Each week, Daily News football writer Paul Domowitch will tell you the things he will be keeping his eyes on during that week’s game:

1. Making Campbell Soup: Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell was benched in the second half last week, but will start tonight. He’s protected by a wobbly offensive line that’s missing two of its best blockers, LT Chris Samuels and RG Randy Thomas. The Panthers sacked Campbell five times a couple weeks ago. Ready or not, here comes the Eagles’ blitz.

2. How do you spell run, Andy?: Running backs Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy had just 11 rushing attempts last week as Reid called a whopping 54 passing plays. Against a defense that is third in the league against the pass and sixth in sacks per pass play, he might want to try to strike a little better balance.

3. Third-down improvement: The Eagles converted just 2 of 16 third-down opportunities against the Raiders last week. Twelve of those 16 third-down situations were six yards or more. Against a Redskins pass rush that has 11 sacks in its last 3 games, the Eagles need to reduce the number of third-and-longs so that the run is at least an option, if not a consideration.

4. Many happy returns: The Redskins’ coverage units are very good. They’re fourth in the league in both punt and kickoff coverage. The Redskins’ defense doesn’t give up many long drives. So the Eagles really need PR DeSean Jackson and KR Quintin Demps to shorten the field a bit.

5. The Eagles’ offensive line: This unit played awful last week. Worse than awful. They couldn’t protect Donovan McNabb and didn’t do a very good job of run-blocking. They finally may get LG Todd Herremans back, which should help.

ZORN'S NEW ROLE

Washington head coach Jim Zorn will not call the plays for the first time in his 23-game tenure as head coach, instead overseeing the Sherms -- Lewis, the new play-caller, and Smith, the offensive coordinator.

"It's going to be very easy," Zorn told the Washington Post. "Here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to support the guy calling plays. And then in between the series, we'll be communicating and I'll be communicating to him, and then we'll start working on the plan for the next series.

"I'll be talking to the players. There's a lot to do. I'll be attentive to what I have to do while our offense is on the sideline. Because when you're a play-caller, you're concentrating. ... I'm just going to keep quiet" about play-calling.

With Todd Herremans set to return to his starting role at left guard, Nick Cole will switch to the right side, Cole confirmed Friday afternoon.

Cole started the first five games of the season for Herremans, who underwent foot surgery Aug. 28. Lately, Max Jean-Gilles has been starting on the right side, with free agent signee Stacy Andrews apparently not completely recovered from offseason ACL surgery. Jean-Gilles had a fairly miserable day last Sunday at Oakland, when the Birds gave up six sacks, much of that pressure coming up the middle.

"I just have to change my sets up a little bit. It's cool," Cole said following Friday's practice for Monday night's visit to the Washington Redskins.

Cole started at right guard last season for the final five regular season games and all three postseason contests.

Earlier, offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said his unit has "a lot of things to get accomplished" to be better Monday night against a Redskins defense that he feels is better than the one that held the Birds without a touchdown last Sunday at Oakland.

Mornhinweg said Herremans feels he can play the whole game, but Mornhinweg cautioned that the Birds have "some pretty good nicks," elsewhere along the line, including a knee injury that hasn't kept Cole from practicing. Left tackle Jason Peters is practicing with knee and ankle sprains suffered last week.

"There are several things that could happen there" if Peters is limited, Mornhinweg said, including Herremans sliding over to tackle.

Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott said this being the first game with Redskins offensive consultant Sherman Lewis calling plays is "a different challenge, an added dimension." Mornhinweg and head coach Andy Reid have worked with Lewis before, and McDermott said he had talked to them about what to expect. Presumably, there's a limit to how much of Washington's offense Lewis can change in a week.

McDermott reiterated that new middle linebacker Will Witherspoon will start and call the signals. He acknowledged he didn't know if that had ever been done, less than a week after joining a team, in midseason. McDermott said he saw Witherspoon as a "three down" linebacker, but he also said Jeremiah Trotter's role would not change.

That will be something to keep any eye on -- the previous plan had been to play Trotter on "running downs," but when Oakland turned a "running down" into an 86-yard touchdown-passing down to tight end Zach Miller, covered by Trotter, the former Pro Bowler seemed to pretty much disappear from everything but the shortest of short-yardage situations, until Omar Gaither suffered a Lisfranc sprain late in the game. 

