Quintin Mikell

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Quintin Mikell's off-season of clarity could be a lesson for wide receiver DeSean Jackson or for anyone that feels underpaid or underappreciated. The Eagles safety, disgruntled about his contract last season, said he let the situation affect his performance on the field. "I realized at the end of the day you can't control none of that stuff," Mikell said Sunday at training camp. "All we can control is what we put on the field, and I've come to peace with that.

It's been quite a week for Eagles safety and special-teams standout Quintin Mikell. The Eagles leader with 35 special teams tackles, Mikell was named to Dr. Z's all-pro team in Sports Illustrated as a special-teams performer. Mikell graduated from Boise State, which scored a dramatic 43-42 overtime win over Oklahoma in Monday's Fiesta Bowl. Now, the fourth-year safety is preparing to play in his sixth career playoff game in tomorrow's wild-card matchup against the New York Giants.

The level of angst is always directly proportionate to the quality of the player. When quarterback Donovan McNabb goes down with an injury, there's a natural tendency among the inhabitants of Eagles Nation to dismiss the season as lost. We know from experience that the Eagles can survive, even thrive, without their franchise quarterback, but panic would no doubt set in again if McNabb went down this season. And what about the Eagles' six-time Pro Bowl safety and undeniable defensive leader?

  First live play of the morning, Donovan McNabb checked down to Shady McCoy for a dumpoff, McCoy with plenty of room to ramble, but McNabb missed him, setting the tone for an off-key workout. Asante Samuel dropped a McNabb pick. Quintin Mikell broke up a bomb intended for Jeremy Maclin. Sheldon Brown fell awkwardly after going up with Maclin for a jump ball. Brown was shaken up but returned to practice. Ellis Hobbs tipped away a goal-line-drill pass from McNabb to Maclin that might have been underthrown.

Paul Domowitch's Report Card on the Eagles-49ers game: RUSHING OFFENSE: Correll Buckhalter did an impressive job in place of injured Brian Westbrook. He rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown. Had 61 yards on 10 carries in the second half. And that doesn't include his 7-catch, 85-yard contribution as a receiver. Grade: B-plus PASSING OFFENSE: Relying heavily on DeSean Jackson and Correll Buckhalter, Donovan McNabb threw for 280 yards and 2 touchdowns. For the third time in six games, he wasn't sacked.

What we're talking about after the Eagles' loss to the Redskins: All those drops: The Eagles had costly drops on both sides of the ball. Wide receiver DeSean Jackson and tight end L.J. Smith dropped at least a half-dozen balls between them, and defensive backs Asante Samuel and Quintin Mikell both dropped golden interception opportunities that could have altered the course of the game. Why won't Donovan run?: With the Redskins playing a lot of man coverage against the Eagles, Donovan McNabb had numerous opportunities to pick up important yardage with his legs.

Days after deciding to let safety/return specialist J.R. Reed go - again - Andy Reid was asked whether he was OK with his depth at the safety position. "I am," the Eagles coach said. It will be interesting to see how Reid feels about that this week. Brian Dawkins left the game in the fourth quarter with what was later called a neck stinger. The Eagles' defensive leader, who only hours before had entertained the crowd with his introductory dance, was down for some time after laying out Todd Yoder during the Redskins' opening drive of the quarter.

The Eagles have lots of salary-cap room and Daily News football writer Paul Domowitch has lots of suggestions on how they could spend some of it when the free-agency signing period gets under way. Here are six players he thinks would make them a better football team: Jason Brown, C, Ravens: Yeah, they have more pressing problems at tackle. But Brown is head and shoulders better than Jamaal Jackson. T.J. Houshmandzadeh, WR, Bengals: Anquan Boldin is a bigger difference-maker, but there's no guarantee the Cardinals ever are going to trade him. With DeSean Jackson, Kevin Curtis and Houshmandzadeh, Donovan McNabb would have one of the league's better wide-receiving trios at his disposal.

The Eagles signed tight end Garrett Mills, safety Chip Vaughn, and wide receiver Jeremy Williams on Monday, giving them the maximum of eight players on their practice squad. The 6-foot-1, 235-pound Mills was fourth-round pick by New England in 2006. He spent the last three seasons in Minnesota. He had seven catches for 91 yards in nine career games and spent a season on the practice squad. The addition of Mills means the Eagles probably have closed the book on Cornelius Ingram.

