PHILADELPHIA -- Bears return man Devin Hester is so good, Sheldon Brown has a hard time believing he's not on the field more.
"If he played for my football team, I'd put him on the field and I would try to give him the ball," Brown said after the Eagles finished practice Friday.
We still have two undefeated teams and two teams without a win. Last year, the Bears and Colts hit the 7-0 mark at this point but we had no teams after Week 7 with a goose egg in the win column. **Full story ...**
Although Hester is slowly making the transition to offense after being drafted as a cornerback a year ago, the league's most explosive return man will have the Eagles' full attention when they host Chicago on Sunday.
And with good reason. Hester doesn't need to touch the ball very often to affect the outcome of a game.
Last week, he returned a punt 89 yards for a touchdown and hauled in an 81-yard scoring pass for the tying score against Minnesota. He touched the ball a total of 10 times against the Vikings and produced 14 of their 31 points.
"He's got a lot of things going for him," Eagles special teams coordinator Rory Segrest said. "He's got the quickness to make the first guys miss and the speed to pull away from them."
Segrest and coach Andy Reid were coy when discussing Hester and the adjustments they would make to try to stop him.
"We're going to adjust the game plan and do what we've got to do to be successful," Segrest said. "If that means changing some personnel around on the kickoff team, we may do that."
So would the Eagles use Quintin Mikell, a special teams standout last year who will start his Sunday in place of the injured Brian Dawkins, on kick coverage?
"We'll see," Reid said. "We'll see as we get into the game."
Last week, the Eagles had a breakdown on kickoff coverage that almost led to a touchdown by Jets return man Leon Washington. Segrest said this week the coverage teams have focused on keeping the returners in front of them and not overplaying the ball.
"With Devin being back there, you don't want all your focus on him," Segrest said. "You've got to beat those initial blocks first."
While Hester doesn't see many snaps on offense and isn't a polished receiver after switching over from defensive back, he is dangerous when he's in the game.
"Any time you have that kind of athletic ability, we're going to pay attention to him," defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. "He's got unbelievable speed."
The Eagles defense will get a lift from the return of cornerback Lito Sheppard, who hasn't played since leaving the season-opener against Green Bay with a knee injury.
Notes: Sheppard practiced with the first team defense Friday and appears ready to be in the starting lineup against the Bears. Notes: TE L.J. Smith is doubtful for Sunday's game after sitting out practice Friday, Reid said. Smith had offseason surgery for a sports hernia and had another surgery after the start of the season. He played last week, catching one pass for 8 yards. ... Dawkins (stinger) will miss Sunday's game, Reid said. He participated in Friday's light practice and worked with the scout team earlier in the week but isn't fully back yet. "When he feels like he has his full strength back and we're comfortable putting him back in, he'll have the contact and we'll try to ease him back into that in game situations," Reid said.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
