Bird

Brian Dawkins posed a simple question: If all those fans who wear No. 20 to Eagles games could play one football game, how would they play? How would they react? "Would you do a flip? Would you crawl? Would you do those things?" Dawkins said. "Probably so. Because you're so excited to play those games. " That was Dawkins' approach when he played safety for the Eagles from 1996 to 2008 - 13 seasons in which he delivered ferocious hits and inspirational locker room speeches and became one of the most beloved Philadelphia athletes the city has ever cheered.

FROM HIS vantage point on the Eagles' sideline that Sunday at Three Rivers Stadium in 2000, Ike Reese could see the play unfold. A big hole opened up in the Pittsburgh offensive line and into it rumbled Jerome Bettis, the 5-11, 252-pound running back who was affectionately known as "The Bus. " Reese was certain Bettis would pick up 15 or 20 yards. But Brian Dawkins charged up from his safety position, launched into the air and stopped Bettis cold. Reese remembers that it was "one of the loudest hits I have ever heard.

TEMPE, Ariz. - The day-after enthusiasm for one of the Arizona Cardinals' biggest road victories ever was subdued at team headquarters. The players and their coach understand too well how close that one was, but the 20-18 triumph at New England, secured when the Patriots' Stephen Gostkowski missed a 42-yard field goal with 1 second to play, fits a pattern for this resurgent Arizona franchise. The Cardinals, 2-0 for the first time in 4 years, have won nine of 11, dating to last season, but none by more than six points.

It's a grand plan for public art - 24 searchlights along the Ben Franklin Parkway, aimed into the night sky and moving in response to the sound of human voices. It would form a canopy of light, visible for 10 miles. But when they scheduled it, city officials had no idea that the dates - Sept. 20 to Oct. 14 - coincided with the peak of the fall bird migration. Or that as people gaped at the show, songbirds winging overhead might become disoriented by the lights and start dropping from the sky, as has happened before.

BEREA, Ohio - Trent Richardson has practiced with the Browns. All that's left is for him to play. Cleveland's rookie running back returned to practice Monday for the first time since undergoing knee surgery on Aug. 9, a strong sign he will play in Sunday's season opener at home against the Eagles. With his dreadlocks flowing out of his orange helmet, Richardson took some snaps with Cleveland's first-team offense during the portion of practice open to the media. He had a black rubber sleeve on his repaired left knee, which has been operated on twice since he helped Alabama win a national championship in January.

The Eagles released 10 players Saturday, trimming their roster to 80 players. They have until 4 p.m. Monday to get to 75. The following players were cut a day after the Eagles beat the Browns, 27-10, in their third preseason game: wide receiver Elvis Akpla, safety Wade Bonner, defensive end Xavier Brown, wide receiver Brian Hernandez, wide receiver McKay Jacobson, wide receiver Tiger Jones, guard Alfred McCullough, safety Tom Nelson, cornerback Kevin...

CULLEN JENKINS woke up Tuesday morning and turned on the TV, still tuned to ESPN, from his family having watched the Eagles-Patriots game the night before. "I was like, 'Uh, oh . . . Here we go,' " Jenkins said to a few dozen reporters crowded around his locker stall Wednesday. Jenkins, 31, has been around the NFL since 2004. He knew he was in for a long week when he woke up to images of himself nose-to-nose with Eagles coach Andy Reid, Jenkins and Reid locked in a discussion so heated they had to be separated by defensive-line coach Jim Washburn and a few players.

NNAMDI ASOMUGHA was walking down a NovaCare corridor to the locker room after practice Saturday when the door to the adjacent weight room swung open and nearly smacked him in the face. Asomugha coolly fended off the door with his right hand as Nate Allen poked his head through and quickly apologized. Asomugha didn't seem to even register the irony, but Allen shook his head as soon as a reporter looked at him inquiringly. "I'm out to get him," Allen said, laughing. Monday night, Asomugha is scheduled to line up at right cornerback for the Eagles in their preseason game at New England, a week after suffering whiplash and a bad lip laceration in a practice collision with Allen, a safety.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Juan Castillo spent nearly three weeks trying to ward off the recollection of last season and his uneven inaugural campaign as Eagles defensive coordinator, preferring to dwell on the benefits of a full offseason with his team and his system. The first public glimpse of Castillo's group came against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Thursday's preseason opener, when the Eagles' first-team defense allowed a touchdown and a field goal in its only two series on the field. Castillo no longer needed to talk about what had gone wrong in 2011; he had to explain why the defense seemed to have the same issues it had last year.

Police and firefighters who responded to a house fire Friday morning in Chester County were met with the sad sight of two hoarders dead amid the ruins of their cluttered home. Police identified the two who died in the fire as Robert O'Neill, 85, and his wife, Irene, 68. Neighbors said they kept to themselves. Robert O'Neill, they said, was a retired railroad worker. West Goshen Township Police Lt. Gregory Stone said the couple died from burns and smoke inhalation. The fire was electrical in origin and accidental, he said.