What the NFL schedule means for players

Brian Dawkins once said he didn't care about the announcement of the NFL schedule, "except to see if we play on Thanksgiving or Christmas. I don't like to play on those days."

This year, B-Dawk might take a glance just to glean the exact date when his Denver Broncos visit Lincoln Financial Field, we're guessing. But what he said seems mostly true - players have no reason to care whether the game in San Diego is the opener or the season finale, or whether they play the Cowboys in Dallas before hosting them.

"I hadn't even thought about the schedule coming out," Eagles linebacker Omar Gaither said yesterday.

There is one game of some interest to Gaither this season - for the first time since he came to the Birds, as a fifth-round draft choice in 2006, Gaither will play in his hometown of Charlotte, with the Eagles scheduled to visit the Carolina Panthers.

"I'm certainly looking forward to that; I'll have a lot of people there," said Gaither, who lost his job as the weakside starter last season but retained a strong special-teams role. "I'm looking forward to going back. Hopefully, I'll be back in the starting lineup by then. But I don't care when the game is."

Gaither said that typically, there is little buzz around the team about an impending trip to this or that city. "You hear a lot, say, when Donovan goes back to Chicago," he said. "Most weeks we won't talk about it until just before we go. If one of the guys is from there, he would tell us the best places to go eat."