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The Eagles kicked off another week of Organized Team Activities yesterday and a couple of players were moved around to new positions. Dan Klecko, who was initially brought on to play fullback, was moved to the defensive side of the ball after the Eagles traded for backup fullback Luke Lawton from Indianapolis.

In a more interesting, and perhaps significant move, the Eagles asked former second round draft choice Winston Justice to line up at right guard for the first time in his career.

"They came to me this morning, and they're like, "You're playing guard,' " Justice said. "I didn't really have much time to prepare for it, but I tried to do the best I can."

Justice said offensive-line coach Juan Castillo was the man who gave the order, which was foreshadowed by nothing and followed up by just as little.

Part of the reason Justice was moved was the absence of stud Shawn Andrews who was excused on Monday for personal reasons.

The Eagles and their fans don't expect much out of Dan Klecko who is nearing the end of his career. He'll likely be a nice veteran addition to the Eagles special teams but any productivity they get out of him elsewhere is a bonus. Justice on the other hand was a second round draft choice under Reid and his progression as well as his position will be something fans should keep a close eye on.

The Philadelphia Eagles will be fighting for their playoff lives this week when the New York Giants make the trip down the turnpike for an NFC battle for the ages. Okay, it's not exactly a battle for the ages. It's more of a battle between a rather unimpressive Giants team who at 8-4 has their sights firmly set on a wild card birth and a marginally mediocre Eagles team whose playoff hopes are still alive but only recognized by mathematicians (and Dave Spadaro).

Last time McNabb got treated so poorly by the Giants -- sacked a record twelve times! -- even The Onion decided to weigh in on the issue with an article titled "Umenyiora Comes Out Of Nowhere To Sack McNabb In Parking Lot."

This time, the Eagles may have a little more help.

Here's a fun little blemish on the Lions' otherwise splendid start to the season -- not only does tackle George Foster share the NFL lead for false starts (with nine), he's second in the league in sacks allowed with 9 3/4. First, naturally, is Lions left tackle Jeff Backus, who has 10 1/2. All told, the Lions offensive line in general has allowed 40 sacks, which is ... you guessed it, most in the NFL.

That's bad enough on its own -- Jon Kitna has been beaten so many times he's not a polytheist. But it's especially bad this Sunday when the Lions play the Giants, who lead the league in dropping the quarterback with 31 sacks (all 31 of them, you might recall, were allowed by Winston Justice).

To throw off the scent, the Lions will need to run the ball -- and better than they did against the Cardinals -- to negate the Giants' pass rush. The problem with that is that the Lions won't be getting a full contribution from ailing feature back/overall-good-player Kevin Jones, forcing them to rely more on T.J. Duckett, and that's rarely a good thing. Which leads me to this: if Tatum Bell's career dies in a forest, does anyone hear it?

After proclaiming Alex Smith and Vernon Davis as probable starters for this week's match against the Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-men, Mike Nolan has done an about face on one of those guys.

"It's tough because I'm competitive and I think I can do it," Smith said. "But to not have practiced for a couple weeks and go out there and not be 100 percent confident in your arm and what it can do, it probably wouldn't be the best thing for this team in the big picture. It's a long season, and I'll continue to work hard to get back on the field."

Those plans to have Smith helm a more wide-open offense will have to wait another week, I guess.

While the 49ers' offense hasn't been tremendous with Smith or Trent Dilfer under center, it's not exactly difficult to see that they're still much better with the young guy on the field. This will hold especially true this week, as Dilfer's mobility behind an underachieving offensive line could be a liability.

You see, Osi Umenyiora (who took Winston Justice's cleats as a war trophy, I believe) will be eyeing Dilfer like a porterhouse, and tackle Jonas Jennings is already talking about the task of slowing him down. The 49ers are fourth in most sacks allowed, so this is a game where Smith, though not the most nimble of guys, would have come in handy.

Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora sacked Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb six times Sunday night, and folks in Philly are still trying to decide who's at fault.

Although the main culprit in the eyes of most fans was left tackle Winston Justice, who was supposed to be protecting McNabb's blind side, Paul Domowitch of the Philadelphia Daily News argues that the blame resides with coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg.

47 of the Eagles' 66 offensive plays were pass plays.

So much for the lessons learned from last season, when the Eagles went to a more balanced offensive attack after McNabb got hurt and reeled off six consecutive wins.

Through the first four games, 171 of the Eagles' 261 offensive plays (65.5 percent) have been pass plays. In their three losses, it's up to 68.7 percent.

Against the Giants, the Eagles used two-tight-end formations on just five of 66 plays. Went with three or four wide receivers a whopping 27 times.

I think Domowitch makes some good points about the Eagles' play calling, and obviously, any time a quarterback gets sacked 12 times in one game, it's probably safe to say there were some flaws with the offensive game plan.