If it's Saturday, it must be time for the dreaded Eagles pick.

I will try to use this space on my so-called off-day (full confession here, in the newspaper business there really is no such thing as a day off) to show off my prognosticating prowess on the Eagles.

Just don't plop yourself in front of the TV tomorrow with your face painted green and a big spread of wings, chips and munchies.

The Eagles don't play until Monday night. As if we need another day to wallow in last week's disaster.

I'll admit I saw some of this coming. But I still didn't think they'd lose to the lowly Packers. Make no mistake about it, the Packers are one of the worst teams in the league. So what does that say about the Birds?

Of course it was the way the Birds lost that had fans making like their favorite quarterback and regurgitating their lunch.

I'm still fairly dumbstruck that a coach as accomplished as Andy Reid could so arrogantly toss off questions about the return game and enter a season without a punt returner.

He paid for it dearly, as first Greg Lewis and then J.R. Reed muffed punts, leading directly to 13 Packers points, including the game-winning field goal as time expired.

Pity Poor J.R. Reed. He went from feel-good story of the year, returning to the team two years after a devastating leg injury that caused nerve damage, only to be tossed on the scrap heap because he was thrown to the wolves by Eagles coaches who clearly think very little of special teams.

This week we will have the much-surer hands of Reno Mahe back under punts. He'll make the right decision and catch the ball when he has to, but little else. For my money, I wold have brought back Jeremy Bloom. He would have done the same thing as Mahe, but still had the potential of breaking one. But of course that would have left the other Reid with a little egg on his face. No can do.

Unsaid in all the hoopla over the special teams was the pedestrian nature of the Eagles offense last week. Donovan McNabb this week admitted he has a lot of work to do, that he simply does not have the explosiveness he possessed before the knee injury.

Here's one to mull over. Take a gander at McNabb's record in his last 20 or so starts. It ain't great.

That had better reverse itself Monday night. The Redskins aren't great, but they're better than the Packers.

So what happens? A low-scoring affafir, with a reverse ending from last week. David Akers kicks the game winner (but only after an attempt earlier in the game goes awry because of a mishandled snap by new holder Sav Rocca) and the Birds prevail, 19-16.

And everyone in Eagleville can exhale. If the opposite should happen, and the Birds should fall to 0h-and-2, stay away from bridges on the ride home.