McNABB UPDATE

If you caught the end of NBC's telecast of the Sunday night Giants-Cowboys game, Sports Illustrated's Peter King, via Bob Costas, reported that Donovan McNabb is doubtful for the game against Kansas City because of his rib injury.

King also said the Eagles have developed a 10-play package for the returning Michael Vick. Presumably, the Eagles' heavy use of the Wildcat vs. New Orleans was to set the stage for Vick's debut and help take some pressure off Kevin Kolb.

Asked for an update on McNabb on Sunday, Reid said, "He was getting better every day. Just from yesterday to today, there wasn’t that much improvement, so I just thought it would be best to hold him out.”

With the bye week following the game against Kansas City, it might make sense to hold McNabb out if he is less than 100 percent to get him the extra time to heal. The same might be said for Brian Westbrook and his sprained ankle.

Reid addresses the media and noon today. Check back with Eagletarian for a full report.

TALKING POINTS

What we’re talking about this morning in the aftermath of the Eagles’ loss to the New Orleans Saints

1. Westbrook’s ankle. The Eagles running back, who hobbled through last season with knee and ankle problems, suffered another high ankle sprain in the second half of Sunday’s loss to the Saints. He says he should be able to play next week against the Chiefs, but don’t count on it. He had just 66 rushing and receiving yards against the Saints. His backup, rookie Shady McCoy, had just 18 yards on 5 carries.

2. Wildcat galore. Michael Vick won’t make his Eagles debut until next week, but even without him, Andy Reid used the Wildcat nine times Sunday and also had Kevin Kolb frequently run the spread option several times. Forty-three of the Eagles’ 85 rushing yards came out of the Wildcat.

3. The special teams penalties. Eagles special teams can’t seem to run a play without drawing a flag. They were called for holding on their first kickoff return and things pretty much went straight downhill from there.

4. Next week’s quarterback. Andy Reid said after the game that if Donovan McNabb can’t play again next week, Kevin Kolb will start. While there may be some fan sentiment to go with Jeff Garcia, Kolb would be the right choice next week. He made one real bad mistake against the Saints. That was the interception early in the third quarter.

5. What happened to the defense? The same unit that terrorized Jake Delhomme last week and forced 7 Carolina turnovers, got its lunch eaten by Drew Brees on Sunday. The guy is unblitzable and pretty much unstoppable, especially when you give his receivers as many yards after the catch as the Eagles did.

-- Paul Domowitch

5 NUMBERS TO CONSIDER

1. The Eagles converted just 1 of 5 red-zone opportunities into a touchdown. They were 3-for-3 in last week’s win over the Panthers.

2. Including last year’s NFC Championship Game loss to Arizona, the Eagles have given up 8 touchdown passes in their last 3 games.

3. Two Eagles wide receivers – DeSean Jackson and Jason Avant – had touchdown catches Sunday. Before that, the team's wideouts had accounted for just 1 TD catch in the previous 6 games. 

4. Before Sunday’s loss to the Saints, the Eagles were 72-19 in games in which they scored 20-plus points since 2000. 

5. The Eagles allowed just two sacks Sunday. The last time they gave up more than two sacks in a game: Week 4 of the ’08 season when they gave up three in a loss to the Bears.

-- Paul Domowitch

UP NEXT

The Eagles host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at the Linc (1 p.m., CBS3).

The Chiefs are coming off a 13-10 loss to Oakland and have now lost six straight and 25 of their last 27. This marks a stretch of run consecutive games against NFC East teams before they face the San Diego Chargers on Oct. 25.

Kansas City had held Oakland out of the end zone the entire game and then allowed the Raiders to go on the game-winning drive and earn the victory at Arrowhead. That left the Chiefs simply befuddled.

“I don’t understand how we play a good game the whole game and the last drive we let them in the end zone for the first time in the game,” nose tackle Tank Tyler told reporters.

For more on the Chiefs, click here for the Kansas City Star's report on Sunday's game.

CHOICE VOICE

Kevin Kolb on his first start:

“It’s frustrating because there were some good things out there you know. I just hate that I kill myself and kill the team with those turnovers. As a quarterback you can’t allow yourself to do that. It puts us in the hole. It put us in the hole at the top of the third and we couldn’t recover.”

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For Domo's Report Card, click here.

Join Rich Hofmann for a chat at 1:30 p.m. on the Eagles.