Paul Domowitch: LeSean needs to get a handle on things

ON THE Eagles' fourth possession of Sunday's ugly 13-9 loss to the Raiders, LeSean McCoy committed the Two Deadly Sins for an Andy Reid-coached running back.

He fumbled and he blew a blitz-pickup.

Took a handoff from Donovan McNabb at his 11 and cut through a hole on the left side of the line, only to have Raiders defensive end Richard Seymour circle around behind him and knock the ball from his grasp. Much to his relief, center Jamaal Jackson fell on the loose ball.

Four plays later, on a third-and-2 at the Oakland 27, the rookie failed to pick up Raiders linebacker Thomas Howard on a blitz. McNabb had tight end Alex Smith open for what would have been a first down on the play. But the unblocked Howard hit him just as he was releasing the ball, forcing an incompletion.

It wasn't a coincidence that McCoy, who had been rotating with Brian Westbrook, spent a lot more time on the sideline than the playing field the rest of the game.

"They're big on those things," the rookie said. "Any back can run the ball. It's what else can you do. They care a lot about [pass] protection and ball security."

Officially, Sunday's fumble was McCoy's first of the season. But he also put the ball on the ground in Week 1 against Carolina on his first NFL carry. Reid challenged the call and it was reversed after the replay showed McCoy's knee had touched the ground before the ball came loose.

"I've just got to change my [ballcarrying] style a little bit," McCoy said. "I always took it for granted that I wouldn't [fumble]. I need to focus on it, work on covering it up and holding it tight. Remembering the importance of protecting it."

He has an excellent role model. Westbrook is one of the best nonfumbling backs in the league. Since 2004, he's fumbled just seven times in 1,513 touches.

"I've talked a lot to LeSean about ball-security," Westbrook said. "I was told early on in my career that if you don't secure the ball, you won't be playing a lot. I think he understands that."

Westbrook said the way McCoy holds the ball is conducive to fumbling.

"He swings the ball a lot when he runs," he said. "In college, you can get away with that a little bit because you're a lot faster than the other guys and the defense isn't attacking the ball as much. They're just trying to make a play.

"But in this league, the guys are too fast, too strong, and they're constantly trying to get the ball out of your hand."

Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel already has four interceptions in five games. That's the good news. The bad news is he has at least twice that many missed tackles.

Had a costly one Sunday when he whiffed while allegedly trying to tackle Raiders tight end Zach Miller on his 86-yard touchdown catch-and-run. Miller beat Jeremiah Trotter on the play, but if Samuel had done his job, it would have been just a 30-yard gain rather than seven points.

Making matters worse, Samuel not only missed the tackle, he also managed take down Trotter, who was about to catch Miller from behind.

Asked yesterday if Samuel's lame tackling is just something he has to swallow hard and accept in exchange for the guy's ball-hawking skills, Reid said: "He's going to keep working at that. And we'll keep working with him as coaches. He'll get better with that part of his game."

Yeah, right. Maybe next time he won't close his eyes when he tries to bring somebody down.

* Michael Crabtree, the 49ers' first-round pick, missed training camp, missed the preseason and missed the first five games of the season before finally ending a pointless 72-day holdout a couple of weeks ago. Yet, the rookie wide receiver is expected to be in the starting lineup Sunday when the 3-2 'Niners face the Houston Texans. "When you have a guy like that, it doesn't - you don't have to be a Phi Beta Kappa to figure out [he should play]," coach Mike Singletary said. "If the guy can play, if he can make plays, put him on the field. Give him a chance. Let's see what he can do. I could be stubborn. I could be a knucklehead and say, 'You know what? He wasn't here, so [another] guy is going to start and that's the way it's going to be.' Well, you know what? I think I want to be fair to the team. The team comes first, and the team wants to win. And we're going to do all that we can to make sure that we have the best 11 people on the field at all times that give us a chance to win."

* The Titans are 0-6 after Sunday's embarrassing 59-0 loss to the Patriots, and Titans owner Bud Adams is in no mood to give his coach of 15 years, Jeff Fisher, a vote of confidence. In an interview with the Tennessean newspaper, he left open the possibility of firing Fisher after the season, if the team doesn't turn things around. "If we end up losing every game or don't look better, I'd have to look at that pretty hard, you know what I mean?" Adams said. "The way it is going, I don't know if we'll win any games, and that is unheard of in the National Football League. Right now, it's as bad as I've seen it, and that's a long time. I've never had a team start out like this. We had the best record in the NFL last year. I can't understand it."

* The Browns used quarterback/wide receiver Josh Cribbs 13 times in the Wildcat formation last week against the Steelers. Cribbs was the team's leading ground-gainer, rushing for 45 yards on six carries out of the formation. He attempted just two passes, including one that was intercepted.

