Brent Celek

It's not going to make for a good argument if the Eagles and DeSean Jackson ever hold contract extension talks, but the wide receiver could point to Brent Celek's resurgence this season for proof of his worth. Jackson's loss has been Celek's gain. The tight end had a career day as the Eagles held on to dear playoff life and trounced the New York Jets, 45-19, on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. Jackson not so much. The pregame storyline on Jackson was that he needed to put on a show against the Jets' all-world cornerback Darrelle Revis with his future in Philadelphia in great doubt.

All season, the Eagles have been waiting for a major contribution from their tight end. If you had Brent Celek coming up with one of the top performances all season at that position, you win the pool. With L.J. Smith inactive for yesterday's game with the Cowboys, and Smith's replacement, Matt Schobel, taken out on the first series on a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit by Dallas safety Ken Hamlin, Celek was the last available tight end on the Eagles' roster. That meant a lot more offensive snaps, and it meant the rookie from Cincinnati - normally a blocker - would become one of Donovan McNabb's top targets.

Brent Celek enjoyed a career day Sunday as the Eagles routed the Seattle Seahawks, 26-7. But even though Celek caught six passes for 131 yards in place of the injured L.J. Smith, Eagles coach Andy Reid insisted yesterday that there is no tight end controversy. When he is healthy, Smith still will be the starter, Reid said. Smith missed Sunday's game with a concussion he suffered Oct. 26 in a 27-14 win against the visiting Atlanta Falcons. "L.J. is a starter when he comes back, and hopefully it works out for him with his [concussion]

DeSean Jackson, the Eagles' best wide receiver and the NFL's leading punt returner, left Sunday's game with a concussion that has made his status questionable at best for the team's Week 13 game against the Atlanta Falcons. Brent Celek, the starting tight end, has a sprained thumb that seemed to be a real problem for him during the Eagles' 27-24 win over the Washington Redskins. Brodrick Bunkley, one of the team's starting defensive tackles, is hobbled by a sprained ankle.

1. Smith       2. Brent Celek       3. Matt Schobel 4. Todd Herremans

You can add Eagles coach Andy Reid and tight end Brent Celek to the head table for the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association's annual awards dinner on Monday night. Reid will be one of the featured speakers, along with Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. Celek will be honored as the outstanding Philadelphia pro athlete for 2009. Tickets for the 106th annual affair, which will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Route 70 in Cherry Hill, N.J., are $75, and can be purchased online at www.pswa.

The Eagles on Tuesday signed fourth-round draft picks Mike Kafka, a quarterback, and Clay Harbor, a tight end, to four-year deals. Kafka, out of Northwestern, is likely to be the third-string quarterback this year behind Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick. Harbor, from Missouri State, figures to battle with Cornelius Ingram for the job backing up Brent Celek. The Eagles have signed nine of their 13 draft picks, all from the fourth round or later.   - Jonathan Tamari    

DeSean Jackson can relate to LeSean McCoy. Both were second-round picks. Both became Pro Bowl pieces of the Eagles offense while still on modest, by NFL standards, rookie deals. But while Jackson held out of training camp last summer before playing out the final year of his contract, he urged McCoy to take a different approach as he enters the last year of his deal this offseason. "I think it would be in his best interest to come" to offseason practices and camp, Jackson said Friday.

LeSean McCoy has just one rushing touchdown in the last five games. The Eagles failed to score a touchdown on their first possession for just the second time in the last six games. The Eagles have outscored opponents in the first quarter this season, 86-28. Asante Samuel's second-quarter interception ran the Eagles defense's streak of consecutive games with at least one interception to 13, dating to last season. Prior to last night, tight end Brent Celek had been targeted 48 times this season and had just 23 receptions.

DeSean Jackson can relate to LeSean McCoy. Both were second-round picks. Both became Pro Bowl pieces of the Eagles offense while still on modest, by NFL standards, rookie deals. But while Jackson held out of training camp last summer before playing out the final year of his contract, he urged McCoy to take a different approach as he enters the last year of his deal this offseason. "I think it would be in his best interest to come" to offseason practices and camp, Jackson said Friday.

