Stop us if you've heard something like this before ... Michael Vick has been named "America's Most Disliked Athlete" by Forbes.

The polling conducted by Neilsen and partner E-Poll Market Research says 60 percent described Vick as an athlete they "dislike," "dislike somewhat" or "dislike a lot."

It is certainly not the first time that Vick has found himself on a list like this.

Vick just edged out Tiger Woods in the polling. Woods also hit at 60 percent but he had fewer respondents say "dislike a lot," giving Vick the dubious crown.

Forbes says Vick, "continues to struggle with casual NFL fans who know him mainly for his dog fighting legal mess, even as close followers of the sport love him."

Vick also has a high awareness number -- at 42 percent -- which Forbes says indicates he is known outside of the world of the NFL to a larger audience.

Among the others on the list behind Vick and Woods, Plaxico Burress, Ndamukong Suh, Kris Humphries and Kurt Busch.

HARRISBURG -- It sure seemed like an inordinate number of Giants fans were filing past today, as Eagles defensive end Trent Cole signed T-shirts for charity and promoted his hunting enterprises in the Lancaster Archery booth at the Eastern Sports and Outdoors Show, the largest such event in North America.

Considering their team had won the Super Bowl less than 48 hours earlier, and the NFC East rival Eagles didn't make the playoffs, the blue-clad New York followers weren't too obnoxious. Then again, they were addressing a 270-pound, two-time Pro Bowl pass rusher separated from them only by a folding table, not some dumpy fellow fan in midnight green.

"They didn't stop. They finished strong, and that's what it's all about," Cole said, when asked his thoughts on the Giants winning Super Bowl XLVII. "We finished strong as well, but it didn't work out (to make the playoffs)."

Cole acknowledged he was pulling for the Patriots on Sunday, that a New England victory wouldn't have stung quite as much as seeing the Lombardi Trophy go to a team from the division, a team the Eagles beat at MetLife Stadium back on Nov. 21, six days before the Birds were crushed at the Linc by the Pats.

"We had a bad year. We just couldn't pull it off at the last minute," Cole said. "We were right there, inches away from being great, being a dominant team. I think some teams are going to be worried about playing us" in 2012.

Cole, an Eagle since 2005, said he is glad to see Eagles coach Andy Reid back for a 14th season, glad to see defensive coordinator Juan Castillo get a second chance, glad defensive line coach Jim Washburn and the "Wide 9" didn't get swept away in a tidal wave of disappointment over missing the playoffs.

"I think it's a great choice," he said, when asked about Castillo. "Numbers don't lie, and we put up some great numbers.

"If you can feed into (Washburn's) teachings, you'll do well. You've got to believe in what he teaches. Come off hard, fast. When you come off your stance, be an eruption."

Almost as many people filing past the booth wanted to discuss hunting as were interested in football. Cole, who grew up as a hunter in rural Xenia, Ohio, has a TV show available on DIRECTV, in which, he says, "ordinary, everyday working people" go hunting, mostly for whitetail deer. He is selling DVDs at the show, but also is selling for charity autographed T-shirts emblazoned with his "Blitz TV" logo, at $10 a pop. Cole is at the booth through tomorrow afternoon.

Hunting, Cole said, is "a calm place where all the BS stops."

He said he pursues all types of hunting but prefers bowhunting because it's more challenging than pulling the trigger of a gun.

"You've got an intricate machine in your hand, with a lot of bells and whistles," he said. "When that moment of truth comes and that game comes up on you, everything's got to be right. You've got to really focus. ... It's just like football, it's all repetition."

I'm guessing you aren't up today for any long-winded, chin-stroking analysis of what the Giants' Super Bowl victory last night means for the Eagles.

That's good, because I'm not up for writing one.

All through the buildup for what to me became an inevitable Giants victory, I kept thinking about last year's big Super Bowl "lesson," and the bogus concept that every Super Bowl winner produces some sort of blueprint that ensures a Lombardi Trophy next season, if only another organization can copy it.

