McNabb will return to Philadelphia on October 3rd.


In what will probably be the most-watched non-primetime game of the season, Donovan McNabb returns to face his old team in Philadelphia on October 3rd, according to the schedule leaked to NBCWashington.com.

For those of you keeping track, that's Week 4.

So why in the world wouldn't the NFL put that game in primetime? The entire NFL schedule isn't out yet, so there's a good chance the primetime games that week will still be worth watching, but the NFL really missed an opportunity for record-breaking ratings.

The first Eagles-Redskins matchup, if it was on Sunday or Monday night, would have crushed even the ratings the Vikings-Packers matchup got last year when Brett Favre returned to Lambeau to face his old team.

It's a rare miss by the NFL, but they were at least smart enough to put the second game (in Washington) on Monday Night Football on November 15th -- the week after the Redskins' bye.

That might not sound significant, but McNabb has never lost a game after the bye week. But, of course, neither has Andy Reid. It will probably get hyped as the game to see who was truly behind the Eagles' successes over the past decade, but that's a bit much as I think it's fairly obvious it was a combination of both guys.

But, that certainly won't stop the hype -- nor should it. This is going to be huge for the league and, as a football fan first, I can't wait to see it.

UPDATE: The schedule has been released and has confirmed the report.