Based on unscientific philly.com poll results, the Eagles' fan base was largely divided on the addition of Michael Vick.

But it appears those fans who support the move are getting behind Vick whole-heartedly, well with their wallets at least.

According to CNBC's Darren Rovell, Vick came in at No. 4 on NFLshop.com's top-selling jersey list for the time period between April 1 - August 28.

Pretty remarkable, considering the Eagles didn't add Vick until Aug. 13.

The top-selling jersey over that period was the Vikings' Brett Favre. The Bears' Jay Cutler and the Steelers' Troy Polamalu were No. 2 and 3 respectively. No other Eagles player made the top 20.

I have to give props here to my buddy C-Nast, who you may remember from previous posts. He sent an e-mail around the week before the Eagles signed Vick, saying he thought if they were to add him, Vick's jersey would be a crazy seller. The rest of us on the e-mail chain disagreed, and now we see who was right.

And why he has such a great nickname.

Meanwhile, the beat guys over at Birds' Eye View and Eagletarian have updates from Donovan McNabb's press conference today, in which he said he thought the whole sideline rhythm incident in Thursday night's game against the Jaguars was blown out of proportion.

One person who doesn't seem to think it was blown out of proportion is SI.com's Peter King. Here's what he wrote in his Monday Morning Quarterback column today about the situation:

I think Donovan McNabb can't have it both ways. He can't advocate for Michael Vick to be signed, as he did, and then complain about the offense being out of rhythm, in part because of the insertion of Vick with the regular offense. McNabb had five drives with the regular offense after Vick left the game for good against Jacksonville Thursday night. Vick has to find a role in the preseason -- the Eagles didn't want to put him out there with the scrubs in the fourth quarter -- and he has but two games to do so; McNabb certainly has enough time to figure out the roles and chemistry with his young offensive players. I understand McNabb needs to feel comfortable with his guys and wants to feel right with his normal personnel groups, but Andy Reid has to shake his head about McNabb sometimes.

Earlier we linked to an NFL.com report, which said the Patriots are among many teams interested in adding A.J. Feeley.

The New England Patriots are among the "many teams" interested in Eagles backup quarterback A.J. Feeley, according to Jason La Canfora of NFL.com.

The St. Louis Rams are also said to be interested.

The Eagles, however, are unlikely to part ways with Feeley before commissioner Roger Goodell announces how many games Michael Vick has to sit out.

Feeley and the Eagles nearly beat the 16-0 Patriots team back in 2007, but eventually fell, 31-28. He went 27-for-42 for 345 yards against Bill Belichick and company in Week 12 that season. Feeley tossed three touchdowns but was also picked off three times, twice by Asante Samuel.

He saw action in three games that season but did not get on the field in 2008.

The Patriots and Eagles have made a couple deals this offseason, with New England acquiring wide receiver Greg Lewis and the Birds picking up cornerback Ellis Hobbs.

Joe Mays has not shown the coaching staff enough to nail down the starting middle linebacker position. (Clem Murray / Staff Photographer)

The Daily News' Paul Domowitch was the first to report last week that the Ravens and Jets were keeping tabs on the Eagles' wide receiver situation.

As has been well-documented, the Birds will have to get rid of either rookie Brandon Gibson, Reggie Brown or Hank Baskett. At this point, it would appear that Brown is the most likely to go.

Dave Hutchinson of The Newark Star-Ledger reports that the Jets are not "overly impressed" with Brown. Hutchinson says the price tag for Baskett might be too high.

Teams have to cut down their rosters to 75 players by Tuesday. And the deadline for the next round of cuts is Saturday. That's when teams have to get down to their 53-man rosters. So if a deal is made, it will come this week.

Of course, roster moves can be made at any time. The Redskins trimmed down their roster by five today.

***

As reported by Bob Brookover at Birds' Eye View, Omar Gaither is going to get reps with the first team at middle linebacker this week.

The things Gaither has going for him are that he's done it before, and he can stay on the field in nickel situations.

But this concerns me for a couple different reasons.

The Birds open their season two weeks from today, and they obviously have not been thrilled with how some of their reserves have performed so far this preseason. Joe Mays has been the primary man in the middle since Stewart Bradley went down with a torn ACL. But now, after seeing him play with the first team at training camp and three preseason games, the coaching staff is unconvinced that he is the guy.

