"I was like, 'Whoa, what's going on?' " Jean-Gilles said.
We'll leave aside for a moment the wisdom of an offensive lineman's getting all raw and scabby on his forearm a week before the start of the regular season. And we'll table the question of whether the initials he had applied were "MJ" or "MJG" or "MJ-G." That won't become apparent until the locker room reopens on Wednesday and the Eagles fall into their weekly routine for the regular season. Jean-Gilles will be there for inspection. His release lasted only a few hours before he was brought back onto the team, the last of a flurry of weekend transactions that reformed the roster.
"I can't sit here and tell you that we're absolutely done," coach Andy Reid said.
Probably not, but the organization has at least paused to see what has been wrought. Since Howie Roseman became the general manager in late January, the Eagles have made enough transactions to fill five single-spaced pages.
Some were mere paper-shuffling, the sort of administrative moving of bodies and contracts that every organization must accomplish. Some of the transactions made statements, however, and the last real movement, sending Andrews to the Seahawks, was as meaningful as any.
At least, coincidentally, it had meaning for Seattle offensive line coach Alex Gibbs, whose resignation came that evening, apparently unconvinced his search for a left tackle had been solved. Perhaps it was Gibbs' tribute to former Phillies manager Eddie Sawyer, who quit after one game of the 1960 season, saying somewhat famously, "I am 49 years old and I want to live to be 50." (Spared from directing that awful team, he died in Phoenixville at the age of 87.)
