Jackson, who showed game-changing potential as a wideout and as a punt returner in the preseason, was in his most humble, low-key mode yesterday. The skinny little second-rounder from Cal was just going to keep working hard and doing his best, and so on. He wasn't going to tell Reid, Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook to stop wasting their breath, that he could handle it.

But you know he thinks he can.

Someone asked if teammates were warning him that the Rams, who visit Lincoln Financial Field Sunday, would try to jam and bump and manhandle his 5-10, 175-pound frame.

"I definitely expect a lot of the teams, not just the Rams, to try to do whatever they're going to do to try to mix it up. But that's football. I'm going to go out and give it my best, hopefully come away with a great game,'' Jackson said after Reid confirmed that Jackson would play in the "Z'' spot, which was Reid announcing Jackson was going to start without actually saying it. "That [teammates warning him] is not the situation. When I say it's football - whatever it is, it's going to happen on the field and I'm just going to deal with it.

"I hear [teammates caution that Jackson is just a rookie] and it's motivation, you know, to want to go out there and prove to all the guys here that I can get the job done,'' he said. "When I hear it, I just know I've got some things to be doing.''

Last year's leading receiver, Kevin Curtis, is out several more weeks while recovering from sports hernia surgery. The other returning starter, Reggie Brown, was listed as a limited practice participant yesterday, as he recovers from a hamstring injury. He seems likely to play against the Rams, alongside Jackson, with Hank Baskett and Greg Lewis alternating in the slot. At "Z,'' Jackson will be a flanker, and can line up off the line to avoid being jammed.

"He is going to have an opportunity to play this week, probably a bit more than [previous rookies] did,'' Reid said of Jackson. "We'll see. He'll have a great challenge this week, because their defense is very active, and their corners like to get right up on you and challenge you every play. Even in the zone coverage, they are going to be up there challenging you, so this will be good work for him.''

McNabb went so far as to suggest that Freddie Mitchell and Todd Pinkston began their careers under a similar weight of expectation. (If you just couldn't wait to see what that Pinkston kid was going to do in the 2000 opener, raise your hand.)

Asked how important Jackson is to the offense, McNabb went into max-protection mode.

"I think all our guys are important, not just DeSean,'' McNabb scolded. "I think you have to remember, he's still a rookie. This isn't the preseason anymore, this is the regular season, where you'll see a lot of different things that you didn't see in the preseason. I think the one thing that we can do to help DeSean is, every other guy has to step their game up and be able to make as many plays [as possible] so we won't count on him so much. He's going to be doing a lot for us; you talk about special teams, you talk about playing offense, rotating in and out, having to know what plays are being called, where he's at, moving him around.''

Westbrook seemed to have a more realistic take.

"There is going to be a little pressure on him, but I think this is the type of situation that he wanted to come into, and now he is going to get the opportunity,'' Westbrook said. "We expect big things from him.''

Birdseed