Sure, Gaither was injured, but if Mays had done enough to show he deserved to be the starter, do you really think they'd be switching things up at this point? Seventh-round pick Moise Fokou has even seen time with the first team. In other words, the coaches are willing to give anyone a chance, but no one has made a strong enough impression.

The same could be said for the safety spot opposite Quintin Mikell. Quintin Demps has been given every opportunity to nail down the starting job, but we saw rookie Macho Harris running with the first team at times against the Jaguars. Did Sean McDermott and Andy Reid want to light a fire under Demps? Was it meant to reward Harris for his performance so far? Or does he legitimately have a chance to win the starting job? We won't know until the real games start.

But it's clear that the "lack of continuity" theme, which we've talked about so much with the offensive line, also applies to the defense.

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Yesterday we did the defense. Today we move to the other side of the ball.

Here are my observations on the offense after re-watching Thursday night's Eagles-Jaguars game:

** Let's start with the good. MTC has made no bones about it since last season. We are huge Jason Avant fans. In fact, if we gave out an award to an Eagles player who epitomizes the way MTC thinks the game should be played, Avant would be given the trophy. Here's what you know. Avant was the leading receiver for either team Thursday with five catches for 92 yards against the Jaguars. But that's not what stood out to us. Listen, Avant is sure-handed, runs good routes and reliable. He's never going to make a Pro Bowl and probably will never have a 1,000-yard season. But you win games with guys like Avant. On the Eagles' second drive, Donovan McNabb found Jeremy Maclin on a wide receiver screen. Avant, lined up on the same side of the field, took Jaguars cornerback Brian Williams to the ground with a textbook block to open up running room for Maclin, who picked up 9 yards and a first down. Avant gives full effort on every play and battles until the whistle blows. To steal Larry Brown's favorite line, he plays the game the right way.

** Jason Peters and LeSean McCoy also did nice jobs of cutting their men down at the line of scrimmage on the Maclin screen.

** More on Maclin. I thought he delivered by far his best performance to date. I'm more encouraged that Andy Reid is going to find some creative ways to get him the ball this season. In the second quarter, with the Eagles facing a 2nd-and-10, he did a nice job of breaking a tackle and getting to the marker. Overall, four catches for 53 yards and some quality reps with the starters.

** Analyst Hugh Douglas was ripping Maclin for being a little tentative after absorbing a big hit. What do we think? Was he a little too harsh?

** I thought Peters played better. He has plays where he looks like an All-Pro, and he has plays where he looks like a rookie. Maybe that's to be expected, given his injuries and the fact that he's on a new team. I really wish Reid wouldn't have called him the best tackle in football. I'm holding out judgement until he plays in the real games.

** On the other side, I'm still not comfortable with Winston Justice starting at right tackle Week 1. Not sure how he avoided a flag after getting beat by Reggie Hayward and then nailing him in the back in the first quarter. He got beat again in the third quarter, but McNabb got rid of the ball just in time to avoid a sack.

** Thirty-six throws for McNabb in a preseason game? I'm going to have to look up if that's a league-high for attempts so far.

** I'm concerned about how this line will react when facing blitzes early in the season. You saw it against the Jaguars, specifically up the middle and from the cornerback position. McNabb took some hits. I didn't think Jamaal Jackson had a particularly strong performance.

** Nick Cole and Max Jean-Gilles both saw time at left guard with the first team. Reid will have to make a decision on who gets the nod before Week 1, now that Todd Herremans will miss that game.

** Not a good job by Cole on a third-and-two LeSean McCoy run in the first quarter. But luckily the Eagles got a generous spot to earn a first down.

** Let's make a deal, Andy. You remove every play that involves an overhand lateral, and we'll agree to not question your play-calling. At least until Week 2.

** McNabb missed some throws, but also made some spectacular plays to avoid pressure and pick up big chunks of yardage.

** Another concern. This offense is historically slow to get the play in to McNabb, and it's resulted in numerous penalties and wasted timeouts over the years. How are they going to avoid those mishaps when Michael Vick comes on to the field for a play here and there? You saw them have to waste a timeout in this very situation in the first quarter.

** Blocking does not appear to be a strength of Kevin Curtis, and it was quite noticeable on a couple occasions. Once on a screen to McCoy. And another time on a screen to DeSean Jackson.

** Speaking of Jackson, he does a tremendous job of avoiding contact and going down at the right time after the catch. Many questioned last season whether he'd be able to stay healthy given his size. But so far he's had no problems.

