Eagles Notes: Eagles could face Cowboys twice

The Eagles play the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday in a game that will decide the NFC East title. There's a decent chance the same two teams could play again the following week in a playoff game.

Andy Reid said he doesn't care about that second game right now.

"You have to take care of this one, and whatever happens after that happens," Reid said yesterday. "But you have to take care of business now."

Despite being to the playoffs seven previous times, Reid has never been in a situation quite like this. The Eagles did play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in consecutive weeks in 2001, but the regular-season finale in Tampa, Fla., was meaningless because the teams already knew that the following week's game would be played at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

Reid and Tony Dungy, the Tampa Bay coach at the time, both sat their starters for the majority of the game.

"That was different," Reid said. "In this game, we play to win the game. You come out and do what you have to do to win the game."

Reid indicated that the Eagles' playbook is vast enough that he doesn't have to worry about revealing anything in this first of two possible games against Dallas in as many weeks.

"We don't ever" hold back, Reid said. "We're going to give them our best stuff, and we'll come back and get some more of our best stuff for the next go around."

Guard Todd Herremans said the Eagles want to beat the Cowboys on Sunday because they want a home game at Lincoln Financial Field.

"We always love to play at home," Herremans said. "Our fans are great. They're loud, and they're disruptive, and that always works to our advantage. Obviously, we're going to keep that in mind."

Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson has had a lot of big games this season, but one of them was not the 20-16 loss to the Cowboys on Nov. 8 at Lincoln Financial Field. In that game, Dallas held the Eagles' star receiver to just two catches for 29 yards.

Dallas cornerback Mike Jenkins indicated Jackson will be in for more of the same Sunday at Cowboys Stadium.

"We're just playing the deep balls," Jenkins told the Cowboys' Web site. "The main thing is they try to catch you off-guard. It's yet to happen to us, and we're not planning on it to happen. I guess he runs past a lot of guys, and it's not going to happen this week. It's not going to happen to us, period."

Jenkins said the Cowboys also want revenge for last season's loss at the Linc, which knocked Dallas out of the playoff picture. He said this game is "probably a little more personal than any other game," because of the 44-6 defeat in last year's season finale.

"We've got a lot at stake right now and . . . it's about revenge," Jenkins said.

Reid was told on his 610 WIP radio show last night that Mike Pereira, the vice president of officiating, said safety Macho Harris' hit on Denver tight end Tony Scheffler drew a flag for unnecessary roughness because you can't hit a defenseless receiver in the head or neck area with your helmet, shoulder or forearm.

Harris hit Scheffler after teammate Asante Samuel intercepted a pass at the Eagles' 5-yard line, which the rookie safety maintained made the tight end a potential tackler rather than a receiver.

Reid clearly didn't like the call.

"I'm going to have to teach the drop-kick," Reid said. "We're going to have to lead with our feet next time."

Reid said he could also make a change in kickoff returners this week after Harris fumbled two returns Sunday, including one that was lost and led to a Denver touchdown.

"I probably should have taken him off of those kickoff returns and let [Jeremy] Maclin do it a little bit because Macho was getting a lot of reps on the defensive side," Reid said.

Reid indicated that either Maclin or Quintin Demps could handle kickoffs against the Cowboys. Demps, however, is still bothered by an ankle injury and was scheduled for an MRI yesterday.

Reid said there is a chance that Michael Vick could return Sunday after missing the Broncos game with a bruised quad. . . . The NFL will announce the Pro Bowl rosters tonight, and the Eagles are hopeful that cornerback Sheldon Brown is selected for the first time in his career. "I'd love to see him in it," Reid said. "I think he deserves to go."