Reid says DeSean Jackson should be back after Eagles' bye week

DESEAN JACKSON remembers scoring two touchdowns Sunday, Andy Reid said, even if he doesn't remember the Dunta Robinson hit that left both players concussed, lying motionless on the field, "like a Rocky movie," Reid said.

Reid, speaking at his weekly day-after news conference, said it would be "a real stretch for [Jackson] to make it this weekend." The Eagles have the bye after playing at Tennessee Sunday. Despite dire whispers about the severity of Jackson's concussion, it's impossible, given the vagaries of such an injury, to say Jackson definitely will or will not play when the Eagles come back from the bye against visiting Indianapolis on Nov. 7.

Asked on his radio show last night whether Jackson would be back for the Colts game, Reid said, "I think so."

The collision between Jackson and Robinson, which resulted in the Falcons cornerback's being assessed a 15-yard penalty for a dangerous hit on a "defenseless receiver," was the most spectacular of a spate of helmet-first NFL hits Sunday, a situation that provoked league executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson to tell the Associated Press the league would consider suspending players for dangerous hits.

"There's strong testimonial for looking readily at evaluating discipline, especially in the areas of egregious and elevated dangerous hits," Anderson told the AP. "Going forward, there are certain hits that occurred that will be more susceptible to suspension. There are some that could bring suspensions for what are flagrant and egregious situations."

Neither Reid nor any of his players criticized Robinson.

"That was a tough one, there, from both sides," Reid said yesterday. "The league has put a lot of emphasis on removing the helmet out of the contact point, in particular around the chin or neck area. But some of these are bang-bang, that was a bang-bang deal right there. That wasn't something this kid had planned. I mean, he wasn't going to go in and knock himself out . . . But the more . . . the head is out of the picture, and in particular out of that neck area, that's something that the league has been striving to work on."

In a Virginia radio appearance last night, quarterback Michael Vick, sitting out with a rib-cartilage tear, said of the Jackson-Robinson collision: "It was a tough hit. Those are the type of hits you try to prevent, but we play a very rough sport."

Reid said that in addition to the concussion, Jackson had "quite a bit of soreness in his shoulder and neck area and so on," but "he's up and moving around and in good spirits in the training room."

Reid said that while it might be tempting to look at the 2 weeks wideout Riley Cooper has missed with what seemed to be a milder concussion and infer that Jackson will be away longer, concussions don't necessarily work that way.

"I think they're all different, and so you just have to go on the symptoms and see what happens, and listen to the doctors, and listen to the player and the trainer. So we'll just see how it all works," Reid said. "But that collision, that was a rough one."

When Andy Reid benched Kevin Kolb, it was fair to wonder what Reid really thought about his fourth-year, designated Donovan McNabb successor. But Reid made his regard for Kolb clear yesterday.

"This kid, he trusts his teammates, he trusts himself, and he trusts the coaches . . . I can't tell you that he was real happy with me when I made that move . . . I wasn't the most popular guy in his life at that particular time," Reid said. "But you would have never known it when he left my office. From the time he and I had our discussions - we met for three different times - so from the time we had those discussions to the time when he left, he was just all positive.

"I think what you saw on the sideline that next game [against Jacksonville] when he was cheering for Michael [Vick] was real. And that's not saying that he didn't want to be in there, but it's also the respect that he has for Michael and the team player that he is. You're dealing with one of the most competitive guys you're ever going to meet, so does he want to play? Absolutely, he wants to play. And does he want to be a starter? Absolutely. Does he know he can be a starter? Absolutely, and so on. So all those things, that's what he is."

Defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley (elbow) and left tackle Jason Peters (knee) would not have participated if the Eagles had practiced yesterday, Andy Reid said, and with the bye coming, they seem unlikely to play Sunday at Tennessee . . . Reid seems to be expecting rookie wide receiver Riley Cooper back from his concussion, to take the place of concussed DeSean Jackson . . . Rookie safety Kurt Coleman suffered a bruised quadriceps against the Falcons, Reid said . . . He said his linebackers played "their best game as a group" in the Eagles' 31-17 victory . . . Defensive end Victor Abiamiri, eligible to come off the physically unable to perform list over the next 3 weeks, in his recovery from microfracture surgery, is "making progress . . . he's not quite there yet," Reid said . . . The Eagles will not be trading a quarterback before today's trade deadline, Reid said. *

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