** McCoy was late to pick up a blitzer in the second quarter, but McNabb escaped and found Maclin over the middle.

** As for the run game, 19 carries for 66 yards is not very good, but it's unfair to judge that aspect with Leonard Weaver sidelined. That's how much of a difference I think he's going to make.

** Zero carries for Lorenzo Booker. And did you notice whose been one of the Eagles' best players on special teams coverage this preseason? That's right. Eldra Buckley.

** You may have noticed that this was a relatively Vick-free post. I figured his six plays have been analyzed already at length. But a couple quick notes. On his dart to Hank Baskett, the Jaguars only rushed three, and Vick did a nice job of being patient and making a perfect throw. The whole Vick-McNabb relationship intrigues me. I'll explain more tomorrow and hope to provide a different spin on it.

Above are photos from yesterday's game.

Just got done re-watching the first three quarters of last night's Eagles-Jaguars game.

And I have more notes and thoughts than I know what to do with. We'll start with the defense and offer up some items on the offense later today or tomorrow.

Here goes:

** If you focused in only on Asante Samuel, you'd have thought it was a playoff game, not a preseason contest. Good to see that kind of intensity and effort from one of the team's leaders, especially after the defense looked suspect in the first two games. I almost wonder if Sean McDermott challenged him this week at practice. Samuel had an interception and laid a big hit on Jaguars wide receiver Nate Hughes to force a fumble at the goal line. Pass breakups, support against the run and even a near-block on a field goal. Samuel did it all last night.

** Better QB pressure from the Eagles yesterday. Their best pass rusher, Trent Cole, was back in the lineup, which had a lot to do with it, but the 'D' seemed to have more success blitzing as well. Victor Abiamiri did a nice job getting a push up the middle, twice getting to the Jaguars' quarterbacks and once beating a double team. The Eagles' coaching staff talks about Abiamiri as a guy who it expects to be a major contributor if he's healthy. Maybe there's something to that.

** I've said it before, but defensive tackle is a major strength for this defense. Mike Patterson and Broderick Bunkley have Pro Bowl potential, and are going to be a handful for offenses in short yardage. Bunkley had a forced fumble, and Patterson had a sack, which was largely due to good coverage. Trevor Laws even made a nice play in the Jaguars' backfield once he got in the game.

** Linebacker continues to be a work in progress. Translation: I'm not sure these guys make enough plays. Joe Mays had his ups and downs. He did get to the quarterback once, but he also missed a tackle on a screen pass to Maurice Jones-Drew, which went for a first down late in the first quarter. Akeem Jordan was probably the best linebacker on the field for the Birds.

** Moise Fokou got a shot at middle linebacker with the first team and was whistled for a couple penalties, including one that gave the Jaguars a first down on 3rd-and-19. But here's an example of why the staff has given Fokou a shot, and why he deserves a spot on this roster. Brian Witherspoon returned a David Akers kickoff 61 yards in the third quarter. Fokou was in on coverage and was passed by Witherspoon at the Jaguars' 25-yard line. However, he never gave up on the play, and guess who finally brought Witherspoon down at the Eagles' 33-yard line? That's right. Fokou. Great hustle by the rookie.

** Macho Harris saw some extended time with the first team at safety opposite Quintin Mikell. But he suffered a sprained ankle and will have an MRI today. Quintin Demps got the start. Which begs the question: What happened to Sean Jones? The Eagles' free-agent addition saw no time with the first-team defense by my count, and it looks like Harris has jumped him on the depth chart.

** Speaking of Demps, good job recovering the fumble in the third quarter. Bad job after he started running. Demps carried the ball loosely in his right hand and tried to lateral it after he was out of bounds. It took Andy Reid about two seconds to find Demps and let him know that was not OK. On another play, Demps missed a tackle on tight end Mercedes Lewis.

** Ellis Hobbs had by far his best performance of the preseason. Good in coverage and good in run support. The Jaguars attacked Hobbs quite a bit early, and he did a nice job. You may have noticed that Hobbs is very demonstrative and celebrates after almost every play. At Lehigh, he explained that he was not allowed to show emotion in New England, so he's making up for lost time now that he's on a new team.

Donovan McNabb and the first-team offense had five possessions in the red zone tonight against the Jaguars.

They came away with two touchdowns, two field goals and a turnover. But in the first half, the Eagles came away empty on all three trips inside the Jaguars' 20 yard line. McNabb explained after the game that this was not their red-zone offense.

