Young players give glimpse of future in Eagles' win over Chiefs

THERE WAS a point in the first half yesterday when Jamaal Jackson looked around the Eagles' huddle and realized that at age 29, he was the senior member of the gathering.

"I felt like I was from the stone ages," the Birds' center said after a 34-14 victory over the visiting Kansas City Chiefs that sent the Eagles into their bye week 2-1.

Interesting, that on the day the team evoked its past with the halftime Honor Roll inductions of Randall Cunningham and Al Wistert, the football game bookending that induction was all about the Eagles' future.

Andy Reid elected to sit both Donovan McNabb (rib) and Brian Westbrook (ankle) going into the bye week, yet his offense still jumped to a two-touchdown, first-quarter lead, en route to rolling up 420 yards.

The Birds last played without both their franchise weapons in the final four games of the forgettable 2005 season. They lost three of those four, and they looked bad doing it. This wasn't like that.

Not with Kevin Kolb becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 300 yards in each of his first two starts. Not with DeSean Jackson becoming the first Eagle since Mike Quick in 1985 to catch a 60-yards-plus touchdown pass in successive games. (Is Jackson now on par with McNabb or Westbrook as a weapon? Discuss.) Not with Brent Celek becoming the first Eagles tight end to notch back-to-back 100-yard receiving days since Pete Retzlaff in 1965. Not with LeSean McCoy making Westbrook-level cutbacks, on his way to gaining 84 yards on 20 carries and scoring his first NFL touchdown.

"I'm glad to see that,'' Reid effused. The Eagles' coach, who parts grudgingly with anecdotes and insight, allowed after the game that last week in practice he had thought about how "you see a lot of young guys and young faces in that huddle.''

Granted, the 0-3 Chiefs were memorably inept. They took 10 penalties for 90 yards. Their quarterback, Matt Cassel, completed 14 of 18 passes but still spent much of the second half handing off to a lumbering Larry Johnson (38 yards on 19 carries). Their first-year head coach, Todd Haley, explained afterward that he was "trying to establish an identity around here," as a run-based team. Plunging into the middle of the line on third-and-10, down three touchdowns or so late in the afternoon, might or might not have furthered that aim, but it definitely got Haley home faster.

The Eagles' defense bounced back well from last week's 48-22 loss to New Orleans, handing the Chiefs an 0-for-11 on third-down conversions, giving up only 196 net yards, sacking Cassel three times. That was a lot, considering how rarely he dropped back.