At this point, no news is good news

This article was originally published in the Daily News on December 13, 2004.

Going into last night, with their first-round playoff bye already locked up, with nearly everything already locked up, an honest Eagles fan knew that almost nothing good could happen between the opening kickoff against the Redskins and the final whistle against the Bengals on Jan. 2. If there were to be any news committed in those four games, those four long games, it would be bad.

And, with that, defensive tackle Corey Simon went down again with his achy, ouchy back.

There will be diversions, certainly. For an offensive machine, there are records to be set in these last games. For Andy Reid, there is the question of exactly how many Spandexes they will have to kill in order to make the tights that the coach will wear to satisfy a bet with Terrell Owens. And no one would deny the fun of attempting to go 15-1.

But then defensive tackle Hollis Thomas was writhing in pain on the ground with a dislocated elbow.

This stadium, this FedEx Field, was the Eagles' burial ground last season, even if they didn't know it at the time. This is where Brian Westbrook tore his triceps in the 2003 regular-season finale, leaving the offense one weapon shy of a Super Bowl. It was such a harmless-looking thing when it happened, a nothing play at the end of a long season, but it is the kind of thing that happens all the time in the NFL - and that can change everything.

And then Jevon Kearse kept shuttling in and out of the game with different maladies - a neck injury one time in the first quarter, and then a significant limp in the third quarter, and then a kick in the you-know-what after that.

On and on it went, doubt laced with dread on another Sunday night in the NFL. Special-teamer Jason Short was carried off on the injury cart with a broken fibula; he'll require surgery, done for the year. Defensive tackle Sam Rayburn was limping at times. Another defensive lineman, Darwin Walker, also got dinged at one point.

The D-line, so beset by injuries last season, again found itself reaping the whirlwind. And anybody who would deny the joylessness of the Eagles' victory last night - 17-14 over the Washington Redksins - would be denying reality.

Because this is about survival now.

This is about enduring.

"It concerns me if we can't get them back," Reid said, when asked about the run of injuries along that defensive line. "Then it's a concern. But you saw Hugh Douglas step up and do a nice job. "

Reid said Thomas will have an MRI today to determine the severity of his injury. In past cases, dislocated elbows have tended to take weeks to heal. If anybody else is seriously hurt, it wasn't obvious, but that almost isn't the point - the nerves are, accompanied by the awful feeling when somebody else doesn't get up.

"It was just one of those games where you get a few bumps and scrapes, but you've got to suck it up," Kearse said.

"Guys just have to step up and play," linebacker Jeremiah Trotter said. "We've got a lot of time before the playoffs. We've just got to heal up. "

And so, with fingers crossed, the Eagles keep turning pages on the calendar. It is a maddening time. All wins in the NFL are good and important, but because they are so far ahead in the NFC playoff chase, the wins now for the Eagles cannot possibly be as sweet as they were earlier on.

Because the postseason stakes are so high for this particular franchise, at this particular time in its history, an extra couple of wins here cannot possibly make up for another big injury along the way.

Repeat: The only news for the Eagles, from here on out, can be bad.

If you live the NFL life, you know the potential for doom. If you watched last night, you saw it. There was 10:19 left in the fourth quarter when Redskins cornerback Shawn Springs, rolling parallel to the line of scrimmage, rolling with Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, was blindsided by fullback Josh Parry. It was a football play, nothing special, nothing more - a spectacular hit but a legal hit; a player who was fair game and a blocker doing his job.

But Springs didn't get up. Ultimately, with his neck stabilized, he was lifted onto a cart on a back board and carried off the field. The Redskins later announced Springs had suffered a concussion.

The hopes for a quick recovery are obvious. The risks, though - for players on both sides of the field - are just as plain. And while you have no choice but to accept those risks, well, it is usually with the understanding that there are also rewards.

Except that, almost entirely, the Eagles have already earned their rewards. And nothing - not even home field in the NFC Championship Game, the only carrot left - is worth a serious injury at this point.

Yet that is where the Eagles stand, with Darwin Walker in front of his locker, saying,

"Nobody said this was going to be easy. "

Not easy, not even at 12-1.