Eagles Thoughts and Monday Links

- anyone else think that lito basically played himself into the pro-bowl yesterday?

- don's performance so far this season has me thinking how brutal it must have been for him having to play most of his career with the torrance smalls and james thrashes of the world as his primary receivers. brown, baskett, and stallworth are not stars, they're just good, professional receivers. to think about what might have been if they'd had competent receivers all along. from david aldridge's article in today's inquirer (i posted to a comment earlier as well):

They grow on you, Baskett and Brown. And they're growing on McNabb. He had enough confidence in Baskett to tell him a couple of series before that if the Cowboys blitzed a cornerback not to break off his route to a hitch pattern - which is the standard read on such a play.

So, when Dallas sent cornerback Anthony Henry on a weakside blitz, Baskett knew to continue on his go pattern down the sideline.

McNabb "said, 'Watch the corner blitz,'" Baskett said. "The man must be psychic or something."

No, just good. Real good.

- can't say enough about how that 87 yard bomb reflects on don and his development in all aspects of the game. a) parcells said in his post-game press conference that the defense they called was the exact right defense for defending that play, b) don seemingly knew the cowboys were going to call that defense to counter that play and adjusted baskett's route to counter the dallas call, c) he then proceeds to showcase his athleticism by avoiding the rush of the oncoming greg ellis , and wraps it up by d) firing a perfectly thrown bomb, hitting baskett in stride.

- here's what the ft. worth star telegram had to say about mcnabb's performance

Meanwhile, there's the Eagles, outmanned talent-wise in comparison to the Cowboys, except at quarterback.

But the greatness of Mr. Donovan McNabb overcame the shortage of what he had to work with, which for this game, didn't include injured receiver Donte Stallworth, his one playmaker downfield.

Something else missing was a running game to balance out the defense for McNabb. He was on his own, and not only survived, but prospered and won. That's a quarterback.

Explain to me this:

How could any receiver in the NFL decide it's a good idea not to play with McNabb? And also create enough of a personal firestorm with this quarterback to have his butt run out of Philly?

What kind of idiot would do something like that?

- from another writer at the star-telegram, who describes herself as a "little ball of hate"

An interception has his Cowboys teammates reeling, and he reacts by throwing a temper tantrum, as if what happened was some personal affront to him. Of course, in his wacky world, he had been wronged.

Bledsoe screwed him on his big day.

Seriously, does anybody really buy that T.O.'s panties were in a wad for any reason other than the fact that his much-ballyhooed return to Philly had been a big bust?

And where exactly was his righteous indignation at himself when he alligator-armed a Bledsoe pass?

What bothers me about T.O. is what a hypocrite he is. He devoted pages in his book to how his feelings were hurt by Donovan McNabb yelling naughty words at him in a huddle yet, somehow, it is OK for him to go after Bledsoe.

And mark my words, Bledsoe is about to start receiving the T.O. QB treatment.

"You watched the game didn't you? Who is pulling the trigger?" T.O. cryptically said after Sunday's loss. "I'm just out there just doing my job. I'm trying not to point fingers at anybody. You guys know just as well as I know."

Hmmm, if it sounds like a rat? It is probably T.O.

- JJ's take on the game

"We covered good,'' said Johnson, whose secondary had given up five touchdown passes and 18 plays of 20 yards or more in the first four games. "We challenged the receivers, for the most part. We didn't let Glenn and T.O. have any deep passes. We kept a safety back and played a lot of man-3 blitzes.

"We were going to be aggressive the whole game. We started off the first series with an aggressive blitz and kept coming after him and not letting up. And we never gave up the big play.''

- this slip in reuben frank's game review made me chuckle

Eagles' inactives were Dont Stallworth (hamstring) and Rod Hood (heel), plus healthy inactives Dedrick Roper, Max Jean-Gilles, Pat McCoy, Winston Justice and Sam Rayburn. Heel has missed the last three games since getting hurt against the Giants. Stallworth has missed two of the last three games.

- jack mccaffrey found it entertaining that me-who had to hold up donnie franchise as the example for how QBs are supposed to play in an effort to throw drew bledsoe under the bus

So if Owens were destined to be the day’s comic foil or the target of chants, jeers and signs, well, neither Drew Bledsoe nor anyone else should have been expected to provide the human shield. He brewed the atmosphere, so it was up to him to find a way to breathe. But before leaving the Linc, his Cowboys no better in the NFC East standings for the visit, Owens tried one last time to do what he’d always done best: Find an opening. Ironically, that opening was McNabb, for in order to best project his opinion that Bledsoe was to blame, Owens was forced to use his former quarterback as the how-to exhibit.

And, as is said of any great display of gymnastics, he stuck it. Owens somehow found a way to diminish his own quarterback with back-door praise of the guy whose text messages he wouldn’t even acknowledge.

"They are professionals," Owens said of the Birds’ young wide receivers. "And Donovan did a great job of giving those guys opportunities by putting the ball in the air. They did what they are supposed to do."

It was absolutely beautiful, and a verbal trick for the ages ..Terrell Owens borrowing McNabb’s excellence for his own benefit.