On the heels of Stewart Bradley blowing out his knee (ACL), Eagles defensive end Juqua Parker (formerly Juqua Thomas) blew a joint of another kind.

Parker was arrested for possession of marijuana. Apparently Todd Herremans was driving his van near the the Eagles training camp site after the team's curfew. He was stopped for ignoring a posted traffic regulation (not sure what it was) and also for driving without his lights on. During the stop, Herremans' passenger (Parker) was found to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana. He was arrested and then released when he posted bond.

The Eagles are experiencing a real change on defense. No longer do they have Brian Dawkins to help keep the players focused (on and off the field). The veteran leadership is sorely lacking. Sheldon Brown was a leader on the team, but he's keeping a low profile now with his contract dispute and the fact that he appears to be one foot out the door already. Asante Samuel could assume a leadership role, but he appears uninterested in doing so and missed an opportunity when he skipped out on some voluntary OTA practices back in the spring. Quintin Mikell might be able to step up some, but he's only been a starter for a year now and doesn't possess the dynamic personality of someone like Ike Reese (a former Eagles LB and special teams ace who had a similar role on the team, but was a clear leader off the field).

Sean McDermott is young and unproven as the DC, and even though he appears to have the respect of the guys, he doesn't seem to have control of them.

Andy Reid is going through some issues too. In the past, he didn't have to worry about the front office as they gave him carte blanche. Now things appear to be a bit strained. The loss of Brian Dawkins was a clear surprise to him and he was likely "reprimanded" for indicating as much to the media. The front office has put some very high expectations on him for this year: Joe Banner stating that the roster is the most talented in the NFL--thus putting the entire onus on the coaching staff--and Jeff Lurie expressing a sense of urgency to win now that hasn't been evident in the past. Not to mention that Reid has a lot of uncertainty with his coaching staff. Three of his guys are now head coaches elsewhere (Harbaugh, Chilly, and Spags) and each of them took some of the assistants with them. Now Jim Johnson is gone too.

This is a real team in transition. They have extremely high expectations being placed upon them, but they're already facing an uphill climb. If they can overcome some of the early obstacles and build upon the adversity, they could be unstoppable. However, if they start to let any doubts creep into their collective consciousnesses, then they could be in for real disappointment.