You first hear and you are shocked. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson has a cancerous tumor on his spine, a recurrence of melanoma that has spread to other, undisclosed locations as well. You hear the news and you can’t concentrate on the interview you’re doing for another column.

Jim Johnson. Honest. Plain-spoken. Intense on Sunday. Approachable on Monday. Matter-of-fact. Seen it all. Wise. Wickedly-inventive. Honest. Yes, honest twice. And now, cancer.

You look back on how the season ended, with the defense carrying the Eagles to the finish line and through the first two games of the playoffs, only to lose the last one at Arizona. You look back on how Johnson’s physical condition deteriorated through the weeks, how he coached the last two games from the press box, how he used a cane the one week and then rode around on a small vehicle the last week. He had made it out like he had simply thrown out his back.

You look back on that Giants game, the first one he coached from the press box. It was a great defensive day. You remember back to the obvious affection that Eagles coach Andy Reid showed for Johnson in his post-game interview that day. It sounded like more than just the admiration of a day’s work done well.

The good news on a terrible day is that, according to the Eagles, the doctors are optimistic and that Johnson is upbeat and hopes to keep working during his treatment. A personal hope is that he works as hard on getting better as he has on his defense over the years. Because his work is legendary in the NFL – it really is.

Fox analyst/former Cowboys quarterback/Hall of Famer Troy Aikman recently told the Dallas Morning News, “The Eagles have had two constants over the last decade. They’ve had a good defense, and Jim Johnson has been the coach leading it.”

Aikman added, “I believe it is time the Hall of Fame considers assistant coaches. Jim Johnson, (Steelers defensive coordinator) Dick LeBeau and (retired offensive innovator) Ernie Zampese should be in Canton.”

Such is the regard with which Johnson is held around the league. Such will be the shock as this news begins to circulate. There is so much that none of us knows. After a while, though, you try to begin to focus on the optimism of the doctors – because you know that’s what Johnson is doing. Then you try to get back to work – because you know that’s what Johnson is intending to do, too.

The news has undoubtedly reached Bob and Phil and Les and Domo by now. Friends and competitors, they are at the Super Bowl. They get up very early, like 6 am early, and get on a bus and go to interview one of the teams at their hotel, and then they get on another bus and go to interview the other team at their hotel, and then they get on another bus and go back to the big media center, where they either will write their stories or get into another conveyance and go back to their hotel and write their stories.

Unless, of course, they are looking for Donovan.

The Super Bowl is Donovan McNabb's time. It is where he speaks. It is where he lets you know what weapons he believes he needs. He does all kinds of appearances, some advertising related, some just talking. But it is where the pronouncements come. He drops hints in Philadelphia. He drops bombs at the Big Supe.

And so, Bob and Phil and Les and Domo, I really felt for you on Tuesday night when the press release rattled into my in-box, the press release from ESPN announcing that McNabb would be appearing on their 6 pm SportsCenter for three consecutive nights -- Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

Three consecutive nights.

I mean, who needs dinner anyway?

The fervent hope is that he does all of the talking about himself on the first night, so that he can get it all out of the way. Or maybe he will make the big noise when he does his inevitable NFL Network appearance. But I hate this for you, fellas. Work all day, Donovan all night -- it can't go on for three straight days, can it?

I've been there. There were the Chunky Soup extravaganzas. There was the feverish attempt that one night -- where the hell was it? -- to obtain a transcript from an ESPN spokesman about some thing or the other that No. 5 said on the air. It has become an incredible pain through the years -- all you do is write Donovan at the Super Bowl, even though he's only been there once as a participant.

And so, Bob and Phil and Les and Domo -- wasn't that a movie title in the '60s? -- I hope you can take at least some satisfaction as you disgustedly thumb through the room service menu.  Because you are performing a great service to your public -- when you watch Donovan on television, we don't have to.

When the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl, I needed to buy a Super Bowl ticket for someone. You know, me, long-time sportswriter in town, somebody who allegedly has a bunch of connections. Well, I was able to use those connections to get a ticket. It was being scalped by somebody within the league -- no names, please. I believe my money passed through at least three sets of hands before it got to the person who was actually selling the ticket in the first place. I don't actually know the name of the person who originally got the ticket. I'm not even sure I know the names of all of the go-betweens.

It was a huge hassle but I was grateful for the way it worked out. I had to go to the ATM in Jacksonville on three consecutive days in order to get the money and ended up carrying around this enormous roll of $20s in my pocket for all of that time, but I was still grateful.

