Ricky Watters

YOU COULDN'T blame Ricky Watters and his wife if they had soured on the idea of adopting a son. They had raised their first adoptive son from birth. Watters, his wife and their oldest son had built a life around their new addition. But that chapter came to a sudden and emotional end when one of the infant's biological grandparents decided she couldn't let him go. "We had him for six months," Watters told me Friday. The former Eagles running back was in town with state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams giving away turkeys.

Not surprisingly, Ricky Watters was his usual vocal self after yesterday's season-ending loss to Dallas. Not to reporters, but to anyone within shouting distance of the shower room, where the Eagles running back threw another of his tirades, chastising teammates for not showing more effort. No one seemed eager to challenge Watters' perceptions. Later, clad in black jeans and black boots, Watters sat at his locker talking to Raleigh McKenzie's twin brother, Reggie, in a voice loud enough for all to hear.

Before Ricky Watters made himself a target for unhappy Eagles fans, he was squarely in the sights of the Tampa Bay defense. The Buccaneers prepared for the Eagles' new offense by watching tapes of Watters' old offense - that of the San Francisco 49ers. The tapes taught them a couple of things about Watters. "Ricky Watters will put the ball on the ground," safety Kenneth Gant said. "He's a heck of a back, but that's one of his weaknesses. That was one of our tips for this game.

How's this for a switch: On the day Ricky Watters finally spoke to the media, many of his teammates chose to keep their thoughts to themselves. It's been a while since the Eagles' Pro Bowl running back talked, except, of course, for his weekly television show. But this has been a controversial week, even by his standards. In Saturday's 21-20 comeback victory over the pathetic New York Jets at the Meadowlands, he parked himself at the end of the bench at the start of the third quarter and wasn't readily available when the coaching staff wanted to reinsert him for backup Charlie Garner.

Enough. That was the message yesterday from Eagles coach Ray Rhodes, first in a meeting with his players and then in his daily chat with reporters. With the team preparing for a critical division game against the Washington Redskins on Sunday, Rhodes ordered the leaks plugged before the ship takes on any more Watters. "The situation with Ricky Watters was addressed this morning," Rhodes said, before being asked. "This is our football team, and we're going to talk to them as a group.

Ricky Watters says he's having fun. You'd never know it by looking at his hands, balled tight into fists and stuffed into his white 49ers sweatshirt. "I might not come out of this game relaxed," the flamboyant first-year running back barked, "but I'm going into it relaxed. " Baloney. The 23-year-old high-stepper who just six years ago was an all-state running back at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, has been as relaxed this week as a live wire. The rest of the 49ers are trying very hard to be sparkless bores as they prepare for tomorrow's NFC championship game at swampy Candlestick Park against those chesty, young Dallas Cowboys.

This time, Ricky Watters waited until the game was over to puff out his chest and thump it. This time, he had cause when he did. Watters, who was a model citizen and a productive player all during the Eagles' 31-19 win over the Cardinals last night, strutted up the tunnel at game's end, looked up at cheering Eagles fans, ripped off his gloves and do- rag and tossed them, and then beat on his chest, Tarzan-style, and crowed: "I will never...

From the moment Ricky Watters spots you watching him, looking into his eyes, waiting for him to commit yet another faux pas, he begins to make his case: Focus on the present, the past is irrelevant. Check out the Afro, not the frown. Did you see my new owner? He appreciates talent and hard work and has the money to bring it all together. Slice through the rhetoric, the rap rhymes and the tranquil atmosphere Watters declares has given him a new lease on life, and it's clear what he wants more than anything else right now: A new image.

When you take a calculated risk, it sure helps if your calculations are accurate. The Eagles' decision to let running back Ricky Watters go will look a lot better if Duce Staley turns out to be the real thing. If that happens, it would snap a string of miscalculations that have cost the Eagles dearly over the last few seasons. Calculated risk: letting William Fuller go. Miscalculation: believing that Greg Jefferson or 1997 first-round pick Jon Harris would be an adequate substitute.

Ricky Watters, finishing the last of a series of live radio interviews on his first day in an Eagles uniform, turned to leave the press lounge on the fourth floor of Veterans Stadium and ran right into another free agent who was signed yesterday. Raleigh McKenzie - all 6-feet-2, 277 pounds of him - clogged the doorway. Watters, perhaps realizing that McKenzie will soon be in charge of opening the middle of the field for him, quickly embraced the former Washington Redskins offensive lineman.

