IS BUYING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIS
Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook and prodigal .linebacker Jeremiah Trotter practiced today as the Eagles returned from the bye week and began preparations for their game against Tampa Bay on Sunday.
McNabb suffered a fractured rib on Sept. 13 in the season-opening victory over Carolina. He has not played since.
Westbrook has an injured ankle, suffered in Game 2. He was a mildly surprising scratch from the third game, Sunday a week ago, when his recovery stalled.
Trotter, 32, looked trim after his first NFL practice in 21 months, which he said went well.
"It was fun being out there, especially with some of the guys I already knew -- (Mike) Patterson and (Brodrick) Bunkley and guys like that," Trotter said. "I just tried to hit the ground running. It's still going to take some time for me to pick up everything."
Tracy White said his main enticement for giving No. 54 back to Trotter was a deal with Trotter's South Jersey car washing enterprise. It's unclear if practice squad linebacker Jay Leman got anything for moving out of the last locker stall on the left, Trotter's historic home.
Every Eagles linebacker was present during the time reporters were allowed in the locker room except for incumbent MIKE starter Omar Gaither, the guy who will now be sharing snaps with Trotter. Trotter said he did get some first-team snaps Monday.
Neither McNabb nor Westbrook spoke with reporters; Westbrook did not appear in the locker room, and McNabb turned down requests for comment. Michael Vick said he felt refreshed after the bye, and is now only 4 pounds above the 208 he played at in Atlanta, before he went to prison for his role in a dogfighting operation. Asked to comment on last week's controversy with Nike -- in which a Vick representative said the quarterback had signed an endorsement deal, and Nike denied it -- Vick said he would only answer questions about football.
Asked if Westbrook looked like Westbrook in Monday's practice -- meaning, was he moving well, or limping, rookie Shady McCoy shed little light: "He always looks like Westbrook," McCoy said. "He's the man."
Of the Eagles who were limping going into the bye, only left guard Todd Herremans did not practice Monday, a team spokesman said. Herremans has discarded the little cart he was wheeling his repaired left foot around on, but he now wears a bulky protective boot. Herremans said he is still hoping to return Oct. 26, at Washington, the Birds' first NFC East game.
Les Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News since 2002. Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
Paul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 27 years at the paper covering the Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually wa s boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad and very dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 29 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 26, a lawyer and graduate of Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 23, who graduated from Clemson and works in marketing and sales for a professional baseball team.
