Hard to believe 12 years have passed already. No, not 12 years of Andy Reid at the helm of Eagles football. Instead, it’s been a dozen years since we were introduced to”The Greatest Show on Turf,” one of the most talented offenses to ever grace an NFL Field.

Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, Az-Zahir Hakim, Kurt Warner and Roland Williams put up staggering stats, en route to scoring 526 points. Dick Vermeil turned that bunch from a 3-13 squad into Super Bowl champions.

Today, those Rams are a memory while the Philadelphia Eagles have the potential to be the best home-run hitting, scoreboard-lighting, entertaining offense since those Rams.

The 1999 St. Louis rams put up 526 points with Pro Bowlers all over the field. Can the 2011 Eagles do the same?

Michael Vick, DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy can kill opposing defenses with speed at any given time. Two touchdown deficits entering the fourth quarter aren’t insurmountable.

As the Eagles prepare to launch their 2011 campaign in the Edward R. Jones Dome in St. Louis, the home to those explosive Rams squads, let’s take a look at how the two rosters stack up. Could the Eagles offense captivate America the way those Rams teams did?

QUARTERBACK

Kurt Warner entered the 1999 season as a first-time starter due to a Trent Green injury. All Warner did was complete 65.1 percent of his passes for 4,353 yards and 41 touchdowns against 13 interceptions. Not too shabby.

Compare that with Michael Vick, who is entering his second season as a starter in Andy Reid’s system. A year ago, Vick posted his highest career completion percentage (62.6 percent) while throwing for 3,000 yards, 21 TDs and 6 picks. He did that in just 12 games, 11 as the starter.

Give Vick a complete, injury-free year in which he continues to improve his play as a passer and he could rival Warner’s numbers. It’s too much to expect 4,300 yards. But, 3,800 yards and 30-plus TDs combined with what he gives you on the ground on broken plays and he could actually be more dynamic than Warner was.

WIDE RECEIVER
The Rams featured Isaac Bruce, Az-Zahir Hakim and rookie Torry Holt during their explosive 1999 campaign.

Bruce was the team’s only 1,000-yard receiver, hauling in 77 balls for 1,165 yards and a team-high 12 scores. Holt had 52 catches for 788 yards and six TDs, while Hakim hauled in 36 passes for an amazing 677 yards and eight TDs. That’s 165 receptions for 2,630 yards and 26 TDs from your three wideouts.

Can the Eagles explosive offense match or surpass the 1999 Rams?

The Eagles top three wideouts are certainly capable of putting up those types of numbers. A year ago, Jeremy Maclin was 36 yards shy of giving the Eagles their first 1,000-yard receiving duo in team history. Maclin caught 70 passes for 964 yards and 10 touchdowns. Add in DeSean Jackson’s 47 catches for 1,056 and six TDS, and Jason Avant’s career year of 51 receptions for 573 yards and one TD and you have comparable numbers. The eagles trio combined for 169 receptions for 2,593 yards and 17 scores.

What might make the Eagles 2011 offense a bit more dynamic is the addition of former New York Giants wideout Steve Smith, who is coming off of microfracture knee surgery. The new guy, who may very well play Week 1 in St. Louis, caught more than 100 passes for 1,200 yards and seven TDs in 2009. Put him in the eagles offense with the talent surrounding him, and Smith very well could make give the Eagles three 1,000-yard wideouts.

TIGHT END
Roland Williams was serviceable for the Rams, catching 25 passes and finding pay dirt six times. The Eagles Brent Celek has shown his is more dynamic. In a down year for him in 2010, Celek caught 42 passes and scored four times.

RUNNING BACK
This is the position where Marshall Faulk is far and away the best. Faulk rushed the rock 253 times for 1,381 yards and seven touchdowns in 1999. He also hauled in a team-high 84 passes for 1,048 yards and another five scores through the air. That’s 2,429 yards and 12 TDs.

The Eagles LeSean McCoy had a poor-man’s Faulk-like season last year. The second year back rushed 207 times for 1,080 yards and seven TDs. He also caught a team-high 78 passes for 592 yards and two TDs. That’s 1,672 yards and nine TDs. It’s not Faulk, but it’s not bad, either.

FINAL ANALYSIS
The St. Louis Rams won a Super Bowl in 1999; the Eagles have not. The Rams have done it; the Eagles need to show it.

Warner, Faulk, Holt and Bruce created one hell of a show each and every week. You never knew where the ball was going, and once it got there, the skilled performers could go the distance every single play.

The Eagles showed glimpses of being able to do the same in 2010. Look at Michael Vick’s performance in Washington, DeSean Jackson’s punt return to save the season in New York or countless LeSean McCoy plays.

If the Eagles improve upon what they did a year ago, the NFL could have its best offensive entertainment since “The Greatest Show on Turf.”

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BY THE NUMBERS