Les Bowen: Eagles' further review: Reid exciting about Eagles' QB situation

"Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,

Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee."

- Stephen Foster

MAYBE YOU see a potential circus in the Eagles' quarterbacking situation - fans and observers eager to deny Kevin Kolb the chance he has waited 3 years to get, because his backup is one of the greatest athletes ever to play the position, who now has returned to game-changing mode after spending time in a federal prison.

Andy Reid sees beauty.

"I know I'm in a business where I can't please everybody . . . That's not what I'm here to do. I'm here to make a decision [on] what I think is right for the team. I'll tell you that I think it's a beautiful situation," Reid said yesterday, when asked what he has to say to people who think Michael Vick should keep the starting-quarterback job, even though Kevin Kolb has been cleared to return from the concussion he suffered in the season opener (52 Vick-produced points ago). "I look at it a lot differently than other people look at it. I've got two quarterbacks that can play. And a third young one [rookie Mike Kafka] that I think down the road here is going to be a good player, at a very important position.

"I'm a happy guy about it. A lot of teams don't have good quarterbacks, ones that they can win with. I feel like we can, with both those guys."

Reid suggested that he will let Kolb's performance, when he returns this week against Jacksonsville, speak for why he should be the starter. And he might have given himself a little wiggle room in the process, should Kolb not play well, say, over the next month or so.

"We'll see how it all works out," Reid said. "I'm not here to justify one over the other, I'm not doing that. I've told you before - I'm very proud of Michael . . . Michael was one of the all-time great ones in this league at one time, and he's on his way back. I think we're able to see that, and I think that's a great, great thing. Kevin's future is - he hasn't had the same experience here as Michael has, but his future is a bright one."

Hasn't Reid put a lot of pressure on Kolb, coming in to replace the league's fourth-leading passer?

"If you play quarterback in the National Football League, there's pressure on you," Reid said. "You control what you can control and you go play. That's how this thing works. I'm not big on all that other stuff. Go play the game."

DEVELOPING STORY LINES

* Not to sugarcoat the appalling six sacks the Eagles' o-line was charged with Sunday, but one of them came on a fumbled snap, aborting what seemed to be a running play. The league's stat mavens might want to review it. Another came when Michael Vick was running around, scrubbing time off the clock in the fourth quarter, trying not to go out of bounds (the play where he slammed the ball down after getting hit and was penalized). That one counts, but it wasn't a case of Vick not having time. The Eagles' dozen sacks in two games (Green Bay's Clay Matthews got one added on review after the opener) was the league's worst figure, going into last night. Ditto the 19 QB hits the Birds have allowed.

* Is there a rule that says if Stew Bradley is out, Akeem Jordan has to disappear as well? That was how it looked in Detroit. Ernie Sims might have been a little inconsistent, but he did get in on a lot of plays, even without Bradley patrolling the middle.

* Heading into last night, the Birds had allowed an NFL-high 59 points.

* If Jason Peters plays all 16 games, will the training staff run out of adhesive tape?

* Good news for the Eagles and their 25th-ranked defense: The next opponent, Jacksonville, ranks 29th.

* Ellis Hobbs fought the good fight against Calvin Johnson, who caught a TD and a two-point conversion late but finished the day with four catches on 11 balls thrown his way. And there was the one Hobbs picked off.

OBSCURE STAT

Safety Sean Considine, who will be facing his former teammates this weekend when the Eagles travel to Jacksonville, has been credited with 17 tackles so far, more than any Eagle through 2 weeks. Lots of desperate dives way downfield will do that for ya.

WHO KNEW?

That after 2 weeks, the Eagles' quarterback would be ranked fourth in the NFL, well ahead of the Redskins' quarterback (12th) going into last night's games, and yet the sounds of merriment and rejoicing would not echo through Eagles Nation?

EXTRA POINT

One thing that might have gotten lost in all the large-type story lines coming out of Sunday's game was the way Sean McDermott's all-or-nothing defense averted what was starting to look like a history-making collapse.

Remember, the Lions had scored in their last two possessions, almost effortlessly, then they got the ball back at their 43, a minute and 48 seconds remaining, after recovering the onside kick.

On first down, Shaun Hill was pressured and tried to hit Calvin Johnson. Joselio Hanson was there and the ball fell incomplete.

On second down, Hill was pressured again, and he missed Jahvid Best on a screen. The Detroit media made much of the fact that Best didn't touch the ball on the final series, but he had no second-half running success against the Eagles, and the Lions did try to throw to him.

On third down, Hill had lots of time but tried a difficult, long throw to his left; Nate Allen had good coverage on Bryant Johnson and the ball sailed out of bounds.

On fourth down, Hill tried to hit second tight end Tony Scheffler across the middle, but Hanson was there again, and he knocked the ball away.

"We kind of regained our juice there, right at the end. That last drive, I thought, was a beautiful thing, or the last stop we had," Andy Reid said yesterday. "Guys got in there and they battled and they made some plays - two secondary plays where we got our hands on the ball. That was good stuff."