IS BUYING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIS
The Eagles are ranked 30th in the NFL in kick returns, averaging 20.1 yards per return. Only Tennessee and Oakland have a lower average.
The Birds are expected to turn to Macho Harris over Jeremy Maclin for Sunday night's game against Chicago, with Ellis Hobbs out following season-ending spinal surgery and Quintin Demps sidelined with a high ankle sprain.
“I like [Macho]," special teams coordinator Ted Daisher said. "He’s very aggressive. He hits it up in there north and south, very decisive with the ball in his hands. He has some toughness. He has a good feel on how to run the ball.
"I think Jeremy has potential to be a good returner and if we did a little better job blocking I think he would get the same results.”
The Eagles have had a significant numbers of penalties on special teams, which helps account for their poor resuls statistically, Daisher said.
“Statistically we may be down there, but if you’re an opponent playing us I think you need prepare very hard to play our kickoff return unit and our return game," Daisher said. "We have some excellent returners. I think the penalties have played a role. Obviously we would be ranked much higher if those things weren’t involved. We’re making progress. Are we where I’d like us to be right now? No, but I think we’re going in the right direction.”
On the other side of the field, the marquee name is Devin Hester, who is no longer returning kickoffs but remains the punt returner. He has returned 17 this season with a 9.9-yard average and a long of 33 yards.
“We have tremendous respect for Devin Hester," Daisher said. "I’ve watched him over the last several years; he’s obviously as good a punt returner as there has ever been, in my opinion. We have to do a good job of being disciplined, staying in our lanes and executing because if you have any problems at all with your coverage, he’ll exploit it.”
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.
