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This article was originally published in the Inquirer on August 27, 2004.
The preseason is over for the Eagles' starters, and it's impossible to tell if they are ready for a magical journey, a major disappointment or something in between.
Here's what we found out during last night's 27-21 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers:
* The fans at Lincoln Financial Field still love Duce Staley even though he came back in black.
* Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens are working from the same playbook, but they still haven't found the same page.
* Reno Mahe and Thomas Tapeh belong in the NFL, but the Eagles sure do need Brian Westbrook to stay healthy.
* The missing defensive starters need to get well soon.
Staley, returning to the Linc after spending seven seasons in an Eagles uniform, scored the Steelers' first touchdown and received the loudest ovations of the evening as he ran seven times for 37 yards.
McNabb led the Eagles on two touchdown drives, but he failed to officially complete a single pass to Owens in the duo's final preseason tune-up for the Sept. 12 season opener against the New York Giants. A 41-yard touchdown strike from McNabb to Owens was called back because of a holding penalty.
The pair's failure to connect was not from a lack of trying. Owens was McNabb's intended receiver six times, but some of the passes were thrown into double coverage and nowhere close to the star receiver. Owens also dropped one pass that was right in his hands near the end of the first half.
McNabb finished his final preseason game 8 for 19 for 105 yards and one touchdown. He concluded his preseason 21 for 44 - a 48-percent completion rate - with two touchdowns and one interception.
The quarterback showed signs of frustration in the first half when he threw the ball down after a short scramble.
"We're not where we want it to be right now," McNabb said. "The exciting part is we're putting points up on the board. When you're doing that, you've got some positive things to look at. It's exciting to see guys flying around on defense and offense. The sky's the limit for us. "
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, coach Andy Reid will rest all of his starters in the preseason finale against the New York Jets a week from tonight.
After last night, Reid didn't sound as if he was ready to reserve a ticket to Jacksonville for the Super Bowl.
"We had too many penalties, and we didn't tackle well, and we had mistakes offensively that we need to clean up," he said. "We'll go back to the drawing board and make sure we limit the mistakes. "
Westbrook, as expected, did not play because the Eagles did not want to risk injury to their top running back with Correll Buckhalter already lost for the season. Dorsey Levens, signed this week to replace Buckhalter, also did not play.
As for the first-team defense, it was without five starters after Wayne went out on the sixth play of the game, and it failed to stop the Steelers from scoring on their first three possessions.
"We looked OK," defensive tackle Hollis Thomas said. "We weren't as crisp as we should have been, and we missed a lot of tackles and misread a couple of things. "
Staley, who had predicted earlier in the week that he'd be booed, was pleasantly mistaken. When he lined up for the Steelers' first offensive series of the evening, the familiar chant - "Duuuuuuuce" - rang out from the Linc crowd.
The chant grew louder when Staley took a swing pass from Tommy Maddox on the second play, ran over linebacker Mark Simoneau, and went for a big gain. It didn't matter that the play was nullified by of a holding penalty.
Staley found out that Philadelphia loved him as much as ever. He did, however, draw some boos when he ran for 6 yards on a fourth-and-1 play, then celebrated with a first-down signal and a twirl of the football.
Four plays later, Staley went off left tackle for a 14-yard touchdown, and the chant surfaced again. Staley immediately went to the stands behind the south end zone and handed the ball to a youngster wearing a McNabb jersey.
After going three-and-out on their first series, with Mahe as the featured running back, the Eagles got a good return from rookie J.R. Reed and went on a 12-play, 60-yard drive to even the score at 7.
It appeared as if the Eagles had struck quickly with another long connection between McNabb and Owens, but the 41-yard touchdown was nullified by a holding penalty on tackle Tra Thomas.
