LIFE TAKES its time. The NFL? It's a blink of an eye, or more appropriately, the tear of a muscle, the snap of a bone. Not long ago, like last year, the Eagles did not seem to have a big weapon tight end either on the roster or on the horizon.

Brent Celek? His future seemed spotty, his survival more a matter of using his head to block more than his hands to catch.

A blink of an eye.

The snap of a bone.

The Eagles may have an uncertain future.

But Celek doesn't, not anymore.

Ten catches in the NFC Championship Game. Eight for 104 yards in last Sunday's loss to New Orleans. Fourteen catches this season already.

"He's a seasoned veteran now," Jason Avant said between practices at the NovaCare Complex yesterday. "He's one of the leaders on our team."

"I kind of feel like that in the huddle now," Celek said a few minutes later. "I kind of help teach guys what they have to do on plays. Help them with some of their route-running stuff. I don't know if you consider that as being a veteran. But I know the offense to where I can help other guys learn it, too."

Celek started seven games last season, four his rookie season. When people looked past the oft-injured L.J. Smith and saw just him, they saw a glaring need for a tight end on this team, a glaring need to make a trade - as recently as last October - for Tony Gonzalez.

When the Eagles didn't see the same thing, didn't seek a trade for the 33-year-old Gonzalez for a second-round pick in midseason, it was seen as folly by many, including me.

Like most, I liked Celek. Good guy, hard worker, sturdy. Like most, I liked his story as an overlooked fifth-round draft pick, not invited to the NFL combine, a guy from a midmajor college whose healthy chip on his shoulder made him easy to root for.

Like most, I saw what wasn't there, not what was. Smith could run faster, had dependable hands. And he could block.

Celek was working on these things. That was his story.

"I always thought I had decent hands," he said. "I can always work on it. But when I was training right out of college, I felt like I could catch anything. That's probably when I was at my best."

Avant said yesterday that Celek has "great hands, best hands on the team." That's as nice a reflection on Avant as it is on Celek, for when several offensive players were asked about the team's best hands, each said it was Avant.

"No doubt about it," Leonard Weaver said. "Jason's just modest, very humble. But by far, those two are the top two."

In his fourth year, Avant caught 32 passes last year and has eight receptions this season. Playing when Smith was hurt or needed a rest, Celek caught 27 passes over 16 regular-season games.

Only when he caught 19 in three postseason games, including 10 in the Eagles' latest near-miss of a Super Bowl, were opinions upgraded on his potential. Some saw an emerging star, some said he was merely the byproduct of what was taken away from the Eagles' offense, especially in the NFC Championship Game.

And when the offseason came, discussion of a trade for Gonzalez did, too.

In the end the Chiefs wanted more than the Eagles were willing to give. Gonzalez is now a Falcon, his 12 catches just behind Celek and Washington's Chris Cooley (14) for the NFL lead among tight ends.

Celek is now, well . . .

Is he a star? It's premature. But two second-quarter catches last Sunday underlined why he may have been underestimated. On a third-and-7 from the New Orleans 33, Celek carried three guys on his back to gain a first down and keep the drive alive. He did something similar a few plays later, although not nearly as dramatic.

For now, let's just settle for trusted warrior. He plays hurt. He plays hard. His blocking is better.

And he's improving.

"Consistently doing the same thing game after game,'' he said. "That's something I need to prove that I can do. Doing it for a few games doesn't mean much in my eyes. That's something I have to consistently do throughout this season and help this team win."

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