For most players, Monday is several hours old before they can close their eyes and unwind. And even then, it is a fitful sleep at best.

Monday is the official start of the workweek, but for those whose office is the NovaCare Complex, Monday is about recuperating from Sunday, any way they can. And it begins with trying to sleep.

"It's hard," said Brian Dawkins, the Eagles' longtime safety, "to come down off that high."

From high to hung over, it is a precipitous drop, accentuated by the game's outcome. A win makes the sleeplessness and soreness bearable. A loss makes it all the more acute, intensifying each bruise and adding the crushing weight of anguish on top of the body blows. As with all things during any given week in the NFL, time is of the essence, and there is none to waste either wallowing or celebrating. There is always work to be done.

But Monday's recuperation almost always starts with chasing sleep. For some, it is an exhaustingly futile pursuit.

Sleeping at the office

Reid jokes that he pays "rent" at two places - at his Villanova home and at the NovaCare Complex - but there is little question where he bunks most nights during the regular season. At work. Sunday night included.

"After the losses, I come right back," Reid said while sitting in a plush, black leather chair in his large office overlooking the Eagles' practice field in South Philly, with Lincoln Financial Field looming a few blocks away. "I'm not good with that. I'll go home and try to hang out, but I'm not very good with that. That's the only time I probably take stuff home."

That "stuff" is the game film. As they say in football, the eye in the sky does not lie, and it is Reid's job to educate his players on their mistakes in an effort to correct them.

Amid the various statues of Eagles and commemorative game balls, Reid has an overhead projector in his office where he can watch the game on a large pull-down screen against one wall. He also has a series of computers on his desk, including one with an oversize monitor. Typically, as Sunday night blurs into Monday morning, Reid will have the NBC late game playing on the projector, with his film rolling on a computer.

For his first viewing, Reid is alone. Then he'll meet with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, then defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, then special-teams coordinator Rory Segrest.

"Even when you win games, you try to be very critical on it and get it right," Reid said.

Reid estimates he sleeps, at best, about four hours before his day officially begins on Monday. The 66-year-old Johnson is in the office before daybreak, surviving the day, which for the coaches will stretch late into the night, with the help of about 20 cups of coffee.

"It's terrible," Johnson said.

The coaching staff meets until about 10 a.m., grading the film and discussing the mistakes that were made and how to correct them. By 11, the coaches usually are on to the next week's opponent "because there's a lot of stuff to get on right away," Johnson said.

Reid has his Monday meeting with the media at noon. After that typically brief session - no more than 15 minutes and sometimes much shorter - it's all about putting the plan in place for the next opponent.

Years ago, Reid instituted the policy of giving his players Monday and Tuesday off after a win. Reid calls it "a little cracker there after a win." After a loss, he typically will bring the players in on Monday for a 90-minute film session, then send them on their way after lunch.

But for the players, just getting into the office is tough.

"Sometimes I don't even want to get out of bed," safety Quintin Mikell said. "Your back's hurting. Your knee's hurting. Your shoulder's hurting. Your head's hurting. It's pretty tough."