FanHouse Philadelphia Eagles

After a one-week hiatus, Sunday night football returns with a classic NFC East rivalry as Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles host Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys. As always, we'll be discussing all of the action on the field (and the rest of Sunday's games) in our Sunday Night Football Live Chat. So grab some Yuengling and a cheese steak and join us, won't you?

Fun starts at 8:15 PM ET.

All indications out of Philadelphia this week were that running back Brian Westbrook would play on Sunday night against Dallas, a little less than two weeks after suffering a Grade 3 concussion. The situation appears to have changed, though.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Westbrook will not play against the Cowboys so he can have another week to recover from his rather serious head injury.

Westbrook was hurt in the Eagles' Week 7 Monday night win at Washington, when he slammed his head into Redskins linebacker London Fletcher's knee on a running play. Westbrook lost consciousness and said later that he had no memory of the play.

When the Eagles and Cowboys step on the same field, you know you're in for a battle. This will be the 100th meeting in the series, with the Cowboys entering the fay with a 55-44 lead in the previous 99 games. The Eagles have the leg up in recent years though, culminating in a Week 17 beatdown last year that wound up earning Philly a playoff berth over Dallas. (Not that Tony Romo would have done much had he made the playoffs anyway.)

Both teams are 5-2, and with the Giants losing to both these foes in recent weeks, this game will determine who has the inside track at winning the NFC East. So if you though this would be just another regular ol' 100th meeting between hated rivals, think again.

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On the eve of a Sunday night NFC East showdown in Philadelphia, the Cowboys have gotten some bulletin board material via a comparison of their franchise and the Eagles. Strangely enough, the inflammatory statements weren't made by anyone with current ties to the Eagles, but by Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.

Harbaugh, a former Eagles assistant, was asked for a new book what made the Eagles more successful than the Cowboys over the last 10 years. Matt Mosley of ESPN.com shares the answer.

PHILADELPHIA -- You don't think of the Eagles along with the Saints or the Colts or the Patriots in terms of the number, the variety and the explosiveness of their offensive playmakers. Teams like that set the standard, and the Eagles don't feel like they fit into that kind of conversation. And that's fine, because they're not there yet.

But if you watched the Eagles score on big play after big play Sunday afternoon against the Giants, you got the feel that they might very well be there soon. Andy Reid's Philadelphia offense remains a work in progress, but with the number of different weapons he has at his disposal on any given play, we could soon be talking about the Eagles as one of the most exciting and dynamic offensive teams in the league.

PHILADELPHIA -- Mike Alvarez is a lifelong Philadelphian with a Cole Hamels haircut and a vintage maroon Phillies cap who spent his Sunday in a parking lot. Alvarez didn't have tickets to the Eagles-Giants game in the afternoon. He didn't have tickets to the Phillies-Yankees World Series game at night. What he did have was a parking space for his truck, a seemingly bottomless supply of beer and enough slightly slurred wisdom to know that there was no place he would have rather been than this particular parking lot on this particular day, surrounded by his fellow Eagles and Phillies fans.

"They got flat-screens over there," Alvarez said, waving his beer can in the direction of a nearby RV. "Everybody's grilling food. I've made a ton of new friends. What more could you want?"

Next week there will be a game between the two best teams in the NFC East, and it's not going to involve the defending division champion New York Giants. In beating the Giants to a pulp Sunday, 40-17, the Eagles -- and the Dallas Cowboys, who beat Seattle at home -- have sent the G-Men back to third place. New York has now lost three straight games, while the Eagles won their second in a row after an embarrassing loss in Oakland.

Leading the way for the Eagles was Donovan McNabb, who barely broke a sweat in destroying the Giants' patchwork secondary. He completed 17-of-23 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns. He continues to show a strong chemistry with DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and Brent Celek, who combined for 11 catches, 186 yards and three scores.

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If the Eagles want to do what's best, both for themselves and Brian Westbook, they'll sit the banged-up running back Sunday against the Giants.

Westbrook took a scary hit Monday night in Washington and left Philadelphia's win with a concussion. Eagles coach Andy Reid confirmed later that Westbrook both lost consciousness and had no memory of the play, where Westbrook's head slammed into the knee of Redskins linebacker London Fletcher.

Art Bartolozzi, the former team physician for the Eagles and the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that injuries like Westbrook's are serious.

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He's back, and it's stealing all of the headlines. It's going to be a highly emotional Sunday for many NFL fans, as former Detroit Lions defensive lineman James Hall makes his return to the Motor City as a member of the St. Louis Rams.

Oh, and Brett Favre is back in Green Bay. Not sure if you've heard about that one.

The Jim Zorn watch is officially on, and Monday night we get to watch the drama unfold as the Redskins host their NFC East rivals from Philadelphia. As always, we'll be discussing all of the action in our Monday Night Football Live Chat, and the fun starts at 8:30 PM ET, so please stop by and join us.