Eagles Notebook: Secondary concerns are few for Eagles

By LES BOWEN
Philadelphia Daily News

bowenl@phillynews.com

CHARLOTTE - With everything else that was going on yesterday, it was hard to chart how Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott allotted time among his three starting-level cornerbacks. But Sheldon Brown, who picked off Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme twice in the first half, had no complaints.

"Ellis [Hobbs] is in a situation where he needs to play. We're not like that [i.e.: selfish]; he needs to play, he needs film," to get a contract as a potential free agent this coming offseason, Brown said after the Eagles' surprisingly easy 38-10 victory. "He went in on Asante [Samuel]'s side, too. Look, we're all in the same category. We're here as a team, trying to accomplish something."

So Samuel and Brown were the starters, as advertised, with offseason acquisition Hobbs working in. Joselio Hanson also got a lot of work (and a pick), with the score getting lopsided early and the Eagles playing a lot of nickel.

Brown reminded us once again that he is not Lito Sheppard, that his unhappiness over his contract won't destroy his focus.

"I'm not going to let my teammates down. They have nothing to do with [the contract squabble]," Brown said, on a day when the Birds picked off five passes, for the first time since Sept. 30, 1996, vs. Dallas. "That's totally separate from what's going on. My effort's for these guys. We work together, we bleed together, and at the end of the day, they count, that locker room counts. As long as they respect me, that's all that matters."

Brown said that when the Eagles started to show they could stop the run (aided by a big-play fueled Eagles' edge on the scoreboard that pushed the Panthers to pass), the Carolina attack suffered. Delhomme was constantly under siege.

"The guys up front dominated the line of scrimmage today," Brown said.

Asked if the Birds looked quicker than the Panthers, Brown said: "I think we had some things go our way early."

Happy returns

DeSean Jackson said he only had to make Carolina punter Jason Baker miss on his 85-yard TD punt return, and "it's a rule for me, I never really let the punter try to tackle me, so I had to get by him."

That was the second-longest punt return in franchise history, behind Vai Sikahema's 87-yarder at the Giants on Nov. 22, 1992.

Jackson was less eager to discuss his 15-yard penalty for going to the ground in celebration of a Brent Celek touchdown, other than to note that Andy Reid "got on me a little bit. It wasn't planned, it was just something that happened. It is what it is."

The Eagles direct-snapped to Jackson a few times, once with Kevin Kolb flanked wide.

Birdseed

No big surprises among the Eagles' inactives: wideouts Brandon Gibson and Reggie Brown, safety Sean Jones, linebacker Joe Mays, offensive linemen Shawn Andrews, Todd Herremans and Mike McGlynn, and defensive end Jason Babin. Mays, Herremans and Andrews are injured . . . The Eagles scored offensive, defensive, and special-teams touchdowns in the same game for the first time since Dec. 24, 1994, at Cincinnati . . . It was hard to remember afterward, but the game began with a 13-play, 70-yard Panthers touchdown drive, kept alive by a really bad third-down facemask penalty taken by Juqua Parker . . . The Panthers managed 99 total yards the rest of the game . . . Eagles first-round rookie wideout Jeremy Maclin was invisible, offensively . . . Quintin Demps, who lost the battle for the free-safety spot to Macho Harris, took a penalty for running into the punt returner (he was pushed, but not very close to where he landed), then suffered a hamstring strain . . . Rare replay challenge win for Andy Reid, on an obvious mistaken ruling that LeSean McCoy had fumbled, although the rookie clearly was down when the ball came loose.