Eagles middle linebacker Omar Gaither will have Lisfranc surgery on his injured foot this week, Eagles coach Andy Reid said. The surgery will almost certainly end Gaither's season, although the team has not officially placed him on injured reserve. Gaither went down late in the fourth quarter against the Raiders.

Reid said he was not sure what he would do to fill Gaither's roster spot, once Gaither is officially done. A wide receiver could be a possibility, because Kevin Curtis is getting a second opinion on his sore knee. Curtis has missed the last three games.

The Eagles traded for linebacker Will Witherspoon from the Rams earlier this week, and he becomes the instant starter in the middle, with Jeremiah Trotter playing behind him. The Birds had to send rookie wideout Brandon Gibson to St. Louis, along with a fifth-round draft pick. Given Curtis's situation, the Eagles obviously would have preferred to keep Gibson around.

After practice, Witherspoon said he will take a crash course in Sean McDermott's defense; which is similar to what he ran in St. Louis under former Eagles assistant Steve Spagnuolo -- but Witherspoon noted he was playing weakside in St. Louis, not the midddle.

"I don't really say it's that difficult; the defenses are fairly similar, there's a lot of similar communication. But at the same time, changing positions makes it a little bit different," Witherspoon said. "I think I'll get a good grasp of things by the time I get to the game."

 Witherspoon is helped by the fact that the Rams played the Redskins in Week 2, losing 9-7, so Washington's tendencies are fresh in his mind.

Trotter said he was "excited about" the addition of a proven veteran to a young linebacking corps.

Trotter empathized with Gaither, whom he noted was "looking to have a big year this year" as a platform for offseason free agency.

"O.G., he's a tough guy, he'll bounce back," Trotter said.

*In other injury news, Reid said Todd Herremans will work in at left guard against Washington in his season debut after Aug. 28 foot surgery. Herremans said he assumes he is starting, though he needs to get through the practice week first.

*Defensive end Victor Abiamiri has a knee sprain and won't play this week.

*The Eagles also made two practice squad moves, adding wide receiver Dobson Collins and bringing back guard/center Dallas Reynolds. They replace Mike Gibson, who was signed to Seattle's 53-man roster, and Stoney Woodson, who was released.

:*Asked about cornerback Asante Samuel's tackling, Reid said Samuel will "keep working at that."

*Quarterback Donovan McNabb said "this is a very big game" coming up Monday night at Washington.

*Brian Westbrook answered all the familiar queries about his frustration over the Eagles' shunning of the run game."I talk to (offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg) throughout the game, let him know what I think will work," Westbrook said. "Sometimes he listens, sometimes he doesn't."

*Westbrook said he feels the Birds have a better run-blocking line this year than in 2008; "our tackles are younger and more athletic," he said, but constant pass-blocking tends to make the line drift toward passivity, he said.

*Westbrook lauded his brother Byron, a cornerback who is on the Redskins' roster after two years as a practice squad member. "It really speaks to his character and work ethic," Westbrook said.

Good to see Donovan McNabb donating to Virtua's new Voorhees, N.J., facility, getting his family's name on the neonatal unit, where the fourth McNabb offspring is scheduled to be delivered in December.

(Does Virtua have one of those frequent buyer cards that you get the cashier to stamp? If so, the big donation might not have been necessary -- the McNabbs should be getting a "free kid" pretty soon.)

But seriously, folks, I think this is a big step for McNabb, in his 11th Eagles season. His real, lasting ties to the region have always been a matter for debate, despite McNabb's frequent protestations that he wants to play his whole career here. Just recently, when the Eagles inducted Randall Cunningham into their roll of honor, somebody in the press box joked that if they wanted to do that with McNabb someday, they'd have to wait for a game scheduled in Arizona. The implication was that Donovan won't be going the Ron Jaworski route and sticking around after he retires.