High & Inside will be devoted each day this week to observations and information related to the NFL draft: BROWNS general manager Tom Heckert enters this year's draft with plenty of ammunition — 13 overall picks, including three in the top 37 and six in the top 118. He also told reporters that he carries the lessons learned from mistakes he made with the Eagles, when he said he was influenced by pressure from within the organization and...

PHILADELPHIA Layoffs at newspapers Philadelphia Media Network announced yesterday that the staffs of the Daily News, Inquirer and Philly.com will be cut by 37 positions by the end of March. Company management told the Newspaper Guild, which represents reporters, photographers, copy editors and content producers at the newspapers and their website, that it will eliminate the positions through buyouts and layoffs. The staff reduction is tied to PMN's plans to combine some newsroom functions at the two papers and the website when the staffs move into a new newsroom at 8th and Market streets in July, the guild said in a memo last night.

The Eagles are going to franchise DeSean Jackson, count on it. They will not let their Pro Bowl receiver - whose contract is set to expire - walk without getting something in return, according to NFL sources. So that means the Eagles will do one of three things before March 5: They will franchise Jackson and keep him for the 2012 season. They will franchise and then trade him. Or they will agree to a contract extension with the 25-year-old, an unlikely proposition at this point.

The Eagles are going to franchise DeSean Jackson, count on it. They will not let their Pro Bowl receiver - whose contract is set to expire - walk without getting something in return, according to NFL sources. So that means the Eagles will do one of three things before March 5: They will franchise Jackson and keep him for the 2012 season. They will franchise and then trade him. Or they will agree to a contract extension with the 25-year-old, an unlikely proposition at this point.

HERE IS A hypothetical the Eagles should be thinking about down at One NovaCare Way. If the Eagles truly are the risk-takers, innovators and out-of-the-box thinkers that owner Jeffrey Lurie continually claims they are, they should be closely monitoring what's happening in Indianapolis - and I don't mean Super Bowl XLVI. Reading the tea leaves, it's almost 99.99 percent certain the Colts are going to release Peyton Manning rather than pay the $28 million team option due on March 8. Despite the joint statement on Friday by Manning and Colts owner Jim Irsay to "dispel any misperception that there might be any hard feelings between us," speculation is that it's almost an inevitability that the 14-year union between the team and the NFL's only four-time MVP will end. The Colts have the first overall pick in the draft and would be idiots if they don't begin their rebuilding with Stanford's Andrew Luck, who might be the most highly regarded quarterback prospect since Manning in 1998.

TEAM 5-1: The Eagles' record against NFC East opponents; their best performance since 2006. 8-0: Eagles' record when allowing fewer than 20 points in a game. 11.5: Average points allowed in the four wins that ended the season. 3: Overall NFC ranking on offense (third in rushing and seventh in passing). 2: Overall NFC ranking on defense (ninth against the run and second against the pass). 31: Eagles' ranking in kickoff return average (20.9 yards per return)

The Andy Reid watch is officially over. The Juan Castillo watch continues. That difference seems very telling as time passes after owner Jeffrey Lurie's news conference. Lurie looked at the evidence and decided he wanted Reid back for a 14th year. So he said so and put to rest questions about the head coach's immediate future. Reid has had the same chance to look back and has not yet endorsed Castillo or even set a date to talk to the media about what awaits in the next few months.

FOR ANYONE WHO invested in this edition of the Eagles - and you know who you are - you have a choice to make about how you spend the next 9 months. Beginning this weekend, with the exhibition game against the Redskins, you can seethe with anger and disappointment. You can wish in vain for the firing of Andy Reid. You can hope that first-year defensive coordinator Juan Castillo and his similarly untested staff gets scapegoated out of town. You can complain about how young general manager Howie Roseman and his mentor, Joe Banner, botched the last two drafts, or how they poisoned the team's relationship with petulant receiver DeSean Jackson.

IF THERE still was any doubt that DeSean Jackson will be playing somewhere else next season, it was effectively erased Monday near the end of Andy Reid's 15-minute news conference. A reporter mentioned that Jackson, who will be a free agent after the season, had said after Saturday's win over the Cowboys that he "hopefully" will be back with the Eagles in 2012. Asked if that feeling was reciprocated by himself and the organization, Reid damned the two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver with faint praise.