ANDY REID SCRIPTS the first 15 plays of each game. So it was no accident that Jeremy Maclin, who got on the field for only a handful of snaps and didn't have a reception in the Eagles' Week 1 win over Carolina, was part of the three-wide-receiver grouping Reid sent out for the first offensive play Sunday against the Saints.

And it also was no accident that the first play was a quick pass to the rookie first-round pick, who gained 6 yards on his first NFL catch.

The fact that Mac-lin's mother flew in from Missouri to watch her son play probably had a little bit to do with Reid dialing up his number right out of the chute. But mainly, the Eagles' head coach just wanted to let the kid know that he hadn't forgotten about him. That his opportunities are going to come. Soon.

"It felt good to finally get out there and play alongside my teammates. It felt good to get my first catch," said Maclin, who was on the field for about a dozen of the Eagles' 75 offensive plays in the 48-22 loss to the Saints. He finished with two catches for 12 yards.

"I'm not patient," he said. "But I'm happy just being on the field. I feel blessed to be in the league. But [not playing a lot] motivates me to work hard and get out there and be one of the marquee guys."

It's been pointed out often in the past that Reid's West Coast offense is not exactly rookie-friendly. There's a lot to learn and not enough time to learn it, even if you report to training camp on time, which Maclin didn't.

He missed the first 8 days of the Lehigh sweatfest due to a contract holdout. That's hardly the end of the world, particularly for a bright kid like Maclin. But it did force him to play catch-up.

"The tough part [of missing practices] is you can't make up for the lost reps," Maclin said. "But as far as knowing all the stuff, I'm good with that."

Maclin, who was selected with the 19th pick in the April draft, clearly had hoped to make the same instant impact on the offense that DeSean Jackson did last year. Jackson, who was the 49th overall selection in the 2008 draft, was a Week 1 starter who caught 12 passes in his first two games and never looked back, finishing with a team-high 62 receptions.

But Jackson had the benefit of playing in a pro-style offense at Cal, which made his transition to Reid's West Coast much easier than Maclin's. At Missouri, he played in a spread offense.

Jackson also didn't miss any training-camp time, and benefited immensely from injuries at the wide-receiver position. One starter, Kevin Curtis, went down with a sports hernia in training camp and missed the first six regular-season games. The other starter, Reggie Brown, who had caught 61 passes the year before, missed most of the preseason, the first two games and four of the first seven with a hamstring and groin injuries. If neither Curtis nor Brown had gotten hurt, Jackson wouldn't have been on the field nearly as much as he was last season. At least not right away.

Brown has since taken a swan dive down the depth chart. But Maclin's path to more playing time has been blocked by Jackson and Curtis and fast-improving slot receiver Jason Avant, who has caught eight passes in the first two games, second only to tight end Brent Celek's 14.

Against Carolina, Maclin was the team's fifth wideout, behind Jackson, Curtis, Avant and Hank Baskett, and didn't get in the game until fourth-quarter garbage time.

Baskett's release last week moved him up to No. 4, which was how many wideouts Reid activated for the Saints game. He used Jackson and Curtis in most of the two-wide-receiver packages and Jackson, Curtis and Avant in most of the three-wide sets.

Most of Maclin's playing time came in four-wide formations and in some of the spread (Wildcat) formations the Eagles ran. Maclin took the direct snap on that unsuccessful Wildcat flea-flicker late in the first quarter on which he handed off to Brian Westbrook, who pitched it to quarterback Kevin Kolb. Two Saints defenders were in Kolb's face as soon as he got the ball and he ended up having to throw it away.

With Jackson nursing a groin injury, Maclin probably will get a little more playing time this week against the 0-2 Kansas City Chiefs. If Reid decides to rest Jackson with a bye coming up next week, Maclin might even start.

"It's been a little bit of an adjustment [not playing a lot]," Maclin said. "You always want to be out there every down. All I can do is go out there every day in practice and prove that I'm one of the guys that can play every down."

Maclin insisted that it hasn't been that big of an adjustment going from a college spread offense to Reid's West Coast. In the spread, receivers essentially run to open areas. In the West Coast, the route-running is much more precise. It's a subject that Maclin clearly is tired of talking about.

"I adjusted to that a long time ago," Maclin said. "It feels like I never played in the spread. I've adjusted just fine."

Maclin downplayed the route-running differences between a college spread offense and the West Coast.

"The spread is not just running to areas," he said. "It's still running a route. You've got a little more freedom. You're running an out [route] precisely at 10 [yards] or you're running an in precisely at 10. It's not like you're running wild out there and doing whatever you want to do.

"There's definitely differences. The terminology is different. The steps in your routes are different. But if you're a receiver, you're a receiver. I don't think that's an issue anymore. I don't think it's relevant. The only thing that matters is how I'm playing, the success I'm having on the practice field and now in the games."

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