I've often thought McNabb could have eliminated at least some of the vitriol and venom from some corners of the fan base by forging closer ties here, being more visible. His decision to pick up the ball on Brian Dawkins' project, giving his home game tickets this season to a deserving city high school player through the Daily News, was a positive step, if belated, and flying the family flag at Virtua is another strong move. Before you know it, DMac will be hosting overnight shifts on WIP.

"You always want to leave your mark," McNabb told ESPN 950's Brian Seltzer Tuesday. McNabb spoke of a legacy for his children and their children.

McNabb and the Eagles deserve the grief they've gotten for their Sunday loss at Oakland. Personally, I see it mostly as an Andy Reid production -- poor play selection, inability to adjust, poor use of Brian Westbrook -- but as the quarterback, McNabb had chances to rally the troops and did not.

Talking to Seltzer, McNabb reiterated that he was embarrassed, as he said after the game.

"When you get embarrassed, you do what you have to do to change that," he said.

Comparisons with the postseason Phillies are unfair, though. Game 5 of an NFL season does not equate to the NLCS. I seem to remember long stretches early in the Phils' season when they looked really ordinary. I recall Charlie Manuel musing aloud that there are two types of defending champions, the kind who show the world how good they really are, and the kind who prove by their subsequent play that they just got hot at the right time. Right then, Charlie concluded, the Phils looked like a team that just got hot at the right time. That's not quite the equivalent of losing to Oakland, but that protracted late-season stretch where they couldn't quite manage to clinch the division was similar.

Bottom line, the Phils won the World Series last year and the Eagles still haven't won a Super Bowl, so of course, the organizational nod goes to the Phils. Trophy trumps everything. They are superior, for that reason. But it's a mistake to try to make the comparisons a lot more detailed than that. McNabb isn't like Jimmy Rollins because Rollins came through Monday night? Was he maybe more like Rollins in the first three months of the baseball season, when Jimmy was hitting about .200, apparently because he was just too stubborn to shorten his swing? If Monday's hero had been, say, Miguel Cairo, would McNabb be compared unfavorably to Miguel Cairo?

We'll see what the Philles do the rest of this postseason, then a few months later, we'll see if the Eagles have a postseason, and what they do with it. Then maybe we can compare again. Right now, it's apples and oranges.

Though I think if Matt Stairs gets much bigger, the Birds might want to sign him for o-line depth.

Sorry for the delay. The Greyhound bus I took back from Oakland broke down in Des Moines. A busted crank shaft. Anyway, here’s a delayed day-after look at some of the more pertinent aspects of the Eagles’ ugly 13-9 loss to the Raiders:

THE SIX SACKS
Donovan McNabb was sacked 6 times by the Raiders, which was as many as the Eagles had allowed in their first four games. It also was the most times No. 5 has been decked since the 12-sack nightmare against the Giants in 2007.

The First: 12:45 left in the first quarter. Eagles 0, Raiders 0. Third-and-7 at the Philadelphia 31. Eagles line up in a 3-WR, 1-TE, 1-RB set. Raiders overload the right side, leaving the Eagles with two blockers -- TE Brent Celek and RT Winston Justice -- to block three rushers. Celek gets beat by DE Trevor Scott and LB Thomas Howard comes through the gap between Celek and Justice. Scott sacks Donovan McNabb for an 11-yard loss and the Eagles are forced to punt.

The Second: 8:15 left in the first quarter. Eagles 0, Raiders 0. Third-and-11 at the Philadelphia 41. Eagles line up in 3-WR, 1-TE, 1-RB set. Scott is lined up at LE and Greg Ellis is lined up at LT. They run a stunt with Scott coming inside behind Ellis. Eagles RG Max Jean-Gilles is slow to react and doesn’t slide over in time to pick up Scott, who sacks McNabb for an 8-yard loss. Eagles are forced to punt.

The Third: 4:30 left in the second quarter. Raiders 10, Eagles 3. Third-and-10 at the Oakland 27. Eagles line up in 4-WR, 1-RB, 0-TE set. Raiders brought five rushers, including safety Tyvon Branch. Seymour was one-on-one against LT King Dunlap, who replaced injured Jason Peters. He drove Dunlap backward all the way to McNabb, dropping the quarterback for an 8-yard loss. Eagles are forced to punt.

