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If statistics are indeed for losers — and this is not a judgment either way on that pearl of locker room wisdom — it seems obvious enough that in the NFL, preseason statistics should be considered every bit as meaningful as, say, campaign promises.
Which brings us to the fastest growing story of this Eagles August, one DeSean Jackson.
In case you've been stricken with Olympic taekwondo fever, the former Cal dynamo has pulled in a team-high 12 passes through two preseason games, and likely will add to that total tonight at New England.
Expected to make his most immediate impact as a return specialist, he's now causing waves of excited words about what he can do for an offense that, some folks say, just might have room for a better receiver.
Wednesday's announcement that Kevin Curtis is down with a sports hernia will do nothing but add fuel to the fire.
So does it follow that suddenly, certain voices from inside Camp Reid are delivering cautionary messages? Naw, Big Red would never try to orchestrate a thing like that.
Would he?
"Let's not let preseason deceive us any, first," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said this week. "He has a lot of hard work ahead of him. He does show up, though. I think he's going to be a pretty good player."
A tempered, coachspeak-kind of evaluation, to be sure. But it's not coming just from the coaching staff."I've seen when they see rookies come in and catch a couple balls, and everyone gets excited," Donovan McNabb said. "All of a sudden (during the season), the question goes out, 'What happened, and why isn't he still playing or making a lot of plays?' We're in the preseason, and this gives him an opportunity to learn the offense.
"We're not running the offense we will probably run as the season goes on, as much. But I think it's kind of good for him to get his feet wet and see exactly what we do, the tempo we play at."
Like any 10th-year veteran, McNabb understands that just as offenses are less demanding in August, so are the defensive schemes they face. Corners don't necessarily try to get inside a guy's facemask the way they will in a couple of weeks. "They are pretty much vanilla," he added.
How Jackson, with dimensions of 5-10 and 175 that may be a tad inflated, will handle physical coverage remains an unanswered question. And for all his obvious self-confidence, even he allows that the Eagles' playbook is a challenge in itself.
"Just a lot of plays, man," he said after last week's win over Carolina, in which he snagged 7 passes for 71 yards. "That's the hardest thing. … Once you feel like you've got the offense, there are more things that come in there and you're like, whoa. So that's the big thing."
As for his big-play potential, Jackson offered a glimpse in last week's second quarter, when he returned a punt 27 yards. However, his fumble at the end of that return served as another warning sign, even though it was recovered by teammate Matt Schobel.
Again to his credit, he has seen the difference between returning punts in college, where he averaged a blazing 16.7 yards, and in the NFL. "The biggest thing to me," he said, "is how fast people come down the field. In college I had a little more time to do things, but here, everything happens so fast. You've just got to be on point."
While Jackson does not hesitate to express his confidence, he also has been careful to say all the right things about working hard and striving to become a complete player. He has an awareness of some of his Eagles predecessors, guys who either didn't live up to the hype or couldn't separate themselves from their baggage.
(899) (196) (187) (170) (88) (17) (16) (15) (11) (7) (5)Whether it all turns out to be lip service, only time will tell. But in a training camp marked largely by hurdles that must be cleared — Lito Sheppard's unhappiness, Shawn Andrews' mental state, McNabb's return to full bore — he looks like a step in the right direction.
And if he is, the numbers will say so, too. Sooner or later.
E-mail: jyoung@lnpnews.com
