odds of bringing in a new guy, teaching him all of your stuff, and also acclimating him in the mystical world of Howard Mudd – and getting it done in a week – just doesn't seem feasible. But if it were to happen, logic suggests that the new guy would have some kind of familiarity with Mudd already.

The Eagles have a bye this weekend, so it may be as good a time as ever to start making changes. The opportunity to win the NFC East is still there, as Philly is just one back thanks to a number of late-game heroics this season. One of those late victories came against the division-leading New York Giants, so the Eagles currently hold the tiebreaker over the defending champs.

Luck in close games may start changing for the Eagles, and they will need to play better going forward if they are to reach the playoffs. Philadelphia gets back into action when they face the currently undefeated Atlanta Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field on Oct. 28.