But then again, last year we saw their red-zone offense, and the results were not very good.

So I went back and took a look at every play they ran inside the red zone on those five drives. Here's the breakdown:

Drive 1: David Akers 31-yard field goal

Play 1 - The Eagles entered the red zone after Michael Vick targeted Hank Baskett for a 13-yard gain to the Jaguars' 14-yard line. They then ran a screen pass to LeSean McCoy. McNabb was set up in shotgun with three receivers. For a second, it looked like McCoy would pick up 7 or 8 yards, but cornerback Tyron Brackenridge flew to the ball and brought him down for a short gain. Poor job of blocking by Kevin Curtis on the outside.

Play 2 - McNabb set up in shotgun once again with four receivers split out wide, including tight end Brent Celek. The Jaguars brought a blitz up the middle with linebacker Russell Allen. It looked like he was Jamaal Jackson's responsibility, but Jackson was slow to react, and Allen got in McNabb's face quickly, forcing him to throw it away to the far sideline.

Play 3 - For the third straight play, McNabb was in the shotgun, this time with two running backs and three wide receivers. It's Brackenridge again, this time coming untouched on a delayed blitz from McNabb's blind side. When the ball was snapped, he was on Curtis, and McNabb never saw him coming. Brackenridge nailed McNabb just as he released the ball, causing a near-interception in the end zone.

Drive 2: Fumble returned for a 92-yard touchdown

Play 1: Well, this one's easy since there was only one play. After a couple nice catches by Jeremy Maclin, the offense found itself at the Jaguars' 1-yard line with a first-and-goal. McNabb set up under center with Kyle Eckel and LeSean McCoy in the backfield, DeSean Jackson and Hank Baskett to the far side and Brent Celek in at tight end. McNabb looked for McCoy on the near side out of the backfield, he dropped the ball, which was a lateral, and Brian Iwuh returned it for a 92-yard touchdown. As I said during our live chat, I hated every aspect of this play. The call was no good. McNabb should know better than to make that pass behind the line of scrimmage. Way too risky. And McCoy ran a puzzling route where even if he would have made the catch, it would have resulted in a loss. To make matters worse, either none of the Eagles players knew the rule, or none of them felt like hustling, because the Jaguars' 239-pound linebacker was all by himself on the way to the end zone. McCoy was the only guy who gave any kind of chase. The rest of the offensive players just stopped.

Drive 3: Akers 21-yard field goal

Play 1: McNabb in shotgun with four wide receivers and Celek in at tight end. Keep in mind that there was less than 40 seconds left and the Eagles had no timeouts, so they had to throw the ball. McNabb looked for Celek in the end zone, but guess who made a great play on the ball? Sean Considine. I know. One of your favorites.

Play 2: McNabb under center with three receivers, Celek and McCoy in the backfield. The Jaguars once again brought a blitz up the middle. This time, it was up to Winston Justice to pick up the linebacker, but he didn't realize until it was too late. McNabb had to force a throw in Jackson's direction for an incompletion.

Play 3: Same formation as the previous play. McNabb delivered a pretty good throw on the fade to Baskett on the far side. Brackenridge was there on coverage and got a hand up, but Baskett still had a pretty good chance to make the catch. He couldn't hold on though. By the way, if you're keeping track at home, that's seven plays in the red zone, all passing plays, in the first half.

Drive 4: McCoy 4-yard TD run

Play 1: McNabb set up in shotrun at the Jaguars' 18-yard line. Hank Baskett and Jason Avant stayed in momentarily to help with protection before going out into their routes. McCoy stayed in to block as well. McNabb had a wide open throwing lane over the middle and delivered a strike to Maclin at the 4-yard line. Maclin was shaken up on the play, but nice execution all around here.

Play 2: With 1st-and-goal from the 4, McNabb set up under center with three receivers and McCoy in the backfield. The handoff went to McCoy, and McNabb faked the end around to Jackson. This brought the Jaguars cornerback away from the far side of the field, which was right where McCoy went. He uses his speed to turn the corner at the perfect time and avoided two Jaguars defenders.

Drive 5: 3-yard TD pass to Marcus Mailei

Play 1: McNabb set up under center with three wide receivers and McCoy in the backfield. The Jaguars rushed only four, and McNabb hit Jackson over the middle for a gain of 9 yards.

Play 2: On 2nd-and-1, the Eagles set up in the I-formation with two receivers out wide. The line and Mailei created a hole for McCoy, who took it down to the 3-yard line for a first down.