Price of ticket: $2,200.

Yeah, connections. Some people on the street were paying even more.

Five years later, you can go online and find your choice of tickets for a lot less. You can go right now on StubHub and get a seat in the upper deck in Tampa for about $1,600. You can get a lower level seat in the end zone, where my ticket was, for $2,000. Even though the face value on the tickets is now $800 -- up from $500 back then, if memory serves -- the price is down at least 10 percent. It could be a lot lower by Sunday because there are tons of tickets available.

But here's the question: why?

Two choices:

1) It's the economy, stupid.

2) The Arizona Cardinals remain a lame excuse for a Super Bowl participant.

You decide.

Odds and ends as we prepare for the crushing boredom of Super Bowl XLIII (I think):

According to Vegas -- all-knowing, all-seeing Vegas -- the Phillies are the most likely team from the National League East to win the World Series. Their odds to repeat as champions are 17-2. That makes them the fourth choice, behind the Yankees (11-4), Cubs (11-2) and Red Sox (15-2).  Directly behind the Phils are the Mets and Dodgers, both at 10-1. All of which seems reasonable enough, I guess, given how much money the Yankees just spent. But didn't anybody else see the Cubs in the playoffs last year?

Then there are the Eagles. They already have the odds up for next year's Super Bowl, and the Patriots are favored to win that one at 6-1. Behind them are the Steelers (7-1), Giants (8-1), Colts (8-1), Cowboys (9-1), Ravens (11-1) and then the Eagles, Panthers and Titans (12-1). That make the Eagles tied for seventh in the NFL. It also makes them third in the NFC East. It also raises one obvious question:

Cowboys?

In the NHL, Detroit is the favorite to win another Stanley Cup at 3-1, followed by San Jose at 7-2. The Flyers are at 15-1, tied for the eighth choice and trailing Boston, Washington and Montreal in the East.

NBA? The Lakers are the 6-5 favorites and Boston is 2-1. The Sixers are 17th at 50-1, which is worse than the start of the season when they were 40-1. Apparently they don't like Elton.

Finally, in college basketball, North Carolina is the 8-5 choice to win it all, followed by Pitt at 7-1. Your Villanova Wildcats are the 16th choice at 30-1.

Best as I can tell, the Eagles blitzed Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner 13 out of 30 pass plays. It was a ton of blitzing. Thirty percent blitzes is a bunch. The Eagles were just north of 43 percent. It was a lot, and I might even have missed a couple for all I know -- and this doesn't even include when they blitzed on running plays. But it still wasn't enough.

The Eagles' dilemma going into the game was clear. Warner is great against the blitz so they needed to get four-man pass rush pressure. It was the game's most significant imperative. But they couldn't do it, not consistently enough, especially in the first half

Here are the numbers for Warner:

Blitzing: 8-for-13 for 108 yards.

Not blitzing: 13-for-15 for 171 yards and four touchdowns.

There is a chance my numbers are off by a little -- stuff happens quickly and television replays don't always show you what you need to see. But the numbers are pretty close, and they are devastating for the Eagles' front four. Trent Cole was a force in the third quarter but was about it -- and, honestly, most of those pressures came on blitzes. The four-man rush, though, just wasn't enough. And that is fully acknowledging that Warner is a pro's pro, very accurate and very good at recognizing pressure and getting rid of the ball.

I don't know what the Eagles could have done differently. I mean, you can't blitz 60 percent of the time against a good quarterback, can you? The Eagles are incredibly high-risk as it is -- it's hard to see them adding more risk.

Again, best as I can tell, the blitzing percentages were virtually the same in both halves, too. It did seem as if they added a sixth pass rusher more often in the second half, and maybe that was part of their overall success in the third quarter (while doubling the risk on each play). But at the end, on that last drive, the Eagles blitzed twice and got there neither time. Two completions to Larry Fitzgerald were the result, 15 yard and 18 yards, by far the two longest plays on a 14-play, 72-yard drive that cut the heart out of the Eagles' defense.

Risk, reward, and the failure of the four-man pass rush. That really was the story, even as we fixate on the other side of the ball.

So let me get this straight: the Eagles just played a season in which they set a franchise record for points scored but they don't have any weapons.

And just so I understand: whenever Donovan McNabb plays a good game it's because he's great and whenever he comes up short it's because he has no help.

Just so I get it.

