Clay Harbor

EIGHTEEN PLAYS, the most the Eagles have put together on a scoring drive since the 2001 season opener. Eight minutes and 51 seconds, the most elapsed time in an Eagles scoring drive since a 10:26 drive back on Sept. 18, 2005. A whopping six third-down conversions, including the touchdown play. The most amazing thing about the drive that beat the Giants Sunday night was the cast of characters. Vince Young? Clay Harbor? Ronnie Brown? Riley Cooper? Jason Avant? Yes, there was a huge DeSean Jackson play in there, and a strong sprinkling of LeSean McCoy, but the foot soldiers really pushed the march.

The Eagles reached a new level of futility in the second half of Thursday's 34-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals when turnovers came so fast that they could barely execute a play without committing one. At one point, the Eagles turned the ball over on three consecutive plays and four times in five plays - a feat so laughable that the few fans remaining at Lincoln Financial Field could barely muster the deafening boos they would ordinarily dispense....

Here are some observations and ruminations about Sunday's Eagles-Buccaneers game: TAMPA, Fla. - Nick Foles will get most of the credit, and rightly so. But his receivers bailed out the Eagles' rookie quarterback on a number of throws Sunday. Jason Avant was spectacular, catching seven passes for 133 yards. His one-handed grab in the first half was as good as they come. Jeremy Maclin had his best game of the season. The fourth-year wide receiver caught nine passes for 104 yards, but it was his 1-yard, game-winning grab as time expired that will be remembered most.

WHEN EAGLES general manager Howie Roseman and head coach Chip Kelly went to sleep early yesterday morning, a few hours after the first round of the draft ended, the name at the top of their draft board was Stanford tight end Zach Ertz. When they went on the clock with the third pick in the second round last night and Ertz still was unclaimed, they took him. While Kelly regularly uses two and often three tight ends in his offense, the position hardly was a crying need. They have Brent Celek, Clay Harbor and newcomer James Casey, whom they signed away from Houston last month.

Whether one subscribes to the argument that having two above-average, pass-catching tight ends greatly increases an NFL team's chances of success, the Eagles need to upgrade at the position. Like at safety - another spot where the Eagles need change - there are an abundance of tight ends in free agency and the draft from which the team can address its need. Free agency, of course, comes first - Tuesday, to be exact. There aren't any studs on the market, but there are a handful of tight ends - Jared Cook, Delanie Walker, and James Casey - whom the Eagles could get at good value.

CLAY HARBOR stays after practice each day to work on his pass-catching skills. Has a quarterback or a coach throw him 50 extra balls before he calls it a day and heads for the locker room. The extra work has paid off. Since training camp started 3 weeks ago, Harbor hasn't dropped a single pass. Not a one. Thirty-two practices and God knows how many passes thrown in his direction, and not one catchable ball has hit the ground. That wasn't the case this spring during the Eagles' minicamps and OTAs when the normally sure-handed tight end had an inordinate number of drops.

Several young Eagles again stepped into prominent or increased roles in Tuesday night's game. Rookie middle linebacker Jamar Chaney , in his second career start, was active against the run early and had an athletic pass breakup against tight end Visanthe Shiancoe late in the first quarter. Clay Harbor , inactive from Week 2 to Week 9, had his first career touchdown and fifth career catch in the first quarter, bringing in a 3-yard pass from Michael Vick . Rookie safety Kurt Coleman got the second start of his career, filling in for Nate Allen , who was out with a knee injury.

A FEW HOURS OF reflection after the Eagles' despicable loss to the Minnesota Vikings Tuesday night did not soothe the beast, but Andy Reid was a bit more reasoned. In the moments after the Birds' 24-14 loss that locked them into the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs, Reid snapped that his team was not "good enough" to rest players for a now meaningless regular season finale against Dallas. Yesterday, however, Reid seemed far more open to the idea that it might be in the Birds' best interest to rest some players against Dallas and get them healthy for the playoffs the following weekend.

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 pre-game 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.

Even stone-faced Andy Reid couldn't mask the obvious. The Eagles' coach wouldn't come out and say that he was resting most of his starters in Sunday's regular-season finale. But with a number of significant regulars injured; with the team coming off a short week; and, most important, with the first round of the playoffs looming, Reid will use an otherwise-meaningless game against the Cowboys to give his reserves some extra playing time. "Your roster's not big enough where you can" sit every starter, Reid said Friday behind a devilish grin.