Last year the Packers won, despite an impressive log of injuries. Backups stepped in at key spots and Green Bay kept going. So the big revelation was that depth is super-important; Eagles management talked about this as part of its offseason planning. This is the "trend" that brought you Ronnie Brown, Steve Smith, Donald Lee, Jarrad Page and others who contributed next to nothing to an 8-8 season.

I dunno what the Eagles will take out of the Giants winning the Super Bowl, despite having lost to Vince Young in November. If the lesson is that drafting guys who are really physically dominant, like Jason Pierre-Paul and Hakeem Nicks, is maybe more important than drafting guys who are captains and good citizens, that might be an OK thing. If the lesson is that "hey, that could have been us, the Giants were 7-7 at one point," well, that would not be a good thing.

I think the Giants won the Super Bowl for two reasons: What should have been a dominant defense all year long woke up, got healthy, or whatever, in December. And Eli Manning was the best quarterback in the postseason.

That last part was the most important; it was what separated the Giants from, say, the 49ers. Eli was sacked 11 times in the playoffs - more than any other quarterback. He still completed 65 percent of his passes, threw for nine touchdowns and was intercepted exactly once. His QB rating was 103.3. He averaged 304.8 passing yards per game.

Good luck copying that "blueprint," NFL GMs. And Eagles fans, do you really see Michael Vick throwing for nine touchdowns and one interception?

In asking the question, don't think I'm mindlessly bashing Vick. I'm not -- Tom Brady didn't do what Manning did, quite, which is why the Patriots aren't the team providing the "lesson" for everyone today. Brady made exactly two Super Bowl mistakes -- the first-play safety and then the interception, when his team was rolling. Otherwise he was spectacular. It wasn't enough.

Manning, for all his foibles, is the reason the Giants have two Super Bowl rings the past five years, an era in which they have never really been a dominant regular-season team. He is lethal, a stone killer, on the biggest stage. The Eagles just don't have that guy. Most other teams don't, either. Including the Patriots.

Also, teams that want to copy the Giants' blueprint should practice having their fumbles bounce straight into the arms of teammates. That helps, too.

Oddsmakers already have been taking future bets on who will win the Super Bowl next year, but with the season officially over, we wanted to look at the early odds.

Of course, these will change with free agency and the draft, but they provide a starting point.

And in checking a few sites today, the oddsmakers really like the Eagles.

The Birds's odds are hovering around the third choice among NFC teams and among the top five teams overall.

Vegas Insider has the Eagles at 12-1, as does Vegas-based Bovada.

Vegas Insider has the Packers at 5-1, the Saints at 6-1, the Patriots at 7-1, and the Steelers, the Eagles and the Ravens at 12-1.

Bovada has the Packers as the top choice at 6-1, followed by New England at 7-1, New Orleans at 8-1, and Houston, the Eagles and Pittsburgh all at 12-1.

INDIANAPOLIS - Former Eagles safety Brian Dawkins said Thursday that he hasn't yet made a decision on whether he wants to play a 14th NFL season.

The 38-year-old eight-time Pro Bowler, who has played the last three seasons in Denver after leaving the Eagles as a free agent in 2009, missed four of the Broncos' last five games, including both of their playoff games, with a neck injury. He will be a free agent in March.

``The season's not even over yet; The Super Bowl hasn't been played,'' said Dawkins. ``I'll give it some prayer and we'll take it from there.''

Dawkins was in town for the NFL Players Association's annual Super Bowl week news conference. Dawkins is a longtime member of the union's executive board.

Last summer, Dawkins agreed to restructure the contract he signed with the Broncos in '09. His 2011 salary was reduced from $6 million to $2 million.

If Dawkins decides to retire, which is a good bet at this point given his age and the neck injury, there's a good chance the future Hall of Famer would sign a one-day contract with the Eagles so that he could officially retire with the club that selected him in the second round of the 1996 draft.

``We'll see,'' he said. ``I don't even want to think too deeply about that right now. If it happens, just let it be a surprise to everybody and it'll be a surprise for myself and we'll go from there.''

INDIANAPOLIS – Eagles running back LeSean McCoy has been named FedEx Ground NFL player of the year. Drew Brees was named FedEx Air player of the year.

FedEx will donate $25,000 in each player's name to the Junior Achievement Programs in the Delaware Valley and New Orleans.

