Downplaying Desean

While us fans spent the days following Desean Jackson's second straight strong preseason showing getting worked up into a frenzy over the potential of the rookie... Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb were feeding a nice spoonful of reality.

"I don't think it's fair for people to look at it and say all of a sudden that he is going to be the next Steve Smith and compare him to some of the greats," McNabb said. "You kind of have to give people an opportunity to get adjusted to this league."

"I think he has done a great job. (But) I have been here a while, so I've seen when rookies come in and catch a couple balls and everyone gets excited," McNabb said. "All of a sudden, the question goes out — "What happened and why isn't he still playing or making a lot of plays?'

And Coach Reid's assement of his performance against Carolina?

"He did some good things," Reid said. "I thought he caught the ball OK. He had a couple of drops in there."

Andy is right. Jackson did drop a few balls he should have had.

McNabb is right. We all saw Hank Baskett catch everything in sight 2 preseasons ago and inflate his expectations sky high.

So while I can hardly argue with their assement of the player, don't you get the feeling that there is a concerted effort to to put a little bit of a wet blanket on the building Desean Jackson mania?  Could they be trying to keep Jackson's infamous ego in check? Does the team simply want to protect the kid from being labelled a dissapointment when he doesn't catch a hundred passes and make the pro bowl this year? Whatever the motivation, I find this to be a curious development and one worth keeping an eye on.

For what it's worth, Jackson seems to be staying grounded.

"The opportunity is there," said Jackson. "Marty and Coach (Andy) Reid have a lot of confidence in me and I just feel like I've been given a good opportunity to help this team. I have a lot of confidence in myself with what I've been through in my life so far and I'm just happy to be here and have guys backing me."