So on the team's flight home last night from Minneapolis after a 23-16 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, Runyan didn't have to worry about some flight attendant ordering him to sit down and buckle his safety belt during take off and landing.

"It'll be a standing plane ride," Runyan said after making his 185th straight NFL start. "I either have to stand or lay down. There is no sitting."

Still suffering from what has been reported as a fractured tailbone, Runyan did not practice last week. But the 12-year veteran said not playing was never an option for him.

"In my mind, I'm playing if I can get out there," Runyan said. "It would be more deciding not to play, and that's never in my mind. I haven't sat down in a week-and-a-half, but that's a different story."

While Runyan said he was "not allowed to answer that," when asked if he actually fractured his tailbone when he fell when stepping out of a tub 11 days ago, he said his butt bone "hurt like hell."

"I got enough therapy done on it to play. I feel all right when I play. It's not normal, but that's any injury. You just deal with it so you can play."

Runyan said that while the injury makes sitting painful, that was not the reason he stood during the game when the Eagles' defense was on the field. He said he never sits between offensive series anymore.

"When you been in the league as long as I have, things tend to lock up if you sit during the game," he said. "I'm all right when I play. It's getting from this game to the next game that is the tough part.

"I feel a lot better than I did last week, but we'll see how it feels [today]."

Runyan, who didn't miss any of the Eagles' 64 offensive plays against the Vikings, might not practice again this week, but he expects to be out there again on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys for his 186th consecutive start.

"It's a pain in my [butt] because it's literally a pain in my [butt] and [the injury] didn't happen while playing football,'' he said. "That's what makes it more frustrating." *