After good Eagles debut, Witherspoon won't rest easy

"You think your way through it, talk about it as much as you can, look at things every chance you get, and say, 'OK, what if?' It's a bunch of what-if scenarios. You put them into your head and try to catalog those away."

On Monday night in Washington, less than a week after being dealt here by the St. Louis Rams (which is almost like getting pardoned), he pretty much was tossed out there cold. And all he did was become only the second player in NFL history to get a sack (which yielded a turnover) and return an interception for a touchdown in his first game with a team.

So who cares if he doesn't have the whole playbook down yet?

"The production was there for everyone to see," McDermott said. "And that's the direct result of his hard work. He busted his tail last week. It's nice when hard work pays off.

"There's still room for improvement, though, within his game."

The Birds, of course, have been addressing their middle linebacker situation ever since Stewart Bradley was lost to a season-ending knee injury in early August. Joe Mays wasn't the answer. Then Omar Gaither went down with a foot injury. And Jeremiah Trotter can do only so much, so often.

Now Witherspoon, who spent four seasons with Carolina before going to St. Louis in 2006, will get his shot. If nothing else, he certainly got off on the right note.

"All the pieces fell into place," said Witherspoon, whose 9-yard runback of a tipped Jason Campbell pass gave the Eagles a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter of what became a 27-17 win. "It's not what you could've scripted. It's one of those things. If it happens, it happens. I'd rather come out with the 'W' than score, any game of the year. But to happen like that probably makes it one of the best experiences of my career . . .

"To some extent, football is football. On the other side of it, it is tough to come in and learn how to play with a new group of guys. I got a lot of help. I stayed on top of it, what I needed to do. But everyone made sure that, 'Hey, you need to get to know this, or talk about this.' Some things got to the point where I could have probably closed my eyes and drew it on my eyelids."

It was his second TD, first in 4 years. Now he has another week, albeit a short one, to get ready for Sunday afternoon's visit by the New York Giants. First place in the NFC East is on the line. Which sure beats whatever the Rams are preparing for.

"It'll definitely help me get a little more comfortable," Witherspoon said. "I won't be as stressed about some things. I'm kind of getting more into the flow of how everything works.

"I'm getting to know the guys in the locker room. What's really important is getting to know them on the playing field. I have to make sure I handle my part. By game time, you just want to stay in the flow of what's going on. The rest of it is football.

"Last week was different, for everybody. I don't think they really held back. It was like, 'Let's throw the full book at him, and what we get is what we get.'

"To be in the mix at this point in the season, that's always great," he continued. "I found out the other day [the Rams] hadn't won a game in a year. It kind of does make you feel a little different. At the same time, I'm here to perform. I've got to uphold my end of the contract. It is what it is. I'm still playing the game."

The upside seems, well, better than it did before he arrived.

"He's a smart guy," safety Quintin Mikell said. "Obviously, he exceeded our expectations. But we knew he was going to play well. Hopefully he'll get better each week."

Sure sounds like a game plan.

"Each week, we expect him to grasp a little bit more, and a little bit more of the details," McDermott said. "There's a lot of details. In a package as expansive as ours is, going forward, we'll hopefully be a little bit more. In the end, we're going to do what it takes to win the football game.

"Each week is different."

Just as each one is another part of the mutual progression.