No, they don't have Larry Fitzgerald. Yes, they would be better if they had Larry Fitzgerald. But come on. Kevin Curtis and DeSean Jackson are not incompetents. When healthy, Brian Westbrook has the same status at his position and occupies the same number of defenders as Fitzgerald does at his. Westbrook's continued health is a real and fair question, but his pedigree and his healthy production levels are not. They have weapons in the passing game. Their problem this season was an inconsistent, ineffective running game.

This is such a tiring conversation. The guy threw for a zillion yards even while playing badly enough in one month-long stretch of the season to get himself benched. And think about two of the biggest passing plays of the post-season. One was a 71-yard screen pass to Westbrook against the Vikings, a play that was all about Westbrook and the downfield blocking. The other was the bomb to Jackson against the Cardinals, a tipped ball on which Jackson showed a great display of concentration.

He has weapons. I cannot take another off-season of this. They need to fix their running game so that they can get the tough, dirty yards in the tough, dirty situations. That is their biggest offensive issue, giving Westbrook a running mate -- that and the likely retooling of their offensive line.

A crushing loss. An impossible loss.

Another NFC Championship Game, gone.

The Eagles, torched early, came back. Down 24-6 at the half against the Arizona Cardinals, left seemingly for dead, they rallied and took a 25-24 lead with 10 minutes, 45 seconds left to play. Donovan McNabb threw for a million yards in the second half. They had done the unlikely.

And then the Cardinals drove down the field on them, again. They droves for 72 yards and the go-ahead touchdown, made the two-point conversion, and led by 32-25 with 2:53 left to play. The Eagles had one more shot, but couldn't make it happen. And now they are left with an incredible wound. They showed up late, took back the game, and then lost in the end. Crushing.

It is hard to find any perspective here. Maybe later. Right now, it is just stunning -- a great game but a great fall, the team's fourth loss in five conference title games and  their third as a favorite.

Yes, crushing.

We all know the Eagles' defense loves to blitz. We know it is part of defensive coordinator Jim Johnson's genetic code. We have seen it. We have seen the quarterbacks doubled-over as a result.

But here's the question:

Do you blitz Kurt Warner?

Everybody knows the downside, about how a quarterback who can get rid of the ball quickly can beat a blitz -- and often with drastic consequences. That remains Warner's reputation, even though he's a hundred years old. No, he doesn't like to get it. Yes, he gets skittish when he gets thrown around a little bit. But if you blitz and don't get there, he will take out the fillet knife.

Some stats for the conversation. The Eagles and Cardinals both have thrown the ball a bunch this season, and they had almost identical pass attempts while being blitzed, which makes for a decent basis for comparison. With that, these are the stats for Warner and Donovan McNabb when they were blitzed this season.

Warner: 64.5 % completions, 7.86 yards per attempt, 14 TDs, 4 INTs, 103.8 rating.

McNabb: 54.9 % completions, 6.62 yards per attempt, 10 TDs, 5 INTs, 81.9 rating.

The difference is clear enough. The question is, if you are the Eagles, what do you do about it? The first time they played, it seemed as if Johnson released the hounds in the second half after the Eagles had built a big lead. Before that, he was more willing to let his four down linemen handle the pass rush alone.

What to do this time? Same thing. I wouldn't go crazy on the blitz. There is no question that they have to get to Warner -- it is the key to the game for the Eagles -- but I think you try it with the four linemen first. You can adjust later and take more chances if the game dictates. But in the beginning, they should use their eight-man defensive line rotation to its fullest and see if they can build the pressure.

The news had broken in Arizona Republic, that the Eagles were moving to Phoenix, that owner Leonard Tose was taking the franchise to the desert. The call came from the office a few hours later -- "Just find the guy," they said, "the guy" meaning the person who was going to pay Tose his blood money, a guy named James Monaghan, who held such a low profile that one of the Phoenix papers was spelling it "Monahan."

So I went. I got off the plane and ended up at Monaghan's office -- me, a guy from one of the Phoenix papers and a radio guy, as memory serves. His secretary said he was flying in from Japan with his wife and that we could meet his flight at the airport.

So what does he look like?

He's pretty average looking, the secretary said.

And?

Well, his wife has blond hair, she said.

So, it was off to the airport. It was back in the days before big-time security so we went right to the gate and did what any self-respecting reporter would do in the same situation: we questioned blondes. Hilarity ensued. Alas, no Monaghan.

So, it was back to the office. The secretary did some checking and found out Monaghan was on a different flight. Hours later -- and it was down to me and maybe one other reporter at that point -- he showed up and acknowledged everything. Within a week, Tose would end up screwing him and making a deal with the city of Philadelphia to stay.