Jackson, who was expected to earn his rookie keep primarily as the Eagles' punt returner, is looking more and more like a guy who is going to have a fairly significant season-opening role in the offense as well.

The 5-9, 175-pound wideout continued his impressive preseason with another solid performance in the Eagles' 24-13 win over Carolina last night. Jackson finished with seven catches for 71 yards against the Panthers. Last week, he had a team-high five catches for 51 yards in the Eagles' 16-10 exhibition loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"Coach Marty [Mornhinweg] and coach Reid have a lot of things in the offense for me,'' Jackson said. "They have a lot of confidence in me and are giving me an opportunity to help this team out. I feel I'm better from the last game to this game. Coming off the ball. Running my routes.''

Last night, playing with the No. 1 offense in the first half, Jackson had two more receptions, picking up first downs with both of them. He hauled in an 11-yard pass from Donovan McNabb on a third-and-3 play on the Eagles' first possession, then caught an 8-yard slant pass for another first down on their second possession.

Earlier on that drive, McNabb went to him on a deep route. Jackson showed his speed when he blew by Panthers cornerback Dante Wesley. Had him beat by two steps, but McNabb's pass ended up being just a little out of his reach.

McNabb went to him twice more in the first half. On another slant route early in the second quarter, Jackson drew a 9-yard pass-interference penalty on cornerback Richard Marshall. Later in the second quarter, Jackson nearly made an acrobatic catch on a third-and-7 pass from McNabb, but the ball came loose when he hit the ground.

Jackson gave wet Eagles fans a glimpse of his home-run potential as a punt returner in the second quarter when he took a Jason Baker punt, got around the corner and returned it 27 yards. That's the good news. The bad news is he fumbled the ball when he was hit from behind by Wesley. The fumble was recovered by the Eagles' Matt Schobel.

Reid's West Coast offense isn't easy for rookies to learn. But Jackson, who played in a pro-style offense at Cal, has done an excellent job picking it up.

"He's a smart kid,'' Reid said the other day. "The volume got to him a little bit as we got toward the end of our installs [in the spring minicamps]. That's understandable. I wasn't shocked by it. He's an intelligent kid and he wants to be good. He has that drive. We'll see how he continues here.''

As long as he stays healthy, Jackson will continue to get a lot of reps both in practice and the remaining two preseason games.

Starting wideout Reggie Brown, who had missed a week of camp with a foot injury, left last night's game early in the first quarter with a hamstring injury. Another wideout, Jason Avant, also is sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Just wondering

How in the world did the zebras not manage to see that Donovan McNabb had crossed the line of scrimmage on his 27-yard completion to Lorenzo Booker on a third-and-2 play early in the second quarter? After Panthers coach John Fox used an instant-replay challenge, the officials promptly reversed the no-call. *

Did you notice?

* Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel were the starting cornerbacks. When Lito Sheppard came in on third down in their nickel package, Brown moved inside to the slot.

* The Eagles used their first timeout less than 3 minutes into the game, on third-and-1 from their own 36. After the timeout, fullback Jed Collins ran the ball for a 3-yard gain.

* Donovan McNabb completed his first five pass attempts before throwing his first incompletion, an overthrow of an open Kevin Curtis in the middle of the field.

* One of Andy Reid's pregame goals was cutting down on penalties. But the Eagles committed two in the first 8 1/2 minutes of the game and three in the first quarter, including one in the red zone.

* Washington State free agent Jed Collins continued to improve his chances of winning the starting fullback job with his special-teams play. Collins made the tackle on the opening kickoff of the game. He also picked up that first down on the Eagles' first possession. With the Eagles expected to keep only one fullback, Reid has made it clear the job probably will go to the player who can make the biggest special- teams contribution.

* With left tackle Tra Thomas not playing because of back spasms, left guard Todd Herremans replaced him on the outside. Scott Young replaced Herremans inside at guard.

* Samuel, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, didn't return to the game after the 58-minute, first-quarter lightning delay.

* Lorenzo Booker dropped two first-half kickoff returns. Yes, it was raining, but you still have to hang on to the ball. Booker never has returned kickoffs before. He also had trouble finding the handle on a ground-ball kickoff to open the second half.

* The Eagles' No. 1 defense allowed just four first downs and 90 net yards in the first half.

* The Eagles managed to get through the game without a serious injury.

* Right guard Max Jean-Gilles whiffed on a block attempt on linebacker Landon Johnson on a second-quarter screen pass to Correll Buckhalter. Johnson ended up making the tackle on Buckhalter. This came after Jean-Gilles was called for two illegal-hands-to-the-face penalties on the previous three plays. Jean-Gilles also got flagged for a holding penalty in the red zone late in the first quarter.