Eagles Notes: Rodgers-Cromartie's status still up in the air

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie practiced on Friday and will travel with the Eagles to Miami on Saturday, but the cornerback was listed as questionable for Sunday's game.

Eagles coach Andy Reid said that Rodgers-Cromartie, who has missed the last three games with a high-ankle sprain and torn ligaments, practiced mostly with the scout team on Friday. If he can go, he'll play in his regular spot at the nickel, but if he can't, Joselio Hanson will fill in once again.

"We'll kind of monitor him as we go here," Reid said of Rodgers-Cromartie. "Obviously, he wants to play."

On Monday, Rodgers-Cromartie said that he wouldn't be ready for the Dolphins. Two days later, he said he would.

"We've been telling him all week that you can't go if you can't go," cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said.

The Eagles, otherwise, are healthy after scraping through three games without Michael Vick (broken ribs) and Jeremy Maclin (hamstring strain). Both the quarterback and wide receiver are back and will start Sunday.

"This week went well," Vick said. "I had my days when I felt well, felt good out there and some days when it kind of ran down on me."

Guard Danny Watkins was limited at practice on Thursday with an ankle sprain, but he was fine by Friday and was listed as probable, along with Vick and Maclin.

The following injured Eagles were also listed as probable: Asomugha (concussion, knee), defensive end Trent Cole (hand), tackle King Dunlap (concussion), tackle Todd Herremans (biceps), defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins (thumb), defensive tackle Trevor Laws (knee), and linebacker Brian Rolle (neck).

Asomugha revealed to reporters that his knee injury wasn't a "hyperextension" but a medial collateral ligament sprain. He said there was no tear, however.

On Thanksgiving, the cornerback suffered a gruesome injury. "It was scary," Asomugha said. He played sparingly the following Sunday against the Patriots, however, and then four days later at Seattle before he suffered a concussion.

It's safe to say the season hasn't panned out the way Asomugha intended when he stunned the NFL and inked a five-year, $60 million deal with the Eagles at the beginning of training camp.

He has had his struggles playing in a new system and being asked to take on several responsibilities. And the Eagles, who were burdened with great expectations, failed to live up to them and are a loss away from being eliminated from the playoffs.

"Sometimes expectations come from excitement, and I think the town and a lot of people were excited for the possibilities for what we had," Asomugha said. "When you look at the quick offseason and the people we were able to bring in and what we were able to do and that type of energy, it was an exciting period."

However, Vince Young's "Dream Team" label followed the Eagles, and when they got off to a slow start many around the country took aim at the hype.

"Obviously there was the other group of people that it wasn't as much excitement," Asomugha said, "but it was like, 'Let's throw these expectations on them and then when that doesn't happen we can try to beat them down,' sort of thing."

After six seasons and nearly 5,000 yards rushing, Ronnie Brown's days as a Dolphin ended when Miami decided not to bring back the running back during the offseason.

The Eagles gladly signed Brown as the backup to LeSean McCoy, but it hasn't worked out in Philadelphia. He has 19 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown, and if it wasn't for a failed physical after a trade, Brown would be in Detroit right now.

He said he held no bitter feelings toward the Eagles or Dolphins, whom he will play against Sunday for the first time.

"They gave me an opportunity, and I was grateful for that," Brown said. "Unfortunately in this business you see that your time is going to be up eventually if it's going to be one place or another."