Play 3: The Eagles went to McCoy up the middle once again, but this time with no fullback to lead the way. Jaguars linebacker and Penn State product Tim Shaw made a nice play to stop him for no gain.

Play 4: The Eagles ran play-action to McCoy after two straight runs, and McNabb found Mailei on the far side. The fullback did a nice job of finding the pylon and got in the end zone.

Well, that didn't take long.

Apparently some Eagles fans saw enough on five plays from Michael Vick to call for him to replace Donovan McNabb in the third quarter.

The "We want Vick" chants broke out at the Linc and could be heard on the TV broadcast after McNabb threw an interception.

Those of you at the Linc could give a better idea of just how loud they were and how many people were participating.

As always, I assume it was a vocal minority, but again, you could hear the chants on TV. The national media should have a field day with this one.

We knew this would come at some point, but I figured it might wait until at least the regular season started. What happens when Vick is eligible to play and McNabb has a bad game, or a bad quarter, or a bad play?

Here are some things I'll be following during tonight's game:

** We get to see 60 percent  of the offensive line in action. Usually that would be a bad sign, since two players are still missing, but this has not been a usual preseason. You could make the argument that we're actually seeing 80 percent of the line, if you think Shawn Andrews will be absent Week 1 and it'll be Winston Justice starting. I'll try to watch Justice closely as I've done during the first two preseason games. If he were the starting right tackle in Week 1, I'd be concerned. We also want to see Jason Peters deliver a better performance than he did in the first preseason game. And we get to see Stacy Andrews for the first time. There's no doubt in my mind that the Eagles' offense will be as good as the line allows it to be. The talent is there at the skill positions, but if the line does not protect Donovan McNabb, or open holes for Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy, it's going to be a long season.

** Speaking of Westbrook, it will be great to see him back on the field. His progress has probably been the most encouraging sign of the preseason. Westbrook's health was a major concern going into Lehigh, but he has been ahead of schedule all the way through, and tonight he will get knocked around a little bit before most likely sitting out the final preseason game. Just please don't let him get knocked around too much, Andy.

** Very interested to see how the middle linebacker competition plays out. Will Joe Mays stay in during nickel situations? Will Moise Fokou get some playing time early? It appears at this point that the coaching staff has not seen a solution it likes and is willing to try anything, which is fine. That's what happens when your starting middle linebacker goes down with a torn ACL.

** Who wants the last spot at wide receiver? In Les Bowen's roster breakdown, he predicted it would be Hank Baskett and Brandon Gibson. Paul Domowitch said there's a chance Reggie Brown could get dealt to the Jets or Ravens. Do the Eagles make a concerted effort to show Brown off tonight? Wouldn't be a bad idea.

** I'm still looking for more playmakers on defense. Other than Asante Samuel and Trent Cole, I'm not sure anyone fits the description. But unlike the first two games, the defense is not facing a Hall of Fame quarterback. It would be nice to see them deliver a strong showing against a pretty mediocre offense (finished last season 20th in the NFL).

** There's also special teams, Jason Babin and the safeties not named Quintin Mikell. Plus that Michael Vick guy. To be honest, I could care less about the off-field Vick stuff tonight. I want to see how Reid uses him, but I wonder how much he's actually going to unveil. Join me for a live chat at 7 p.m. We'll provide instant updates and commentary throughout. Talk to you then.

When we wrote about this earlier today, we just wanted to point out that the man organizing the pro-Michael Vick rally had ripped Donovan McNabb a few years ago.

Now all of a sudden, this is our third post on the topic. And yes, we're tired of it.

But in the purpose of getting things right, J. Whyatt Mondesire, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP, told the Associated Press this evening that he and other civil rights groups plan on going ahead with their pro-Vick march tomorrow evening.

Just a few hours ago, Mondesire went on the radio and said the chances of him proceeding with the rally were three in 10. He explained that he had talked to the Eagles' management twice, and since there weren't any anti-Vick rallies planned, there really was not any need for the pro-Vick rally.

However, either Mondesire got new information or just changed his mind. He told ESPN.com that the Eagles asked him to cancel the rally to diffuse a potentially "ugly scene."

But it looks like the Eagles were not successful in fanning the flames on this one. And there will likely be many more situations just like this as the season goes on.

Forgive us if we choose to ignore them though on MTC. We've learned our lesson.