Eagles Notes: Eagles' Reid a fan of Jackson, if not his antics

Sarcasm is defined as a sharp or ironic utterance designed to cut.

So when Andy Reid said that he was benching DeSean Jackson for the rest of the season because of the receiver's personal-foul-inducing backward plunge into the end zone against Dallas, the Eagles coach was obviously being sarcastic.

Sit his best offensive weapon with three games to play and the playoffs on the line? Ha!

"Listen, I love his enthusiasm," Reid said Monday at the NovaCare Complex, a day after Jackson and the Eagles defeated the Cowboys, 30-27. "I've told you this from the get-go - he loves to play the game. There aren't a lot of guys out there that love to play the game more than what he loves to play the game. Do I like those things? No. I don't like them. Do I express that to him? Yes, I do. And I'll leave it at that."

Jackson's antics aside, the receiver caught four passes for 210 yards - an NFL record for most yards produced from a four-catch outing - and he broke a 20-20 tie with a 91-yard touchdown catch-and-run.

But on the first TD reception, Jackson drew an unsportsmanlike penalty for his taunting splash into the end zone and the Eagles had to kick off from the 15 instead of the 30.

Reid was asked, in light of his message to Jackson, whether he thought the 24-year-old would continue to pull similar stunts.

"I don't know," he said. "I'm hoping not. But that's alright."

Jackson, for the record, said after the game that it was the wrong thing to do. But he intimated that stifling his "energy" may "take away from my game." Some Dallas players took issue with the celebration.

"Obviously, when you make a play like that you're going to get excited," Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking said. "I don't think that's the best part of football, but I guess he did."

The Eagles, of course, have to face Dallas once more in the season finale on Jan. 2. The last time Jackson incited the Cowboys with his "sting they ass" comment on Twitter, Dallas shut down the receiver and clobbered the Eagles in the playoffs last January.

Jackson wasn't even Enemy No. 1 in Dallas on Monday.

That honor belonged to Cowboys running back Tashard Choice, who was caught on camera asking Eagles quarterback Michael Vick for an autograph following the game.

Choice's indiscretion in the eyes of many football fans prompted him to tweet the following: "If its anybody that cares about winning and the d cowboys its me. I apologize to the people it was just an innocent jesture for my nephew."

Apparently, Choice knew Vick when he was at Georgia Tech and Vick was with the Falcons.

"He's a great guy," Vick said Sunday. "It's probably the first time it ever happened. It doesn't surprise me."

Reid said that cornerback Asante Samuel and tackle Winston Justice, both of whom missed Sunday night's game with knee injuries, "should be back, ready to practice and go" when the Eagles reconvene on Wednesday.

Samuel has missed the last three games with what Reid said was a medial collateral ligament sprain. He had an MRI last week and it did not reveal anything more.

Jackson injured his foot during a punt return, but Reid said the receiver was fine. Vick bruised his thumb when he hit it against a helmet, but his coach said it wasn't anything significant.

Linebacker Keenan Clayton has a hamstring strain, Reid said, and will be out for at least a week.

The Eagles-Vikings game scheduled for the day after Christmas has been changed from a 1 p.m. start to an 8:20 p.m. game to be broadcast on NBC10's "Sunday Night Football." The Eagles are 5-0 this season in prime time. . . . The Eagles-Cowboys overnight rating of 16.5 matched last year's Giants-Cowboys game as the highest in the five-year history of "SNF."