Well I have to say that the reports of the Philadelphia Eagles’ death have been greatly exaggerated.

After the team’s second consecutive loss to drop to .500, a lot of people are saying that the Eagles are in trouble. Sure they are at the bottom of the NFC East (something they’re certainly not familiar with having won the division the last four years.) But it’s by just one game, and they’re only two games back of the division-leading Giants, whom they haven’t even played yet.

And most importantly, they have yet to play a home game against a divisional opponent. They have four more such games, and if they were to win them –- not that farfetched –- they’d be in the driver’s seat of the division. In addition, they have a home game against the Packers and a road game against the Cardinals, both of which are almost gimmes this year.

I can’t see them finishing less than 10-6 this year, and f they do manage to sweep the Giants, the division is theirs.

Having said that, the loss of Terrell Owens hurts. Really hurts. I’m sorry, but I won’t say their better without him. Although I have supported T.O. in the past, I’m not saying I support him now. They probably did the right thing in suspending him, and really had no choice.

But I’m upset with the Eagles that they didn’t have a contingency plan. It’s not like this is coming by surprise. They knew what they were getting into when they signed him. And to not have a plan to deal with the “T.O. factor” –- which means either doing as much as possible to make sure he stays in their lineup, or to have a backup in place in case he doesn’t –- is extremely unfortunate.

They now have a gaping hole at a position at which they’ve had a gaping hole for years which is why they went after Owens -– and why I wasn’t opposed to it, even though I really disliked him and didn’t like the thought of him being on “my” team –- in the first place.

It’s worse now because of the early season losses of Todd Pinkston, Freddie Mitchell and Correll Buckhalter. As good as Brian Westbrook is, I don’t know if he’ll be enough. Yes, I still think McNabb and their defence will prove strong enough to make the playoffs. But from there, they’ll be in trouble.

They needed to shore up that WR position before the season began, or make sure that Owens stayed there lined up on the right side of the field. The Eagles failed.

But so did T.O.

I just hope it’s not too late.