Two Bills Drive

‘What it means is that having a bye in the third week of the season doesn’t mean much. Unless, of course, you’re riddled with injuries and are coming off two pathetic performances. Then, it’s probably a good thing. Bring on Buffalo.’

‘”Too many people have got too much pressure on [McNabb] right now,” Pinkston said. “He’s not the only one that could be struggling…It’s just that he’s the quarterback, and it stands out a lot more.”‘

‘Running backs Correll Buckhalter, Duce Staley and Brian Westbrook combined to rush for 19 yards on 10 carries against the Buccaneers and 46 yards on 11 carries against the Patriots, thereby continuing a trend that has seen the Eagles struggle when they don’t let McNabb hand off.’

‘The Eagles have to find a way to put pressure on Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe. They have just two sacks on the season, tying them with Cincinnati for next-to-last in the league behind Arizona (one). “We need to get as many sacks as we can this week,” Walker said. “Sometimes just getting pressure on a quarterback isn’t enough.”’

‘”Everybody has been down on us, but we haven’t been down on ourselves. That’s something that we’ve talked about – that we’re the ones involved in this thing. We can change this.”‘

”’Those two games were abominations. There just wasn’t much happening early. Once we get over that, you’ll see a lot more emotion.”’

‘During his first press conference in eight days, Reid confirmed yesterday there is a chance none of the three starters knocked out of action in the season opener — Taylor, safety Brian Dawkins and defensive end Brandon Whiting — will be returning in time to face the Buffalo Bills.’

‘There will either be a 1-2 football team recently off twin NFC final games, finally victorious, revived after having upset the Buffalo Bills, just a stride behind in its determined march to double-figure victories, back in contention in the NFC East. Or there will be an 0-3 team all but officially doomed to 2003 failure, an injury-stricken, demoralized slice of football yesteryear hopelessly trapped in a cyclone bearing down on NFL parity.’

‘Despite their 0-2 start and McNabb’s league-low 41.4 quarterback rating, the Eagles are just one game in the loss column behind the other three teams – Washington (2-1), the Giants (2-1) and Dallas (1-1) – in the NFC East.’

‘Word is Henry will be fitted for a rib protector and try to play Sunday.’

‘Jaworski said McNabb has had “an incredible regression in his mechanics.”‘

‘Under Reid, the Eagles are 4-0 after a bye week.’

‘McNabb is the worst quarterback in the league right now. It’s right there on the NFL stat sheet. His quarterback rating of 41.4 is the lowest in the whole league, worse than Quincy Carter in Dallas, Kordell Stewart in Chicago and Drew Brees in San Diego. McNabb is the only starting quarterback in the NFL who hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass yet, and with a completion percentage of 45.1, nobody’s hit targets less.’

‘”We’ve got to worry about getting a W,” Reese said. “That’s the most important thing right now. Trying to get a positive atmosphere around here. Nobody is giving up on the season. I’ll tell you what – a win does wonders to your psyche, to the atmosphere around here. We know the way we’ve played in the past. We can take one win and snowball it to two, three or four and get on a nice little roll. That’s what we need – to get that first one out of the way. It’s not going to be easy this weekend, though. I hope everybody is going to bring their lunch pails and their hats because that’s the type of fight it’s going to be.”‘

‘The injury bug has hit the running back corps of the Buffalo Bills, and it may give former Oregon State star Ken Simonton a shot at playing in his first regular season game.’