McCoy ran for a league-high 17 touchdowns in 2011. He gained 1,309 yards, fourth in the NFL.  He averaged 4.8 yards per carry and led the NFL with 84 runs for a first down. His 17 rushing touchdowns (and 20 overall) broke Eagles’ records that had stood since 1945.

McCoy and Brees were selected from a panel of three finalists in each of their respective Air and Ground categories. The other Air finalists were Patriots QB Tom Brady and Packers QB Aaron Rodgers. The other Ground finalists were the Jaguars' Maurice Jones-Drew and the Ravens' Ray Rice.

Still mulling the fallout from Andyfest yesterday.

I must have been a little less excited about the Steve Spagnuolo revelation than some folks were. It was exactly what most of us figured must have happened. I think the Eagles knew from the get-go that Spagnuolo, given a choice, would prefer something in a new city with a no-doubt, slam-dunk top contender. Remember, Spags and Andy share the same agent, Bob LaMonte. There were no secrets there, on either end. He knew what the Eagles had in mind, they knew what he wanted. Whether they pushed hard or didn't push hard probably didn't matter. Spags was only coming here as a fallback, which is pretty much how the Eagles ended up with Todd Bowles, after he didn't get the head coaching jobs in Miami or Oakland.

Reid apparently was not going to part with Juan Castillo or Jim Washburn. Whether those factors were dealbreakers for Spagnuolo, well, I think we'd have to fly down to New Orleans, break into the Saints' practice facility and inject Spagnuolo with truth serum to find out for sure. A year from now, we'll either be lauding Andy for sticking to his plan or explaining how these loyalties ended his reign.

So, moving on, now that the great Oz has spoken, the offseason can officially begin. In three short weeks, I'll be chasing Howie Roseman and Andy around Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine. By then, presumably, Andy will have finally given some thought to whether he wants to retain DeSean Jackson, something he claims was not part of his monthlong reflection on the 2011 season.

My esteemed blog coauthor, Paul Domowitch, doesn't think the Eagles are likely to franchise DeSean. Presumably, that means they just let him walk away in free agency for nothing. I understand why Paul thinks this is likely -- DeSean's coming off a bad year, still wants ridiculous money, he's a small, frail guy who sometimes disappears -- but if it happens, I think somebody should be fired. DeSean Jackson is a 25-year-old, two-time Pro Bowl performer. Two years ago he became the first player to make the Pro Bowl as a wideout AND a returner. What NFL team ever let a 25-year-old star walk?

Yes, Jackson played in a funk for much of the 2011 season. So maybe the Eagles needed to get a deal done before that, or cook up a trade earlier, so that they wouldn't be in this situation. Franchise DeSean and then trade him? Sure. Or franchise him and keep him, if he really is happy to accept that option, as he indicated at the end of the season. Losing him in free agency would be absolutely incompetent management, in my view.

The Eagles most critically need to address the linebacking situation. We don't know yet who might be re-signed or franchised elsewhere, so pinpointing free agent targets is tough. Stephen Tulloch, the ex-Tennessee Titan who signed with the Lions last summer, COULD end up on the market again. There's a 27-year-old, 5-11, 240-pound midlle linebacker with some pop who has played his whole career behind a Wide 9 front. I would expect the Birds to address linebacking in the draft, with more than one of their picks.

I was alarmed last week when Roseman wouldn't flatly commit to paying the $7.5 million the Eagles are going to need to pay Cullen Jenkins next month to keep him here. Yeah, he's 31 years old and he got 5 of his 5.5 sacks in the first five games. Shouldn't matter. Jenkins became a leader on a defense that lacked that quality as much as anything else when the season began. He started every game, played through injuries, always set the right tone, said the right things, did the right things. He still played effectively, when he wasn't getting sacks.

Too often, Eagles management lets stats guide decisions, and leaves visceral concerns out of the discsussion. Jenkins, coming off a Super Bowl season with the Packers, played with heart and guts for a struggling team. Whenever possible, you REWARD people like that, you don't discard them with explanations about how it's smarter to pay for future performance, instead of for the past. You do it partly because the younger guys are watching, to see if all that stuff guys like Jenkins preach about putting the team first and digging deep really means anything to the people who run things.