Donovan McNabb has spent the last couple of weeks telling anyone listening that he belongs in the Hall of Fame, and while he was at it, to take the time to discredit a couple of his contemporaries who have already made the Hall. A couple of days ago, when presented with the possibility that he might go to the Hall of Fame, Brian Dawkins got choked up. And therein lies the difference between an Eagles player universally accepted by the fans as one of their all-time favorites, and another who will forever be on the outside looking in. Brian Dawkins officially retired last week from the National Football League.

IN BRIAN DAWKINS' prime, the most rare part of his hybrid game might have been that amazing, shark-on-the-hunt deep-coverage skill, the way Dawk could adjust, arriving just in time to help a teammate, even if he'd been in another quadrant of the field when the ball left the quarterback's hands. But that isn't what Eagles fans will remember when they tell tales of No. 20 to their grandchildren on some far-off day, when Lincoln Financial Field is awaiting the wrecking ball and all the images from the Andy Reid era look impossibly dated and quaint.

IN THE WEEKS and months leading up to the April draft, every NFL team puts together a "board" that ranks all of the eligible players by the overall grade given them by that team's scouts, coaches and personnel executives in predraft meetings. Teams will tell you that they try to stay true to that board on draft day. If they own the 15th pick in the first round, as the Eagles do this year, their plan generally is to take the highest-rated unclaimed player on their board, regardless of position.

The Eagles are deep at cornerback, need to upgrade at linebacker and should get younger on the defensive line. But what about at safety, where the directive is much less clear? For that answer look to Nate Allen. The Eagles, before they launch their plans at the position, must gauge their confidence in the third-year safety for next season. Do they believe in the Allen that aggressively made tackles all over the field at Buffalo and finished last season on the upswing?

Now that Andy Reid has given us a preview of his sales pitch, the only question left is whether Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie will buy it on Jan. 2. That is the day after the Eagles' season ends, the day Reid usually unveils his rationalizations and, not incidentally, the day Lurie presumably will begin reviewing his employees' performances in 2011. Whether he is looking at a record of 6-10, 7-9, or 8-8 won't matter as much as whether he accepts Reid's attempt to spin that record.

Here are some observations and ruminations about the Eagles' victory over the Redskins:   LANDOVER, Md. - It took six games, but the Eagles defense had its first big hit of the season when cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha clobbered Redskins tight end Chris Cooley after Cooley caught a screen pass. All season long, the defense has lacked the intimidation factor. But Asomugha brought it on that play. Cooley went to the locker room and returned to the game briefly before leaving for good with a hand injury.

NOW, IN THE WAKE of three blown second-half leads, the Eagles miss safety Quintin Mikell's stinging tongue as much as they miss his punishing hits. Veteran defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins can fill the leadership void. In 2009, Mikell replaced safety Brian Dawkins as the defense's leader. Dawkins led the defense for a decade. He inherited the job from cornerback Troy Vincent, who got it from Mike Zordich, who followed Seth Joyner . . . The point is, the defense always had someone to hold players accountable.

If you're an Eagles fan staring at a 1-3 team after an offseason full of hope, here's the most maddening thing: You could see the biggest problems coming for months. The flaws that have plagued the Birds through their three-game slide are not surprises. They did not arise out of bad luck. They are vulnerabilities identified in July and August that went unaddressed and blew up in the Eagles' faces through the first quarter of the season. Let's run through them: The defense is awful in the second half.

The words are emblazoned on the front doors, below the broad yellow stripes that declare "WARNING": "Behind these doors, lives are being changed. . . . If you're up for the challenge, check your pride here. " It's an unusual greeting that speaks to a basic truth known to any gym rat: Pride impedes progress. Humility permits improvement. The name of the place is 7 Deuce Sports. That's 72, as in the number worn by William "Tra" Thomas, when he played for the Eagles. The former Pro Bowl offensive tackle opened the training center in the spring.

NOBODY LOOKS too hard at the league stats after just 1 week, which is a good thing for Chas Henry. The Eagles' rookie punter ranks 29th in the NFL, with a 36.3-yard gross. That would be a dozen slots behind last year's Eagles punter, Sav Rocca, who managed a 43.0-yard gross for the Redskins in their Week 1 victory over the Giants. Henry's net, also 36.3, ranks 15th; Rocca is ninth, at 38.5. "I didn't feel like I played personally very well," Henry said yesterday, as the Eagles began preparations for Sunday night's game in Atlanta.