Eagles Notes: Young Birds step into bigger roles

Several young Eagles again stepped into prominent or increased roles in Tuesday night's game.

Rookie middle linebacker Jamar Chaney, in his second career start, was active against the run early and had an athletic pass breakup against tight end Visanthe Shiancoe late in the first quarter.

Clay Harbor, inactive from Week 2 to Week 9, had his first career touchdown and fifth career catch in the first quarter, bringing in a 3-yard pass from Michael Vick.

Rookie safety Kurt Coleman got the second start of his career, filling in for Nate Allen, who was out with a knee injury. Colt Anderson, primarily a special-teams player until last week, also played in three-safety sets, which the Eagles used several times in short-yardage situations. Anderson had a diving tackle on Percy Harvin that may have saved a touchdown in the second quarter.

Defensive tackle Jeff Owens and safety Jamar Wall, each promoted from the practice squad last week, dressed for the game. Owens got into the game in the second quarter, but he ruptured the patella tendon in his knee in the third quarter and had to be carted off the field.

Chad Hall handled the opening kickoff in place of the injured Jorrick Calvin and returned it 16 yards. Jeremy Maclin returned a kickoff 22 yards.

Veteran defensive end Derrick Burgess got into his first game since returning to the Eagles Dec. 14, days before the second Giants game. He played sparingly. Burgess' return to the lineup meant that third-round pick Daniel Te'o-Nesheim was inactive for the 10th time this season.

David Akers, named to his fifth Pro Bowl before the game, missed a field goal for the first time since the Eagles hosted the Giants five weeks ago.

He came up short on a 54-yard attempt to end the first half, and the teams were tied, 7-7, at halftime. His season long is 50.

The Eagles lightened the workload on DeSean Jackson, taking him off of punt-return duty after he injured his foot against the Cowboys. Maclin handled returns in his place. Jackson was limited returning punts against the Giants last week, at least until late in the game.

Maclin had a fair catch in the second quarter against the Vikings. In the first half, he had two fair catches and let another punt drop.

The first big stats of the day came from the Eagles' ground crew. According to the team, 615 people helped removed 1,300 truckloads and more than 2.63 million pounds of snow from the Linc. By the time the game rolled around, there was no sign inside the bowl that snow had ever been there, other than some salt on the stairs.

Tight end Brent Celek set a regular-season career high with 10 catches for a season-high 97 yards. . . . Defensive tackle Trevor Laws suffered a sprained shoulder. . . . Trent Cole, left off of the NFC's Pro Bowl roster, had a second-quarter sack, his first after a three-game dry spell. It was his 10th on the year, and he became the first Eagle with double-digit sacks in consecutive years since William Fuller in 1995-96. . . . Juqua Parker picked up his sixth sack of the season and his 30th as an Eagle, passing Jerome Brown for 14th place on the team's all-time list. . . . Brett Favre, as expected, was inactive due to a concussion. . . . Linebacker Akeem Jordan saw his role increase. He played in nickel situations in place of Ernie Sims. Jordan began the year as a starter but has had to settle for a reduced role since losing his starting job in Week 4. . . . Winston Justice returned to the starting lineup after missing the last two games with a knee injury. . . . Linebackers Stewart Bradley (elbow) and Keenan Clayton (hamstring) were both out of the game with injuries. Other Eagles inactives were quarterback Mike Kafka (third quarterback), cornerback Brandon Hughes, cornerback Gerard Lawson, tackle Austin Howard, and guard Reggie Wells.