And, the $7.5 million is owed because that's the contract the Eagles agreed to last summer. Kinda the flip side of how DeSean Jackson was expected to play for $600,000 last season. Maybe the Eagles never intended to pay the money, maybe Jenkins was a one-year rental all along. If so, they did an even worse job in free agency than we thought. After all that song and dance about their calculations and the unique opportunities the postlockout market presented, their only longterm acquisitions were Nnamdi Asomugha, who fell in their lap, and Jason Babin?

I expect the Eagles to trade Asante Samuel, and to address the safety spot either through the draft or free agency as well. I'm not as down on Nate Allen as some people are, though I find it alarming how wildly erratic he can be. Kurt Coleman is an undersized overachiever who probably isn't an every-down NFL starter. Jaiquawn Jarrett was a huge reach in the second round last year who is going to have to play his way into the discussion; I certainly wouldn't assume a full offseason makes him a useful player.

The Eagles will need to replace Ronnie Brown and Vince Young. (This just in: ANOTHER Trent Edwards sighting! For a QB nobody wanted in 2011, he sure gets a lot of ink.) But really, not that much has to happen for this to be a playoff team in 2012, given all the usual disclaimers about decent health for the key guys. A Super Bowl team? We're a long, long way from being able to see that.

But with the Giants coming off the Super Bowl, nobody is going to focus on the Eagles next summer, unless they do something totally unexpected in free agency, or trade up in the draft to draft Andrew Luck. And that lack of the spotlight is probably a good thing. They need an offseason of more hard work and less dreaming.

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Couple responses to comments below: Yeah, I say DeSean Jackson is a star. Thinking I'm on pretty firm ground there, along with the folks who sent him to the Pro Bowl two years in a row. He is not without flaws, but he is a star, yes. Five players in NFL history have more than 900 receiving yards in their first four NFL seasons. He's one of 'em.

And yes, Asomugha fell in their lap. They said they thought the bidding would go far beyond what they were willing to pay. Asomugha wanted to come to the Eagles, for some reason, and took less money than he could have gotten from the Jets or Cowboys, whose courtship was much more ardent. And I would add that once he got here, he didn't play up to his rep. Jenkins, much more of a well-rounded player than Babin, actually might have been the Eagles' BEST free agent signing, in terms of playing to his potential, and contributing consistently. 

Eagles defensive coordinator Juan Castillo said today his month-long limbo after the season wasn't that big a deal.

Castillo, questioned after Eagles coach Andy Reid's long-awaited, 48-minute-plus season wrapup address, said he found out he definitely was going to be the 2012 d-coordinator "probably when y'all heard it." That would have been yesterday, when the Eagles announced that the addition of secondary coach Todd Bowles completed their staff.

Castillo was a tad evasive on this point, though; at one point he opined that when somebody wants you gone, they usually tell you. The inference seemed to be that as time passed, he had a pretty good idea he was still the coordinator.

Reid acknowledged having offered a job to fired Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo, who eventually opted to become defensive coordinator in New Orleans. Reid said he never talked titles with Spagnuolo, and that Castillo would have remained, regardless, presumably as defensive coordinator. Of course, that would not have precluded coming up with some fancy title for Spagnuolo like "assistant head coach/defense."

But Spagnuolo didn't come, and the experienced voice Reid sought to help Castillo will be that of Bowles, who only has the title of secondary coach. Reid was a little vague on whether Bowles will have more say in the defense than position coaches customarily have.

Castillo, ever the company man, said he would have been happy to work with or for Spagnuolo, and that he welcomes Bowles' input.

"Steve and I are friends. Steve has what we want (a Super Bowl ring from the Giants)," Castillo said. "(Bowles) brings experience in the back end, someone I can talk coverages with, someone I can bounce ideas off, certain types of schemes to stop certain people."

Castillo said last season's early struggles "can't happen again."

Eagles coach Andy Reid spoke to the media today, breaking his silence about the team since the end of the season.

