THERE WAS a point in the first half yesterday when Jamaal Jackson looked around the Eagles' huddle and realized that at age 29, he was the senior member of the gathering.

"I felt like I was from the stone ages," the Birds' center said after a 34-14 victory over the visiting Kansas City Chiefs that sent the Eagles into their bye week 2-1.

Interesting, that on the day the team evoked its past with the halftime Honor Roll inductions of Randall Cunningham and Al Wistert, the football game bookending that induction was all about the Eagles' future.

Andy Reid elected to sit both Donovan McNabb (rib) and Brian Westbrook (ankle) going into the bye week, yet his offense still jumped to a two-touchdown, first-quarter lead, en route to rolling up 420 yards.

The Birds last played without both their franchise weapons in the final four games of the forgettable 2005 season. They lost three of those four, and they looked bad doing it. This wasn't like that.

Not with Kevin Kolb becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 300 yards in each of his first two starts. Not with DeSean Jackson becoming the first Eagle since Mike Quick in 1985 to catch a 60-yards-plus touchdown pass in successive games. (Is Jackson now on par with McNabb or Westbrook as a weapon? Discuss.) Not with Brent Celek becoming the first Eagles tight end to notch back-to-back 100-yard receiving days since Pete Retzlaff in 1965. Not with LeSean McCoy making Westbrook-level cutbacks, on his way to gaining 84 yards on 20 carries and scoring his first NFL touchdown.

"I'm glad to see that,'' Reid effused. The Eagles' coach, who parts grudgingly with anecdotes and insight, allowed after the game that last week in practice he had thought about how "you see a lot of young guys and young faces in that huddle.''

Granted, the 0-3 Chiefs were memorably inept. They took 10 penalties for 90 yards. Their quarterback, Matt Cassel, completed 14 of 18 passes but still spent much of the second half handing off to a lumbering Larry Johnson (38 yards on 19 carries). Their first-year head coach, Todd Haley, explained afterward that he was "trying to establish an identity around here," as a run-based team. Plunging into the middle of the line on third-and-10, down three touchdowns or so late in the afternoon, might or might not have furthered that aim, but it definitely got Haley home faster.

The Eagles' defense bounced back well from last week's 48-22 loss to New Orleans, handing the Chiefs an 0-for-11 on third-down conversions, giving up only 196 net yards, sacking Cassel three times. That was a lot, considering how rarely he dropped back.

"They swarmed to the football," Reid said.

Middle linebacker Omar Gaither, perhaps stung by the media's Jeremiah Trotter workout frenzy, led the defense with seven solo tackles, one for a loss, and a sack.

Oh yeah, have to mention Michael Vick in here somewhere. There were some protesters outside Lincoln Financial Field with signs. He was on the field for 11 snaps, one as a wideout. Vick took some conventional QB snaps and did a touch of Wildcatting; the trickery was a significant part of the Eagles' first touchdown drive, not so much after that.

Vick was 0-for-2 as a passer and ran once for 7 yards. McCoy seemed to run the Wildcat at least as well as Vick, but Vick showed he could still take a hit and throw the ball away in the red zone when receivers weren't open. The Eagles opted to fully activate all three quarterbacks - Kolb, Vick and Jeff Garcia - so there would be no issues about who could enter the game when.

Vick hinted that there is much more to come, when asked if this had been a "small look" into the Eagles' plans for him.

"Yes, it was a very small look,'' he said. "We have so much still, for the future. We just wanted to go out there and get some good looks and see how they were going to play, and not tip our hand to what we really wanted to do with this Wildcat thing."

Vick might or might not be a part of the Birds' extended future. Kolb, DeSean Jackson, Celek and McCoy seem likely to be, though.

"It was an opportunity for us to prove that there was a reason why they drafted us," Kolb said, after completing 24 of 34 passes for 327 yards, no picks, two touchdowns and a 120.6 passer rating. He also scored his first NFL rushing touchdown on a 1-yard keeper. "We kind of got in the huddle there, and when we broke it down one time, we discussed that, hey, look, regardless of who's out here, we have talent just like Donovan and Westbrook and Shawn [Andrews, the out-for-the-season right tackle] and all those guys have talent. Let's dominate these guys like we know we can. We saw the film, we knew there were going to be some holes there, and we were focused on dominating them."

Jackson caught six passes for 149 yards despite having missed the Wednesday and Thursday practices with a groin strain. His signature play came midway through the second quarter. The Eagles had just threatened to make the game interesting by failing to convert on fourth and a long yard at the Kansas City 44, nudging the Chiefs awake long enough for KC to mount a crisp touchdown drive that brought it within 14-7.

On the first snap of the Eagles' ensuing possession, from their 36, Kolb went to Jackson on a quick slant. No. 10 got inside corner Maurice Leggett, whose desperation dive at Jackson's heels gathered only turf. The safeties had started in when they saw the pass wasn't a long bomb; by the time they reversed direction, they had no chance.

Reid noted that the pass "was a bit behind him and he was going one-on-one with [Leggett]. I just thought he did a heckuva job of pulling it in and then getting himself north and south; a lot of young guys, you see them go sideways."

Jackson said when he looked up after gathering the ball, "I saw nothing but green grass and the end zone.'' Beyond the goal posts, on the large video screen, Jackson said he was able to verify that the red jerseys were all behind him. "I really don't like to get caught from behind, so I just put on the burners," he said.

Just past the goal line (a crucial matter, if you remember Game 2 last year in Dallas), Jackson launched into a flip that saw him land in a split with his arms outstretched to the south end-zone fans.

"It looked like his groin was pretty good,'' Reid said when asked about the display.

"The shot worked out pretty good," said Jackson, who disclosed that he took a painkilling injection before the game.

Jamaal Jackson, in his elder statesman role, approached the rookie when they got to the sideline.

"I try to talk to the young guys, to try to exhibit some professionalism," he said. "I know you want to have fun, you want to do your touchdown celebrations and whatnot, but there's a time and place - what was that, second quarter? He's a young guy. He'll learn. I was talking to him right after he did it. Interestingly enough, he was throwing up. I was like, 'That flip wasn't warranted . . . See, that's what you get!' The flip actually took more out of him than the 60-yard run."

Kolb, perhaps because he didn't do any flips or splits after his touchdown, said, "I don't even feel like I played a game." He credited his line with holding the Chiefs sackless and helping him avoid turnovers, a big focus after his three picks last week.

"I truly believe that if you put a lot of quarterbacks in that situation where they're not going to get touched, they're going to throw for 300 yards," he said.

Kolb said getting to prepare as the starter again this past week - there never was any serious thought that McNabb would play - really helped him settle in.

"I got the feel for what it would be like if I'm the starter over a period of time," he said. "Last week I was so worked up."

"I think this has been great for him," Reid said of Kolb, who has thrown 96 passes this season, completing 62. Through his first two Eagles seasons, he threw 34, completing 17. "I think it's good for the team to see he can play, in case something was to ever happen with Donovan, that they have confidence he can come in here and lead our football team."

Overall, the Eagles are about where many people thought they would be going into the bye, though of course, no one forecast their injury situation. They are 10-0 under Reid the week after the bye; this time they return by hosting the currently 0-3 Tampa Bay Bucs, who were blanked 24-0 by the Giants yesterday. The Birds ought to get McNabb and Westbrook back for that one.

If it matters.

For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com.