IS BUYING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIS
Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel was listed as doubtful for Thursday night's game against Arizona because of a neck stinger.
Samuel was injured in the Eagles' loss to Baltimore last Sunday and has not practiced this week.
That is bad news for a secondary that has just one interception in its last four games and is facing a high-powered Cardinals offense led by Kurt Warner with a deep passing game that features Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Breaston and Jerheme Urban.
The Cardinals are second in total offense at 390.7 yards per game (New Orleans is first at 411.9) and second in passing yardage at 309.6 yards per game (New Orleans is also first there at 319.5).
Lito Sheppard would start if Samuel cannot play.
"When you have a group of receivers that this cat is throwing the ball to, not taking anything away from him, but if you look at the routes, if you look at some of the passes, he’s putting things right on the money," Brian Dawkins said of Warner. "Those guys don’t have to do anything but catch the ball and continue to run, so obviously he’s putting the ball where it needs to be ... I think for a couple of years there his confidence might have been a little down, a little shaky. People were talking about, he’s fumbling the ball too much and all that stuff, but now he’s not doing that as much and he’s putting the ball in his playmakers’ hands.”
Running back Correll Buckhalter, who has said he will not play because of a knee injury, is listed as doubtful.
Brian Westbook is listed as questionable because of knee and ankle injuries but practiced for the first time this week on Wednesday. He was listed as questionable last week as well and played against the Ravens.
Defensive lineman Darren Howard practiced Wednesday after not practicing Tuesday and is listed as probable. Howard injured his neck against Baltimore.
For the Cardinals, former Eagles cornerback Rod Hood could be a game-time decision because of injured ribs.
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Thought this was interesting from the Arizona Republic about how the teams are dealing with the short week of preparation. Both the Eagles and Cardinals coaches were doing some film work on each other even before they had played their games last Sunday.
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.
