Witherspoon makes his presence felt early in D.C.


When the Eagles traded for Will Witherspoon before the trade deadline last week, many thought that it was nothing more than a desperation move.

Their starting linebacker, Stewart Bradley, was out for the year with a torn ACL in training camp, and Omar Gaither had just gone down with a foot injury, requiring surgery and most likely putting him out for the entire season.

So the Eagles pulled a trade for a guy who has played in the middle and on the weakside over his career, and has played both positions very well. He seemed to be a natural fit for Sean McDermott's defense, and he came relatively cheap.

A rookie wide receiver in Brandon Gibson, who was a sixth-round pick just this past April, and a fifth-round pick was all it took for the Rams to part ways with perhaps their best defensive player. In essence, the Eagles offered the starving man a hot dog in exchange for the cadillac he couldn't afford to keep.

Okay, maybe not that drastic, but you get the point. The Rams got fleeced.

So now in his debut game in Philly, he walks away with eight total tackles, an interception returned for a touchdown, and a strip-sack. Barring a complete meltdown for the rest of the season, he's won over the hearts of Philly fans and is now a welcome member of this city, and more importantly, of this team.

His presence also allowed Jeremiah Trotter to stay on the sideline and play spot duty, while helping Witherspoon pick up the subtle nuances of the defense on the sideline. I didn't count after halftime, but I only noticed him on the field four times in the first half.

That's right, four times.

If Witherspoon can continue playing three downs for this defense, it's an enormous help and can allow McDermott to worry about something other than what he's doing with the MIKE linebacker.