Which is to say, McNabb, their $12 million franchise quarterback who has been to five Pro Bowls, would have not received the snap 12 percent of the time, even if his rib hadn't been broken last week in the opener.

"We probably still would have used it [as frequently], yeah," Reid said.

So, asked if he went to the Wildcat to protect Kolb, Reid clearly denied it.

Reid was the only one.

"I'm sure some of it was because I was back there," Kolb said.

"I honestly feel we definitely needed to do whatever we could do to get Kolb comfortable," said receiver DeSean Jackson, who, to date, is the most frequent Wildcat wild card.

"We're trying some wrinkles there to take some pressure off Kolb," said receiver Jason Avant.

Not that it didn't work.

The Eagles snapped to a player other than Kolb nine times. Seven were running plays, which averaged 6.4 yards per play, including Brian Westbrook's team-high, 16-yard scoot that helped set up a field goal in the second quarter to tie the game at 10.

The first Wildcat play of the day, the Birds' third offensive play of the game, gained 6 yards for Jackson . . . who, on the next play, against a Saints defense perhaps eager to squelch further Wildcat success, caught a 71-yard bomb that tied the game at 7.

Might the Wildcat usage - seven times in the first quarter and a half - thrown off Kolb's rhythm?

"It really didn't," Kolb said.

"I don't think it disrupted us at all. The plays we used the Wildcat, it definitely was successful," Jackson said.

"That was one of the plusses," Reid said.

One of the minuses was that the Wildcat failed twice, nearly spectacularly.

Near the end of the first quarter, on second-and-5 at the Eagles' 45, Kolb lined up at receiver. Jeremy Maclin took the snap, handed off to Brian Westbrook, who ran left and handed off to Kolb, who fired downfield, incomplete, to Maclin, a long, lazy pass at midfield. The play was well-defended. The Eagles wound up punting.

Late in the third quarter, down by 21, on second-and-goal from the Saints' 4, Westbrook took the snap, rolled right, drew two defenders and threw behind fullback Leonard Weaver - the sort of pass that gets intercepted, perhaps for a score, and wastes a drive.

Neither was a disaster. So, with Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg calling the plays, expect the Eagles' Wildcat attack to develop further.

Michael Vick comes off his two-game suspension this week. He was signed to be the X-factor in the Eagles' Wildcat attack.

If McNabb does not start Sunday when the Chiefs visit, or even if he does, the addition of Vick to the mix in which Westbrook and Jackson have been moderately effective will surely result in more of those types of plays.

"Marty likes to do a lot of trickery stuff to throw the defense off-guard," Jackson said.

Especially when the Birds can't count on their normal alignment. Clearly, that was the case yesterday, as Jackson said:

"We just needed to do whatever we could do to throw the defense off-guard in the situation we were dealing with."

Which is to say, a first-time starting quarterback.

Not that that mattered.