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.
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.
Donovan McNabb had been watching and waiting. After sustaining a broken rib in Week 1 against Carolina, McNabb watched Kevin Kolb become the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for over 300 yards in each of his first two starts. In Week 4, the Eagles had a bye and McNabb had to wait one more week before returning to action.
Jeremy Maclin had been watching and waiting. The rookie first-rounder from Missouri didn't even see action with McNabb in Week 1. He caught six passes for 45 yards in the next two weeks, though the Eagles racked up over 700 yards through the air. He had to have been antsy to get into the mix, especially watching second-year wideout DeSean Jackson put up big numbers.
The NFL season is less than five weeks away, and today FanHouse is at Eagles training camp on the campus of Lehigh University. From Stop 1 and Mile 96 of Dan Graziano's five-camp, 1,100-mile road trip comes the latest news on the Birds in green and white.
UPDATE 3:20 PM -- Eagles coach Andy Reid just informed us that rookie tight end Cornelius Ingram has a torn ACL in his left knee. This likely means Ingram is done for the season, though Reid said he was just getting the news and didn't even know when Ingram would be having surgery. "Obviously it's a shame for the kid," Reid said. "He's a great kid and he was doing some good things. He was working his way in. He was a factor."
The Eagles will be without starting linebacker Stewart Bradley for the season. He tore his ACL during the first week of training camp, leaving a big hole in the middle of their defense (particularly after safety Brian Dawkins wasn't re-signed).
With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.
Meet The ... Eagles, backed by two injury-prone, aging talents with yet another shot at fantasy greatness! Andy Reid and company have loaded up on new toys for Donovan McNabb. They are hoping to rekindle the memories of when a guy named T.O. was around. Finally, McNabb breathes deep and says, "Now I have enough playmakers." However, will he and his homeboy Brian Westbrook actually be able to stay healthy?
It would have been nice if, after the Raiders selected wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh-overall pick in April's draft, the talented but raw Maryland product quietly went about proving his critics wrong.
Instead, he suffered a hamstring injury two weeks after the draft (speed kills, apparently), which made it easy for detractors to point out that Michael Crabtree or Jeremy Maclin -- two receivers everybody but Al Davis had rated higher than Heyward-Bey -- might have been better choices.
Then again, Davis loves the vertical passing game, and to pull it off you need a strong-armed quarterback and a receiver who can blow past defenders. JaMarcus Russell was an obvious choice for the former, and of all the available pass catchers in the 2009 draft, Heyward-Bey made too much sense (at least from Al's perspective) for the latter.
It's May, NFL practices are voluntary, and they mainly consist of 80 or so players running around in shorts and t-shirts trying not to get hurt. Despite barely resembling football, organized team activities (OTAs) are an opportunity for coaches to install new schemes, and new faces to get acclimated to their surroundings.
It's also a chance for veterans to become more comfortable. This assumes the scheme doesn't change every offseason. Which brings us to JaMarcus Russell, the first overall pick in 2007, and currently penciled in as the Raiders starting quarterback.
If nothing else, the organization has gotten better at finding talent at the position, although it would take some effort to do worse than FredEx. Brown (a 2005 second-rounder) and Jackson (taken in Round 2 last year) have shown the most promise, but neither is a No. 1 wide receiver. And neither have to be; the flexibility of the West Coast Offense is accommodating like that.
Darrius Heyward-Bey was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the NFL draft for one reason: speed. The former Maryland wideout has tons of it, and while that may not be enough to justify his selection to anyone with a brain most people, it was enough for Al Davis.
Unfortunately, it appears Mr. Heyward-Bey's speed comes with a troublesome side effect: injury. That's right, DHB messed up his hamstring and sat out the final day of minicamp because he was "running too fast."
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.
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 
The 
The Eagles will be without starting linebacker 
With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all. 
It would have been nice if, after the Raiders selected wide receiver 
It's May, NFL practices are voluntary, and they mainly consist of 80 or so players running around in shorts and t-shirts trying not to get hurt. Despite barely resembling football, organized team activities (OTAs) are an opportunity for coaches to install new schemes, and new faces to get acclimated to their surroundings. 
The Eagles have a long history of whiffing on wide receivers drafted in the first (or second or third) round. Quarterback 
Darrius Heyward-Bey