“I appreciate your patience over the last few weeks for the summary of my feelings on the season,” Reid said. “I thought it was important to step back and take a thorough look at things, starting with myself and the job which I did this year and the coaching staff and the players and the direction we decided to go in free agency. I was able to do that over the last few weeks and we were able to finalize the spot that was vacant on our staff by bringing in Todd Bowles. I had a chance to evaluate the coaches and let them know how we did as a team, I felt both sides of the football and special teams have a tremendous room to improve. Juan will remain as the defensive coordinator. Todd will coach the secondary and then we’ll move on. Everything else will remain the same. Mike Zordich will work with the safeties.”

Why did you decide to bring Castillo back? “I never really was at that point. I just stepped back and kind of evaluated the whole situation. It never really came down to that. Juan was going to be there. In this league, titles are thrown all over the place. Those two and Spags, I thought that could be done. We opened it up and looked at a couple of other people that I thought could fit in there and work as a staff. No different than I would do on the offensive side. I talked to Juan throughout the process. That never came about. We never went in that direction. I know a lot of things were out there and written, that’s all part of it.”

On Steve Spagnuolo: “Steve Spagnuolo was another topic and one that I understand and is a fine football coach. Steve and I talked throughout the season as we do every year. When Steve was released from the rams, I did offer him a spot to coach here if he needed one, a place to land, with open arms. My feelings was if you can have two great coaches on defense, that’s even better than just having Juan himself. That’s about as far as it went there. We didn’t talk about titles. He had opportunities to look at other places and I completely understand that and he wanted to go to New Orleans. That’s a positive for him.”

On Todd Bowles: “I wanted to bring someone in, just like Marty and I have an opportunity to bounce things off of offensively wanted to make sure Juan had someone to bounce things off defensively, run the same scheme. That’s’ where Steve fit in and that’s where Todd fits in with the back end. This should be a nice thing. Todd is an individual with a nice resume … He decided he wanted to come back home where he went to school. His fiancé lives here. Her family lives here. Juan and I have a great relationship. They met over the last few days here.”

On Spagnuolo and Castillo working together: “I thought the two of them together would be tremendous. They have a great relationship. It’s the same defense.”

On what Jeffrey Lurie said about the decision to retain him: “I understand this is a business. I always appreciated the support Jeffrey has given me here, along with Joe Banner. They have given me every opportunity to win football 8-8 is not good enough. Everything he said I agree with. There’s no different feeling on this end. We’re sitting here watching and we don’t like to watch. Even though we finished strong and hot, that wasn’t good enough … for the coaches and players that we have here.

On the last four games: “The positive you can take out of it as a football team. Bottom line is – and there is where fool’s gold comes in – we won the last four games but it wasn’t good enough. We’re sitting here. The bottom line is we have to do better.”

On the offensive staff: “Everything remains the same on the offense. We need to take care of business on the turnovers. We had five games when we lost in the fourth quarter. We only scored three points. We are better than that. We need to dig in on that.”

On the special teams: “Special teams staff will remain the same. We just need to get better on the return phase for special teams.”

On why Castillo said he didn’t know his status: “I never talked to him about status. Didn’t go with anybody in that status … I don’t know exactly what he said, either. I think they all knew I was stepping back and analyzing. That was the important part.

On the defense at the end of the season: “I saw us get better. We had some moving parts on the defensive side. I felt it would take some time for it to come together. Saw progress. Liked the scheme we were teaching and the way we were executing. The players were all in and they believed in Juan and the scheming he was doing. It ended up working the way we had hoped it would have worked earlier.”

On any increased pressure from Lurie remarks: “I’m not a very patient person. That’s why we’re in the business. We wwant to win every game. There is no more pressure than there has been. We do this to bring the city of Philadelphia and championship. That’s why players play and coaches coach. That’s how we do it … He didn’t say anything that ruffled my feathers. I completely agree with everything he said … My point is, we are going to bust our tails to get it right.”

On whether they made too many changes last offseason, as Lurie suggested: “I would tell you, there were moving parts. New players and that. From my standpoint, from a coach’s standpoint, those are excuses for me to sit up here and say that. It’s a different seat that Jeffrey sits in. From where I sit, I can tell that same things that I told you during the season. There were moving parts. Anticipated the offense was ahead of the defense. We didn’t do that. We were 30th in the National Football League. I’m responsible for the whole shebang. I don’t want to sit up there and give you any excuses. Very optimistic about going forward and next year. There is a lot of hard work and a lot of things we need to correct.”