The Fourth: Twenty-seven seconds left in the second quarter. Raiders 10, Eagles 3. First-and-15 at the Oakland 20. Michael Vick lines up as a WR and goes in motion left-to-right across the formation. LG Nick Cole, who should’ve been called for a false start, kicks out early, creating a gap between himself and C Jamaal Jackson, which Seymour uses as a highway to McNabb. He sacks him for a 5-yard loss. McNabb spikes the ball to stop the clock and the Eagles settle for a field goal.

The Fifth: 8:19 left in the third quarter. Raiders 10, Eagles 6. Second-and-2 at the Philadelphia 48. Eagles line up in 1-WR, 2-RB, 2-TE set with DeSean Jackson, the only wideout, split right and both TEs lined up on the left side. Alex Smith chipped RE Jay Richardson to the inside, where C Jamaal Jackson should have picked him up. But Jackson, LG Nick Cole and LT Winston Justice all ended up blocking the same man, DT Gerard Warren. Richardson sacked McNabb for a 13-yard loss.

The Sixth: 9:41 left in the fourth quarter. Raiders 13, Eagles 6. Third-and-7 at the Philadelphia 26. Eagles in 3-WR, 1-RB, 1-TE set. Raiders line up in 3-man front, with Matt Shaughnessy at LE. Shaughnessy rushes to the inside, where he is picked up by RT Max Jean-Gilles. LBs Trevor Scott, Thomas Howard and Kirk Morrison then all blitz behind him, leaving the Eagles with just two blockers – TE Brent Celek and RT Winston Justice – to try to take care of 3 rushers. Justice didn’t succeed in blocking any of them. He was late picking up Howard, who, along with Morrison, sacked McNabb for 8-yard loss.

McCOY'S DAY
Rookie running back LeSean McCoy didn’t have a very good game. He rotated on a series-by-series basis with Brian Westbrook in the first half, but in the second half, Westbrook got the bulk of the snaps.

McCoy rushed for just 13 yards on 5 carries and didn’t have any receptions, dropping one of the two passes thrown in his direction. He fumbled for the second time this season in the first quarter when Raiders DE Richard Seymour knocked the ball out of his grasp on a play at the Philadelphia 11. Fortunately for the Eagles, Jamaal Jackson recovered the loose ball.

McCoy also failed to pick up a blitz by Raiders LB Thomas Howard on a third-and-2 play at the Oakland 27 with 4½ minutes left in the first quarter. McNabb had Alex Smith open, but was hit by Howard as he threw the ball, forcing an errant throw. The Eagles had to settle for an Akers field goal.

VICK'S DAY
If you blinked, you missed him. Mr. Wildcat was on the field for just two plays the whole game. He lined up at WR in a two-RB set (Westbrook and FB Leonard Weaver) on the Eagles’ fifth offensive play and took a handoff from McNabb. But nobody bothered to block Raiders middle linebacker Kirk Morrison, who came in untouched and tackled Vick for a 4-yard loss. Failing to block guys was a problem the Eagles’ offensive line had all day.

Vick’s only other appearance came in the final seconds of the first half. On first-and-10 at the Oakland 15 with 35 seconds left in the half and the Eagles out of timeouts, Andy Reid sent Vick into the game late. Not realizing he was out of timeouts, McNabb tried to call one. The Eagles were penalized five yards for delay of game. Vick stayed on the field for the next play, lining up at wide receiver and going in motion. It’s possible McNabb was going to throw the ball to him, but we’ll never know since 5 was sacked on the play.

ZACH MILLER'S 86-YARD TD
Raiders coach Tom Cable apparently didn’t get Andy Reid’s memo about not throwing the ball on first down when Jeremiah Trotter is on the field.

With Trotter at middle linebacker late in the first quarter, the Raiders ran a play-action fake to Justin Fargas. Trotter bit on the fake. Even in his prime, he never was a great change-of-direction guy. Now, at 32, well, Miller was five yards past him by the time he was able to spin around and give chase.

That said, this still should’ve been no worse than a 30-yard completion. Cornerback Asante Samuel, whose tackling deficiencies are quickly canceling out his nose for interceptions, had a clear shot at Miller shortly after he caught the ball. He ended up not only whiffing on Miller, but then cutting the legs out from under Trotter, who was about to catch Miller from behind.

