Demeco Ryans

DEMECO RYANS got a text from Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith late Tuesday afternoon, Smith asking if Ryans might have a second to give Smith a call. "It was really weird," Ryans recalled Wednesday. "I was like, 'OK, something's happening.' Mario [Willams] had just left, [Eric] Winston - we were losing a lot of guys on our team. He texted me, I was like, 'Oh, [bleep], my turn.' " Ryans said he told Smith he was about to get something to eat. Smith suggested they meet.

A COME-FROM-BEHIND victory in Week 6 of the 2010 season normally would have prompted celebration from the Houston Texans, who advanced to 4-2 entering a bye week. Instead, there was devastation in the Reliant Stadium locker room. The Texans lost starting middle linebacker and defensive captain DeMeco Ryans for the season with a ruptured left Achilles' tendon and dropped eight of their final 10 games. That was the last time Ryans played at an elite level. Ryans, whom the Eagles introduced yesterday as their new middle linebacker, was acquired for a fourth-round pick and a swap of third-rounders on Tuesday.

The Eagles finally jumped into the linebacker market, and they did it in a big way and, as we probably should have expected, with a surprise. At first blush, the DeMeco Ryans trade has a lot to like. A lot. He was a Pro Bowler in 2007 and 2009 and AP defensive rookie of the year in 2006. Playing as a true middle linebacker in the 4-3 early in his career, he recorded more than 100 tackles each season. Equally importantly, according to reporters in Houston, he was a leader who ran the defense from the middle, something the Eagles sorely lacked last season.

JAMAR CHANEY didn't need to confer with any Eagles coaches to know what the acquisition of DeMeco Ryans was going to mean for Chaney, the Birds' incumbent starting middle linebacker. "He's going to start off at the MIKE, that goes without saying," Chaney said last night, a few hours after the news broke that the Eagles had sent a fourth-round pick in next month's draft to the Houston Texans for Ryans, a two-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker. The teams also exchanged third-round draft choices.

Now we know why the Eagles weren't casting lines to Stephen Tulloch or Curtis Lofton. They were fishing for a bigger score. And they pulled him in Tuesday night - Pro Bowl linebacker DeMeco Ryans - and on first impression the Eagles looked like they bagged a big one. All they had to give up was a fourth-round draft pick and a swap of third-round picks with the Houston Texans to get the 6-foot-1, 250-pound Ryans. On the surface, the acquisition plugs what were gaping holes on the Eagles defense last year.

Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young overwhelmed one of the strongest rookie classes in NFL history to win the Associated Press offensive rookie of the year award, the news agency announced. Young, who led the University of Texas to the 2005 national championship and was the third overall pick in last April's draft, received 23 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 sportswriters and sports broadcasters. That easily beat New Orleans wide receiver Marques Colston and Jacksonville running back Maurice Drew, who had nine votes apiece; San Diego tackle Marcus McNeill (6)

Paul Posluszny, a Penn State junior linebacker, has been named a semifinalist for the 21st Butkus Award, presented annually to the nation's top linebacker. Posluszny, a 6-foot-2, 234-pounder, made a career-high 22 stops in the Lions' 34-29 win at Northwestern on Sept. 24. The other semifinalists are: Chad Greenway, Iowa; Aaron Harris, Texas; Spencer Havner, UCLA; A.J. Hawk, Ohio State; D'Qwell Jackson, Maryland; Tim McGarigle, Northwestern; A.J. Nicholson, Florida State; DeMeco Ryans, Alabama; and Ernie Sims, Florida State.