On moving forward: “We’re going to take free agency and the draft aggressively as we have in the past … Howie and I are going through and get those guys down and know them like the back of our hands and be selective about who we bring onto this football team and then we’ve got a ton of draft picks … That doesn’t mena I’m happy about 8-8. But I’m not crying over it. I’m going to go forward and attack that issue going forward.”

More on Spags: “He never came in. He went and visited other places. He loved the situation in New Orleans and I’m happy for him. We’re still friends until we play them next year. I wish him the best.”

Does Vick think turnovers are important as you do?: “I think he understands, not that every one of them were Michael Vick’s, but there were too many of them. I think he would say the same thing … There are some things that he can specifically attack this offseason and he’s in the right frame of mind to do that. He’s been in constant communication since the season ended … He’s ready to get in and get better.”

Vick’s style: “You learn from the last four teams playing in their playoffs. All four quarterbackcs are stars … But you have to be healthy or as healthy as you can be playing this game. He was able to see that this year. Does that mean he’s never going to be able to run the ball again … When you do that, is there a time to get out of bounds and get down so you live the next play.”

What did you see when you evaluated yourself?: “The primary thing was I doing my job to the best of my ability. What could I improve on? Why did we end up being 8-8? Why did we start over 1-4? What can I do during the new rules of training camp? If you are doing it the right way, you better put the pressure on yourself. Are you demanding enough of the players? Are you too hard on the players? You have to find the right balance. The press conference the day off the season ends, you are probably not in the position to sit in front of you here and give you the whole scoop and what you’re thinking. This bought me time to go take a look and go forward.”

Was there a time when you didn’t want to come back?: “There wasn’t. I want to make sure that I can still do the things that I think are the responsibilities  of the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl. That’s’ what you do. You step back and analyze.

On the press conferences: “I’m not trying to be mean or rude. I’m trying to make sure we stay together as a football team.”

On whether they will make fewer changes: “I think we have a good nucleus of people under contract that we’ve been able to bring in over the last couple of years that can help us down the road … We also have a good number of draft picks.”

How difficult was the process of analyzing?: “You have to divide some things up and separate the last four games. As coaches and players, if you are stale then that thing never come to fruition. You’re going to lose the last four games. You take the first five games. Better analyze those babies right there. That was not a good picture. Try to be real. Start with yourself, training camp, your presentation to players, trying to do too much offensively, defensively. Go through and analyze that and try to come up with an answer. “

On the relationship between Andy and the fans: “The fans, they want to win a championship. I completely understand it. When I’m out in public at different events, the fans have been good to me. I appreciate their support, showing up to games. One of the things we’ve looked at is our home record. We’ve got to do better at home throughout the season. I understand. I’ve always said the fans and myself are on the same page. When we stink, I’m probably the first one who knows we stink and the fans are right there with me. And when we do good, it’s the same way.”

On turnovers: “You have to have a little luck in this game. Ball has to bounce right in a few different situation. It’s a few situations, not being 30th in the National Football League in that category. There are no excuses for that many turnovers.”

On DeSean Jackson: “I was proud for DeSean and showing maturity and stood up and admitted to everybody he didn’t handle things the right way. The last six games, he did a nice job for us. I was proud of him for that … We’re looking at it right now. We haven’t come to any conclusions .. You saw progress the last five or six games there.”

On make or break season: “Every season is that way. As a coach and a player, it’s a make or break season. That’s how you look at it and if you don’t, you’re taking the wrong approach. That better drive your tail all offseason.”

On young linebackers: “We understood the safety position and linebackers were young guys. You saw growth in those position that could help us down the road next season and the seasons going on. We don’t devalue that position.

On injury updates: He said he is monitoring the progress of Brent Celek and Jamar Chaney. Mike Patterson should be ready for training camp unless there's a setback.

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Read more from the Daily News' Rich Hofmann as he asks: Did the Eagles really want Spagnuolo?