Quintin Mikell had a shot at him near midfield, but wide receiver Louis Murphy took him out before he could get to the tight end. Cornerback Ellis Hobbs should’ve stopped Miller at the 10-yard line. But he comes from the same Patriot School of Tackling as Samuel. Murphy, who stayed on his feet after laying out Mikell, was able to get downfield and easily seal Hobbs off, who didn’t really seem to want to get in Miller’s way.

Samuel also contributed to another Raiders score in the second quarter when he was baited into an inexcusable unnecessary roughness penalty by Murphy that set up the first of Sebastian Janikowski’s two field goals.

AWFUL CLOCK MANAGEMENT AT END OF FIRST HALF
Trailing 10-3, the Eagles had an excellent scoring opportunity late in the first half after Quintin Mikell’s interception and 16-yard return gave them the ball at the Oakland 40 with 1:53 left in the first half.

Even with no timeouts left after inexplicably wasting their final one on the previous possession, they had more than enough time to engineer a scoring drive. But they were only able to run six plays, including a spike to stop the clock with 11 seconds left before settling for a 43-yard Akers field goal.

They had the ball at the Oakland 23 with 1:27 left after a 3-yard completion to fullback Leonard Weaver, but didn’t get the next play off until there was 1:05 left. Then it took another 20 seconds to get the play after that off. Two plays in 53 seconds when you’re supposed to be in your hurry-up offense.

A 4-yard sideline completion to DeSean Jackson gave the Eagles a first down at the Oakland 15 and stopped the clock. It was then that Reid curiously decided to dust off Michael Vick for just the second time in the game. But it took so long to get the right personnel on the field and the play called that there were only 3 seconds left on the play clock as the Eagles lined up. McNabb, realizing he wouldn’t be able to get the play off on time, tried to call timeout, forgetting, of course, that he didn’t have any of those babies left.

After being penalized for delay of game, the Eagles then ran the same play they had planned to run before the penalty, with Vick in motion as a wide receiver. But it blew up before it ever got off the ground when Seymour ran by Cole and sacked McNabb for a 5-yard loss. The Eagles ended up having to settle for an Akers field goal.

BY THE NUMBERS
* The Eagles converted just 2 of 16 third-down opportunities against the Raiders. It was their most pathetic third-down performance since October 28, 2001, when they converted just 1 of 11 third-down tries in a 20-10 loss to the same Raiders. For what it’s worth, the Eagles went on to win 8 of their next 10 that year, capture their first NFC East title and make the first of 5 trips to the NFC Championship Game.

* The Eagles were 0-for-8 Sunday on third-and-10 or more. Five games into the season, they have yet to convert a third down of 10 yards or more. They are 0-for-15. In fact, they have converted just 27.4 percent of their third-down situations of more than three yards (14-for-51).

* Rookie running back LeSean McCoy already has fumbled twice in his first five games. Brian Westbrook has fumbled just 7 times in the last 5-plus seasons.

* Westbrook had 141 rushing and receiving yards in Sunday’s loss. That’s the most he’s had since Week 14 of last season when he had 203 yards from scrimmage in a 20-14 win over the Giants. Westbrook had 39 touches in that game, though. He had just 15 against the Raiders.
 

The Eagles acquired linebacker Will Witherspoon from St. Louis for wide receiver Brandon Gibson and a fifth-round pick in 2010.

Today is the NFL trading deadline and the Eagles clearly had a need at linebacker. Gibson looked good in training camp but has not been playing.

Andy Reid was clear about his intentions for Witherspoon, "I'm bringing [Witherspoon] in here to be my MIKE linebacker."

The moves comes on the heels of a rough performance by Jeremiah Trotter against the Raiders and Omar Gaither’s foot injury, although Gaither indicated that he did not think he was seriously hurt. Reid said Gaither will see a foot specialist.

Witherspoon, in his eighth season out of Georgia, sustained injuries to his hip and back in Sunday’s overtime loss at Jacksonville. The 29-year-old had to be assisted to the sidelines by trainers. An MRI indicated only a bruise.

