With the final roster cutdowns a week away, the Eagles remain uncertain about the fullback position. For a position that has largely been an afterthought in the Birds' offense, a lot of recent attention has been given to who will win the job.

Tony Hunt, who had never played the position, was moved into that spot early last week and made his debut in Friday's preseason win over New England.

Hunt gained 16 yards on six carries, including getting some first downs in short-yardage situations, but he remains a work in progress.

“Tony had some good blocks and he had some blocks he needs to work on," coach Andy Reid said. "I thought the effort was there and the aggressiveness. I think he needs to continue to work on the technique, so he’ll keep working at fullback this week. There is great competition there; that door is wide open at that spot for guys to continue to compete for.”

Asked if Hunt's running ability was a bonus, since that is the advatange he has over the other candidates, Reid agreed, although he also cited Jason Davis' running ability.

“It is. To Jason [Davis'] aid there, he did well when he had opportunities to touch the ball, too," Reid said. "Both of those two, that is their strength, and Jed [Collins] had the one in the game before. Tony did a nice job with the couple chances he had in the game.”

As for the guy who will benefit most from the blocking by the fullback, here is Brian Westbrook on Hunt's performance: “The thing –Tony, he continues to try hard. He’s trying to get a hang of the fullback [position]. He’s never played the position before, but he’s trying to get the hang of it. I think he did a pretty good job being that it is his first time out there, and he’ll just continue to improve the longer that he gets to play in that position.”

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In some other news, the view from New England about its special teams was not terribly rosy.

And, the Web site http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/ reports that Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa have been given the assignment for the Eagles opener against St. Louis on Fox.