Certainly this couldn't have been what Eagles coach Andy Reid or cap wizard Joe Banner had envisioned when they signed free-agent right tackle Stacy Andrews to a 6-year, $38.9 million contract in the offseason.

Andrews wasn't activated for Sunday's 24-20 win in Chicago. Though he had offseason knee surgery, all indications were that he was healthy enough to be on the playing field at Soldier Field. A week before in San Diego, Andrews started his second game of the season and played the entire game, though not all that well. The reason for his deactivation, Reid said yesterday at his weekly press conference at the NovaCare Complex, was this:

"Max Jean-Gilles was back healthy [from a shoulder injury]. I wanted to just give Max a shot there. There's not enough spots there for everybody. We wanted to put [Jason] Peters back in [at left tackle], Nick [Cole] go back to the right guard. Max, I know can play both."

Andrews had surgery in January to repair two torn ligaments in his right knee. After being held out most of training camp, he was deemed healthy enough to start in the season opener in Carolina. He had participated in each game before Sunday night's.

Reid said yesterday that more shouldn't be made of Andrews' scratch - it was simply a case of his knee needing a rest to regain some strength.

"We knew with Stacy's knee there was going to be that first year back after knee surgery is a tough thing, especially as late as he had it. This isn't anything on Stacy's will or knowledge or any of that, it's just to plant that leg and feel comfortable with it, it goes in cycles a little bit. He'll be back in there."

Playing through the pain

 

Sometimes, in sports, it truly is mind over matter.

Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown probably had little business being on the playing field Sunday, not after leaving the game a week earlier in San Diego with a hamstring strain.

With speedsters Devin Hester and Johnny Knox, the Bears can throw out two of the game's fastest receivers at any given time – not a pleasant sight for someone battling a bad hammy.

Yet there was Brown, in his familiar spot at the corner, starting in his 134th consecutive game (counting postseason games). The hamstring probably wasn't 100 percent, but no doubt far better than it was earlier in the week when Brown still proclaimed that he would play against the Bears. Which, of course, he did.

"Sheldon is a great leader," Andy Reid said. "The tempo that he set during the week, that single-mindedness that 'I am going to play. I'm going to find a way to get out there and do my job to the best of my ability.' I just think that carried over to the rest of the team. That kind of toughness and determination, especially from a veteran player, I think that carries over to the younger guys. Sheldon had some good teachers. For him to get out and do what he did, I think that sent a message out to our football team and I think it helped us in its own little way in the fourth quarter. Nobody hung their head."

As positive as Brown was about his playing status, his coach was that unsure if he would be able to put the 8-year veteran out there.

"I wasn't sure if he was going to be able to play," Reid said. "He was very convincing. We made sure that we didn't hurt him any more than he already was and that he keep himself where he could function out there, not in a dangerous position where he can't move and he'd get hurt. We took him out before the game and put him through a pretty extensive workout, Rick [Burkholder] and Tom Heckert did, and he looked good and felt good. We pulled him out of there a little bit by design before the end of the first half and then if we needed to use him in nickel we were going to do that. But with Asante's situation, he had to sneak back in there and play."

Injuries

 

Andy Reid said receiver Kevin Curtis (knee) and running back Brian Westbrook (concussion) are both out for Sunday's game at home against the Washington Redskins. The availability of safety Quintin Demps (sprained ankle) and linebacker Akeem Jordan (hyperextended knee) depends on their progress this week. Reid also said cornerback Asante Samuel felt very good with his neck strain.

Etc.

 

Andy Reid expressed his love for the media when bringing up his squad's comeback win. "I think when enough is said about it - so maybe I give you guys a little credit here - maybe when enough's said about it, professional athletes, when they're challenged, normally good things happen." Note: the word "credit" took some time to come out of his mouth . . . Reid said he went with Jeremiah Trotter over Joe Mays in the second half due to Trotter's experience. He said Mays got beat on a pass, not on the 72-yard run by Kahlil Bell. That, Reid explained, "was a culmination of guys" . . . Reid praised offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg for feeding the ball to rookie running back LeSean McCoy after his fourth-quarter fumble. McCoy, of course, eventually scored the game-winner on a 10-yard run . . . The coach was asked if Michael Vick's 34-yard run negated the quarterback's spotty play. "If he would have scored," Reid said with a laugh. "He did a nice job with that. We'll see how things go here down the road."