LeSean McCoy would have been excused had he taken the Eagles' final two games off, but the running back was cleared to play after missing four games because of a concussion. During the week, McCoy had spoken about his desire to get back on the field, and he demonstrated his hunger in Sunday's 27-20 loss to the Washington Redskins at Lincoln Financial Field. On a day when he didn't have much running room, McCoy rushed for 45 yards on 13 carries and caught nine passes for 77 yards.

FOR WHO? For what? Forever. Forever, Ricky Watters will live with his infamous dismissal, his implication that his health was more important than winning a football game. It is what many fans will remember, with disgust, on Sunday when he addresses them as an honorary captain before the Eagles play the Lions. It is ugly irony, then, that, forever, Watters will live with pain he suffers from carrying and catching footballs at Veterans Stadium, among other places; pain, from head to toe. "I got it all," he said.

   With two touchdowns Sunday against the Dolphins, Eagles running back LeSean McCoy moved to within one touchdown of Steve Van Buren's team records of 18 touchdowns in a season and 15 rushing touchdowns in a season. Here are the lists: Most touchdowns in an Eagles season:   Player              Year TDs Van Buren 1945 18 McCoy           2011 17 Brian Westbrook 2008 14 Terrell Owens     2004 14 W. Montgomery 1979 14 Van Buren        1947 14 Most rushing touchdowns in an Eagles season: Player              Year TDs Van Buren        1945 15 McCoy           2011 14 Ricky Watters     1996 13 Van Buren        1947 13

* With his second-quarter touchdown run, LeSean McCoy became the first Eagle to rush for at least one TD in each of the first six games of a season. He's the first player since Ricky Watters in 1995 to have at least one rushing TD in six straight games. The club record is eight by Steve Van Buren in 1947. * The Eagles still have not scored on their first possession this season. They did it eight times last year. * The Eagles had a plus-two turnover ratio yesterday. It was the first time this season they've won a turnover battle, reducing their season turnover ratio to minus-8.

HARRISBURG - Bring up Jameel Poteat in conversation and Eagles running back LeSean McCoy breaks into an ear-to-ear smile. "Hey," McCoy exclaimed one day in the Eagles locker room. "He is a heck of a player. He is the next big thing. " McCoy knows whereof he speaks. Not long ago, he was "the next big thing" to come out of Bishop McDevitt High, which has produced such a wealth of fine ballcarriers through the years that it has become known as "Tailback High. " The tradition goes back more than 25 years, beginning with the emergence of none other than former Eagles running back Ricky Watters.

YOU COULDN'T blame Ricky Watters and his wife if they had soured on the idea of adopting a son. They had raised their first adoptive son from birth. Watters, his wife and their oldest son had built a life around their new addition. But that chapter came to a sudden and emotional end when one of the infant's biological grandparents decided she couldn't let him go. "We had him for six months," Watters told me Friday. The former Eagles running back was in town with state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams giving away turkeys.

EAGLES! Home field, baby! The road to the Super Bowl leads through our house. Needless to say, the team's fans are more pumped than Anna Nicole Smith on a tasting tour at Hershey. We've got playoff fever. Big time. Now all we have to do is . . . sit on that enthusiasm for another week. This is some sick joke, right? You're talking about fans who are so psyched, we make 12-year-olds on the last day of school look placid. And you want us to be patient? Look, we're sure this bye week is a good deal for the team.

Ricky Watters' season has ended with a broken bone in his right ankle. Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said an MRI exam revealed the injury after Sunday's game with the Dallas Cowboys. Watters left the game after the second play of the fourth quarter of the Seahawks' 29-3 victory. Watters had returned to the starting lineup after missing eight games because of a right shoulder injury. He had his 33rd career 100-yard rushing game and scored his 78th career touchdown, gaining 104 yards on 28 carries.

Ricky Watters' season has ended as a result of a broken right ankle. Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said yesterday that tests revealed the injury after Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys. Watters left the game after the second play of the fourth quarter of the Seahawks' 29-3 victory with what was thought to be a sprained ankle. Watters, a former Eagle, had returned to the starting lineup against the Cowboys after missing eight games because of a right-shoulder injury.

Seattle running back Ricky Watters, sidelined nine weeks by a shoulder injury, is expected to see action in a backup role tomorrow against Denver. Second-year back Shaun Alexander, the third-leading rusher in the AFC with 981 yards, will remain the starter. "I suppose everybody could make a big deal out of who starts and all that, but we need them both to play," coach Mike Holmgren said yesterday. "I don't think [who starts] is very important. " Watters, speaking to the media for the first time since he was injured, said he did not expect to start in his first game back.