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So, Eagles wide receivers Jason Avant, Hank Baskett, DeSean Jackson, Greg Lewis and tight end L.J. Smith, the only thing I can say after yesterday's spectacular display of pass catching is, "Proper respect to you."
When Eagles coach Andy Reid kept saying he was OK with his receivers, I was one who despairingly said, "Well, OOOOK."
When the players in question insisted they were a capable receiving corps, I raised a skeptical eyebrow as high as anyone.
Going into the season opener when the remaining receivers said they would rise to the occasion with No.1 Kevin Curtis and No. 2 Reggie Brown missing, I was far from convinced.
I was wrong.
I don't know what this means for the rest of the season, but at least in this 38-3 shellacking of the St. Louis Rams, Eagles receivers answered every doubt and/or criticism that's been leveled against them.
That the Eagles had 26 catches and accumulated 414 receiving yards was shocking.
That they did it with multitalented running back Brian Westbrook contributing just two catches and 1 receiving yard was unimaginable, at least until it happened.
On a day when the biggest question had to be the Eagles pass-catchers, they had three 100-yard receivers - rookie Jackson (106 yards), Lewis (104) and Baskett (102) - in a game for the first time since Tommy McDonald, Pete Retzlaff and Timmy Brown did it in 1960 – the Birds' last championship season.
Unexpected doesn't do justice to what to call that performance.
"Did I think we could do it?" Baskett said, "Yes, because of the work we put in during the offseason and the extra time spent between the quarterbacks and receivers.
"Everyone else was talking about No. 1 receivers, and the guys in the locker room were confident in each other."
If nothing else, this game will give the Dallas Cowboys another thing to think about as they prepare for next week's "Monday Night Football" clash with the Birds.
I'm sure the Cowboys will be trying to figure out what this means as much as I am.
Once Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb had passed for 297 yards with three touchdowns and had a quarterback rating of 148.8 by halftime, I asked longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz if the Rams defense was truly that bad.
He assured me it was.
But I don't want to deflect from the Eagles receivers because no matter whom they are playing against, they still have to catch the ball and make the plays.
And some of the receptions the Eagles made were simply big-time football plays.
Jackson got it started on the second snap of the game when he made a spectacular 47-yard catch with St. Louis cornerback Tye Hill draped over him, coming as close to committing pass interference without getting flagged.
There was Avant making a 31-yard catch down the middle on a third-and-12 pass that kept the Eagles' second touchdown drive alive.
That scoring sequence ended with Smith, who had five catches for 39 yards, making a tiptoe catch in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard score.
At the end of the second quarter, the Eagles were deep in their own territory and probably should have been thinking about running out the clock, but Baskett ran a double-move on a third-and-8 and blew by his defender.
When McNabb hit him in stride it turned into a backbreaking 90-yard catch-and-run that increased the advantage to three touchdowns with 60 seconds left in the half.
Jackson, who certainly lived up to his rookie hype with a game-high six catches, made another difficult grab in the third quarter that gained 25 yards and set up a touchdown run by Hunt.
Lewis averaged 20.8 yards on his five receptions.
Obviously, there are a lot of facets that go into a big passing day like this - the composed play of McNabb and the dominating performance of an offensive line that gave him an eternity to survey the field and find his guys.
But again, the receivers still had to make the catches.
I don't know what this means long term.
We'll learn a lot more a week from tonight when the competition figures to rise up a few notches in Texas Stadium.
It's hard to say what the carry-over effect will be, but the Eagles receivers have shown they have the ability to get the job done.
"A lot to times you get an unfair rap based on past history and past personnel," Avant said. "We just wanted to show we could play and continue it."
If they keep playing the way they did against the Rams, even I know that will be good enough. *
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For recent columns, go to
http://go.philly.com/smallwood.
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