Defensive Line

College coaching veteran Phil Snow will become Temple's new defensive coordinator, sources confirmed Monday. The California native spent the last three seasons as Eastern Michigan's defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. Snow, 57, replaces Chuck Heater, who left to become the defensive coordinator at Marshall. Heater reportedly was not offered the coordinator's job with the Owls after head coach Matt Rhule was hired last month. Snow comes to Temple with 17 years of coaching experience, including stops in the NFL and the Pac-10.

Jason Babin continues to jab the Eagles from afar, and this time his comments were directed toward the organization's view of him and ousted defensive line coach Jim Washburn. The Eagles signed Babin to a five-year, $28 million contract in 2011 and waived him Nov. 27, citing the desire to play younger players. On Wednesday he praised the Jacksonville Jaguars, who claimed him off waivers, and implied that the Eagles thought no one wanted him. "That was probably their approach because they don't have amicable splits with people," Babin said during a conference call with Tennessee reporters.

FORMER EAGLES defensive tackle Hollis Thomas will be an assistant coach for the Soul this season. Thomas, 39, will work with the Soul's defensive line in a part-time capacity that also will allow him to continue as an occasional host for 94WIP radio. "I think it's going to be fun," said Thomas, who played for the Eagles from 1996-2005. "I had a lot of good D-line coaches and it's my duty to try to pass along some of that knowledge. " Thomas made the Eagles as an undrafted free agent out of Northern Illinois and was a key member of some of those great Jim Johnson-led defenses in the early 2000s.

As a top prospect at George Washington High School in 2009, Sharrif Floyd visited the Eagles' training facility when the team recognized academic and athletic achievers in local high schools. He remembers the visit four years later, including then-coach Andy Reid's calling him by his nickname, "Reef. " On April 5, Floyd again visited the NovaCare Complex. He was still being honored for his achievements, but the Eagles had more immediate interests, too. The Eagles welcomed Floyd because the defensive tackle from Florida is one of the top prospects in the draft.

WHAT A wonderful narrative it would be if Nick Foles were to build on Sunday's success and take another step forward, against a really good defense, in front of the home crowd. You'd see some No. 9 jerseys getting printed up in advance of Christmas, across the Delaware Valley. But as the ever-wise Rich Hofmann noted recently, a young quarterback's progress is rarely linear. Much more predictably linear is the progress of a defensive line that leads the NFL in sacks, through an Eagles offensive line that, well, is fighting the good fight, with three key starters down.

YAZOO CITY, Miss. - A newspaper clipping hangs on a wall of Christy Cader's office at Yazoo City High School, the alma mater of Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. It's a story with the headline "COX SOARS TO PHILLY," from the NFL draft. She wants her students to see it. She wants them to know it's possible to go to college and create a better life. "A lot of these kids don't have a ticket out of here," Cader said. "We all saw [football] as [Cox's] ticket out of here. " Tony Woolfolk begins every football season as head coach of Yazoo City High School telling his players the same message: "You got to get out of here.

It's funny how quickly things can change. A month ago, the Eagles offensive line was being called the worst in the league. But after two games in which the running game has flourished and Nick Foles has been sacked only two times, the unit appears to be coming together despite the continued losing. So what changed? The most obvious was the addition of Jake Scott. The veteran right guard, acquired just before the Redskins game last month, has helped steady a group that has now played three games together.

Michael Vick and LeSean McCoy both passed their baseline ImPACT tests, a major step in their recoveries from concussions, the Eagles said. Neither practiced with the team on Monday, but there is a chance they could practice on Tuesday. Neither will play in Thursday's game against Cincinnati - an independent neurologist must clear them first - but passing ImPACT was a major step in their recoveries. Vick, who has missed four games, experienced tracking problems with his eyes during his recovery.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Eagles traded linebackers Moise Fokou and Greg Lloyd to the Colts for cornerback Kevin Thomas and a 2013 conditional seventh-round draft pick. Thomas was drafted in the third round in 2010 by Indianapolis. He missed all of 2010 with a knee injury. He started five of nine games he played for the Colts last season, recording 33 tackles and defending three passes. There were reports out of Indianapolis during the spring that the 6-foot, 192-pound Thomas could challenge for a starting spot in 2012.