Witherspoon, 6-1, 239, signed a 6-year, $33 million deal (including $15 million guaranteed) with St. Louis in 2006. In his first season with the Rams, he played in all 16 games and recorded a career-high 113 tackles and three sacks. In 2007 he recorded 110 tackles and a career-high seven sacks and was named Team MVP for 2007

In 2004, he played in Super Bowl for Carolina and had a career-high 16 tackles. He ended the campaign with a total of 99 tackles, one sack and one interception. He was a Panthers' third-round pick in 2002.

Reid also said there is a "good chance" that Todd Herremans will make his season debut against Washington on Monday night. The scan on his surgically repaired foot looked good, Reid said.

Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn said today that he will stick with Jason Campbell as his starting quarterback for Monday's night's game against the Eagles, the Associated Press reported.

Zorn made the statement on his ESPN980 radio show in Washington.

Campbell was benched for the second half in the Redskins' 14-6 loss to Kansas City on Sunday. Todd Collins replaced Campbell but could not mount a TD drive.

Campbell has started all six games for the 2-4 Redskins. He has completed  107-of-163 passes for 1,197 yards. he has thrown six touchdown passes and six interceptionss. His passer rating is 84.3.

Former Eagles right tackle Jon Runyan said he continues to wait for a call from someone who might be interested in having him join their team. Runyan worked out for the Eagles, Chiefs and Bills earlier this season, but is still not back in the NFL.

He said his knee, following offseason microfracture surgery, "has taken a turn for the better in the last month" during an interview on the coach's show on WIP (this came during the part of the show without Andy Reid).

During his news conference earlier Monday, coach Andy Reid was asked about whether he was concerned about the offensive line and was considering bringing in new players. "I think we'll be alright," he said.

*

Kicker David Akers, who missed two field goals Sunday, said he was at his locker initially when reporters arrived, then left. It looked like a wonky snap on at least one of those missed field goals.

Of the misses, Akers said on WIP, "I let down my teammates, the fans and the organization."

Remember when you just assumed the Birds had the kicking edge, every week?

It's back -- the annual run-pass ratio debate.

A day after the Eagles lost to the Raiders and ran the ball just 14 times, including two scrambles by Donovan McNabb, coach Andy Reid was asked the inevitable.

"We did what we thought would help us to win the game," Reid said. "Looking back, we could have run it more."

“We felt like if we could protect we would have a pretty good chance down the field,” Reid said. “That’s what we thought. We had a little bit pf penetration at times and when we didn’t the throws were long or the routes were off a little bit. That’s something we thought we could take advantage of.”

Reid blamed fundamental breakdowns and said he was not going to point fingers at people.

"There are things we could have done better coaching wise to put guys in better postion than we did," Reid said. "They had a couple of blitzes that got us. We didn’t kick out to the extra guy and they beat us on it."

The Eagles also barely used the Wildcat, with Michael Vick only on the field for two plays.

“There are certain weeks that it will be used and certain weeks it won’t,” Reid said. “We just didn’t get to it this week. We didn’t feel the situation was right.”

On the injury front, Reid said left tackle Jason Peters should be able to play Monday against Washington. Peters went out with a knee contusion and ankle sprain. "He should be able to work through that and be ready this week," Reid said. "He's walking around halfway decent. We’ll see how he does." Reid said he did not intend to bring anyone else in on the offensive line.

Victor Abiamiri has a knee sprain and Reid said it was a "day-to-day situation." Brodrick Bunkley has a rib contusion, but Reid said he should be OK. Omar Gaither has a foot sprain.

As for Jeremiah Trotter, who was burned against the Raiders on a long touchdown, Reid said, "He's moving better than he did when we had him before. It's just a matter of getting him back into playing."

As for the impending trade deadline, he said, "We're keeping our eyes open. We're looking."

Reid blamed the loss on a lack of technique and execution, not effort.

“It’s a great lesson to learn that no team is as good as you think in this league and no team is a bad as you think," Reid said. "It’s the National Football League and you better be ready to play and execute, as coaches and players, starting with me. Anything less than that and you’ve got a problem.”