Eagles Rumors

Confirmed by the organization, Jamaal Jackson has torn his ACL and is out for the season.  Nick Cole will be your new center.

Jackson could have difficulty being ready for the 2010 season as well.  This is a major injury for the player (who was having a very good season) and the team.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday.  Onto the good stuff…

The Eagles continue to rack up wins, this week sneaking past the desperate Broncos in dramatic fashion.  While their is much to be determined in Week 17 of the NFL season, the Eagles wild-card weekend fate will be one of:  a bye, playing the Cowboys (either at home or away), or playing at Minnesota.  It’s going to be one of those.  At this point they could end up as either the #2, #3, or #6 seed.

Jamaal Jackson was able to move around a bit on the sidelines yesterday.  It was difficult to tell the extent of his injury, and he will have an MRI today.

Otherwise, yesterday was rather injury-free for the Birds.  Westbrook played quite a bit — 25 snaps — and even he was surprised by that.

Kevin Curtis was inactive yesterday.  It will be interesting to see what kind of role he is given with the rest of the receiver corps healthy and productive.

The Birds clinched a playoff spot yesterday, and thanks to the Panthers can now challenge the Vikings for a first-round bye.  It’s been a great last five weeks.

The Birds are truly getting healthy at the right time, too.  Brian Westbrook should see some playing time against the Broncos this weekend, though expect that to be 10 touches or less.

Jeremy Maclin may practice this week and play on Sunday, though that is more up in the air at this point than Westbrook.

Kevin Curtis played yesterday and caught a pass.  The home crowd gave him a good cheer.  With Jackson, Maclin, Avant, Curtis, Celek, and Brown — the Birds have the best set of pass catchers this decade.

Michael Vick left the game yesterday limping — and went to the locker room — but he’ll be fine.

Andy Reid is doing his best to keep the real status of his players for Sunday’s game against the Niners under wraps.  But it’s not working.

He was forced to acknowledge that Brian Westbrook is not quite ready for full action yet.  So you should expect him to be inactive this week.  We say good.  The guy shouldn’t be on the field one second before his test results show him to be completely capable of doing so.  We think the Eagles will do the right thing.

Reid also claims that Jeremy Maclin hasn’t been ruled out for Sunday — but that’s a farce.  Maclin is out at least this week, and probably next week too.  The problem for the Eagles is the availability of Kevin Curtis, who may still not be ready to go.  That leaves Jackson, Avant, and Brown to handle the duties required.  The Eagles playbook may be limited a little this weekend.

Huge game, huge win.  The players you expect to step up (McNabb, Jackson, Weaver, and the O-line) did so.

They control the division now.  This is not a perfect team (why is the tackling getting even worse all of a sudden?) — but they are dangerous enough to win a Super Bowl.

Injuries — Jeremy Maclin is going to be a out for a while.  Reid said last night that it would be a couple of weeks, but we suspect it’s going to be longer than that.  He aggravated his plantar fascia injury, and may have some tearing now.

We’ll get more updates today.

Continued good news on the injury front, as the Eagles get ready for a big prime-time game against the Giants.

Jeremy Maclin is practicing today and looks to be healthy.  He had been resting his sore foot and even walking in a boot.  He should go on Sunday.

Kevin Curtis continues to practice with the scout team.  Brian Westbrook is practicing again, but seems unlikely to go on Sunday.  His status remains unclear.  The Eagles may hold him out until late in the season.

Akeem Jordan has been and continues to practice with no limitations.  He should regain his starting WILL spot, moving Witherspoon back to the middle.

Announced today after weeks of speculation, Andy Reid has extended his contract with the Eagles.  He will be the coach through 2013.  Seems likely now that he’ll outlast his QB, who he started his tenure with.

DeSean Jackson announced on a radio show that he will play this week, obviously good news.  But we’ll need to see if and how he practices today to get a true read on the situation.  Same thing applies to guys like Akeem Jordan and Joselio Hanson.

The Birds again look like they are ready to play some good football late in the season.  They are tied for first in the division, and they are getting healthy.

DeSean Jackson and Akeem Jordan should return to practice fully this week, and appear to be ready to take back their starting spots.

Brian Westbrook is making progress and Reid indicated he might even start practicing soon.

Joselio Hanson is back from a league-imposed suspension.

Jason Peters injury yesterday appears to be minor, and Andy indicated he’ll be ready to go (Peters wanted back in the game yesterday — Reid said no).

Some lightly bad news?  Jeremy Maclin is dealing with some previously undisclosed injuries (shoulder, foot).  We’ll see if he’s limited this week in practice.

Here’s another edition of “who’s practicing for the Eagles today?”

On the field practicing, but limited:  Akeem Jordan (hoorah)
Not practicing:  Broderick Bunkley (ankle), DeSean Jackson (concussion), Brent Celek (thumb), Kevin Curtis, Brian Westbrook

Everyone else is as expected.

Latest rumblings on Westbrook are that he’ll miss at least another three weeks.  He experienced another headache, according to Reid.  But, of course, is “making progress.”

Last Tuesday saw the Eagles dump cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu and sign Geoffrey Pope.

Today the Eagles cut CB Ramzee Robinson, while promoting WR Jordon Norwood from the practice squad.  This move is widely seen as everything but a public admission that DeSean Jackson will miss Sunday’s game to recover from a concussion.