The Eagles are in San Diego this Sunday to play Philip Rivers and the Chargers and are currently two-point underdogs. Ellis Hobbs (replaced by Dmitri Patterson) is out for the season with a neck injury and Joselio Hanson will be doing the Manny Ramirez for 4 games after revelations of a banned substance. These absences will affect the special teams game as well because Hobbs won’t be available to return kicks. Those duties will be performed by Quentin Demps.

Think the Eagles rely on the pass too much? The Chargers actually pass more that the Eagles (34.2 to 33.2 pass attempts per game) and they attempt fewer running plays than the Eagles (23.9 rushes per game for the Eagles and 22.8 for the Chargers). I wonder if Norv Turner gets ripped for that as much as Andy Reid does here.

Apparently the San Diego Union Tribune is concerned about Michael Vick and his “alarming talent.” Really? So far this season Vick is 2 for 6 passing for a total of 6 yards. He’s rushed the ball to the tune of 27 yards on 12 carries. Those aren’t exactly the kind of numbers that drive a defensive coordinator to drink. The Union Tribune goes on the say the Chargers will be designating the call sign “Cowbell” to Vick this weekend. Given the way he’s performed so far, presumably they’d like more cowbell.

Yahoo Sports is reporting (through the incredibly clever title “League shipwrecks Captain Morgan campaign) that several NFL players have been encouraged to strike the ‘Captain’ pose during games. Brent Celek is among them. At first I thought this to be incredibly tacky and douchey (just like Captain Morgan) but then I learned that Diageo (C.M.’s corporate entity) would be donating money to charity for each pose struck (ranging from $10,000 to $100,000), which seems like a small price to pay for even more blatant advertising in football. Come to think of it, though, the NFL is probably correct in its decision to fine players a “significant” amount for committing this shameless act of marketing: after all the last thing the NFL wants to do is be in the business of making money off of advertising alcohol. Now if they could just find a way to fine Coors Light every time one of their ads runs, we might be onto something.