FROM THE LIP:

* "I don't know what a Dan Snyder coach looks like and I don't think Dan Snyder knows what a Dan Snyder coach looks like. That's fairly obvious now as he's been through six head coaches in 10 years. The problem is that Jim was hired as an offensive coordinator and then promoted to head coach and yet, the coaching position that Jim was given, he was told who his coaches were going to be. He was told who his players were going to be. He didn't have any opportunity to go, seek and find players and coaches that he wanted to fill out the team with a couple of exceptions." - Hall of Fame WR Steve Largent, on his best friend, Redskins coach Jim Zorn, being stripped of his playcalling duties by the team's owner

* "When they told me I was being traded, my heart dropped. But when they told me where, my heart started smiling again." - North Carolina native Tank Tyler, after the defensive tackle learned he had been traded by the Chiefs to the Panthers

* "I've coached in a lot of games and to be honest with you, I can't say that I can recall them [all]. But I doubt this is a game that you would play in or coach in and look back in 10 years and [not remember]." - Patriots coach Bill Belichick, on his team's trip to London this week to play the Bucs

* "He's obviously a tough guy. I stopped the tape multiple times to point out Matt taking big-time shots from 300-plus pound defenders in an effort to let the other guys know that they need to do their part. This guy is going to stand in and take kind of a beating. We need everybody kind of thinking and acting like that." - Chiefs coach Todd Haley, on the pounding his quarterback, Matt Cassel, has taken already this year

BY THE NUMBERS:

* The Falcons haven't allowed a sack in their last four games. Quarterback Matt Ryan has been sacked just twice in 156 pass attempts.

* Three teams - the Chiefs, Rams and Bills - haven't scored a rushing touchdown this year.

* If the Vikings run their record to 7-0 Sunday with a win over the Steelers, Brett Favre can tie the immortal Dieter Brock, of the 1985 Rams, for the most consecutive wins by a quarterback to start a season with a new team since 1970.

* The Dolphins have converted a league-best 17 of 20 (85 percent) third-down opportunities of 2 yards or fewer. The Colts (12-for-15) and Bucs (8-for-10) are second at 80 percent. The Eagles have converted seven of 10 (70 percent).

* Six weeks into the season, there are eight quarterbacks with 100-plus passer ratings, including two Mannings, a 40-year-old guy named Brett Favre and Kyle Orton. Kyle Orton?

* The Giants' five starting offensive linemen have played 38 straight games together. The Giants are 27-11 in those 38 games.

* The Chiefs, who snapped a nine-game losing streak with Sunday's win over the Redskins, haven't won back-to-back games since October 2007.

THUMBS DOWN:

* To Eagles coach Andy Reid, for his senseless, pass-happy playcalling in Sunday's 13-9 loss to the Raiders. Even though the Eagles never trailed by more than seven points, he called an insane 54 pass plays and just 12 run plays. Reid did this despite losing his starting left tackle, Jason Peters, to a knee injury early in the game. He didn't do much to keep quarterback Donovan McNabb, who was sacked six times, out of harm's way. The Eagles used two-tight end sets on just 17 of their 66 offensive plays.

THUMBS UP:

* To Redskins coach Jim Zorn, for the classy way he is dealing with owner Dan Snyder's unclassy decision to strip him of his playcalling duties and give them to former bingo-caller Sherm Lewis. "The reason that I can comply with this is simply because of the lack of scoring," Zorn said. "I tried to soul-search all those things. But there's a lot of people involved. This is a big organization. It has some strong leaders and I hope I'm one of those strong leaders. Sometimes we have to do things that are uncomfortable. If this has to be done, if this is going to be the key, then I'm certainly willing to give it a try, because we're 2-4."

* To Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens, who so far is being the good soldier in Buffalo despite the fact that he has just 15 catches in six games. Yeah, I know that'll probably change at some point and he'll go ballistic and do ab crunches in the snow. But six games in, he's still holding his tongue. And because I'm the kind of guy who always looks for the good in people, he deserves congrats for that. "As of now, you see that I haven't had any gripes about anything," Owens said this week. "I'm just going with the flow of what's going on, and going with the plays that are called. Again, there are plays that I need to make that I'm not making out there, and I put that on my shoulders."

1. Colts 5-0

2. Vikings 6-0

3. Saints 5-0

4. Giants 5-1

5. Broncos 6-0

6. Falcons 4-1

7. Patriots 4-2

8. Steelers 4-2

9. Packers 3-2

10. Ravens 3-3

11. Bears 3-2

12. Bengals 4-2

13. Eagles 3-2

14. Dolphins 2-3

15. Niners 3-2

16. Jets 3-3

17. Chargers 2-3

18. Texans 3-3

19. Cowboys 3-2

20. Cardinals 3-2

21. Panthers 2-3

22. Jaguars 3-3

23. Bills 3-2

24. Seahawks 2-4

25. Raiders 2-4

26. Lions 1-5

27. Chiefs 1-5

28. Titans 0-6

29. Redskins 2-4

30. Browns 1-5

31. Bucs 0-6

32. Rams 0-6