Dunce cap for Duce

Staley reportedly will end his ill-advised holdout this weekend

PHILADELPHIA -- And now for the back end of the Pennsylvania Turnpike doubleheader, which also doubled as the first tackle football game played at Philadelphia's new Lincoln Financial Field. The venue has already played host to three Springsteen concerts and an international soccer exhibition featuring F.C. Barcelona and Manchester United.

And yes, they've taken to calling this place, The Linc. You knew that was coming...

• Friday night, before the Eagles and Patriots commenced their glorified scrimmage, won by New England 24-12, there were rumors of Duce, and reports of Duce, but alas, no Duce. Eagles holdout running back Duce Staley -- note that his first name is only a "n'' away from Dunce -- will reportedly end his work stoppage on Sunday and get back to the business of being Philadelphia's lead ballcarrier.

About time? Of course, but that's traditionally when these contractual standoffs get wrapped up. Once a team's third preseason game is in the books, a veteran holdout figures he has made his statement, taken his ill-advised shot, and now it's time to get back into uniform with enough time left to still appear in the regular-season opener. All the better to collect each and every one of those 17 regular-season paychecks.

Staley, of course, can't count on all $2.2 million of his 2003 salary even if he does make it back in time for Sunday morning's practice. There is that little matter of the $5,000 a day fine that the Eagles have been levying Staley for each day missed. Depending on whose tote board you trust, Staley was in the $130,000 to $150,000 range as of Friday.

Staley is hopeful that the Eagles front office will forgive and forget that debt if he comes back, but I wouldn't count on it, Duce. The last thing Eagles general manager Joe Banner wants to do is send the message to the rest of the roster that Staley's gambit wasn't costly.

For the record, Banner said before Friday night's game that he had no first-hand knowledge that Staley has decided to end his holdout this weekend. Staley's agent, Derrick Harrison, was telling reporters that he couldn't confirm that his client would return as well, but he did acknowledge having a constructive conversation with Eagles head coach Andy Reid on Friday, with plans to talk again Saturday.

Which came as news to Reid, who declined comment on Staley after the game, other than to emphatically deny he had talked to Harrison on Friday.

"I did not talk to him,'' Reid said. "But I'm not going to go into all that.''

Clearly Staley is calling every shot in this holdout and will determine just how long it does or doesn't run. But then, that's been the case from day one, because no one else in their right mind would have advised him to jump ship in pursuit of a contract extension that he never had a prayer of receiving.

• Here's my favorite part of the whole "Return of Staley'' story, if it turns out to be accurate: After their morning practice, the Eagles players on Sunday are scheduled to take part in the annual Eagles Carnival at Lincoln Financial Field. Designed as a fan-friendly event in which the players mingle with the faithful, Staley would at least earn high marks for gumption if he makes that his coming-back party.

If the message board on Staley's own Web site is any indication, which includes the following nugget from one less-than-supportive Eagles fan: "Duce, you're dead to me,'' I'd say his Sunday afternoon reception should make for interesting theater, to say the least.

But look for Staley's slate to be wiped clean fairly soon, as long he doesn't become a festering locker room problem for the Eagles this season. The reason is fairly straight forward: Philadelphia's Super Bowl dreams are better off with Staley on the field than without him.

While the team was in the mood to trade him as recently as last weekend, several key veterans -- cornerback Troy Vincent was most likely one of them -- convinced the coaching staff that giving up on Staley wouldn't be the wisest call from a competitive standpoint.

"I hope so,'' said Vincent when asked if he was optimistic that Staley's holdout had a happy ending on the way. "I want to get that behind us. We all want to get that behind us in the worst way. I'm sure it will come to a head here real shortly. I can't wait until everything's resolved so we can all just concentrate on one thing: winning football games.

"We need him, but I've said that from day one. We need everybody. We took a loss in the NFC championship game that we hosted. We fell short. So you can't have enough talent.''

Staley's backup, Correll Buckhalter, didn't have a bad night on what otherwise was a sloppy offensive performance for the Eagles. He ran eight times for 38 yards in his first-half stint (4.8 average), with a long gain of 10.

Staley isn't nearly as valuable as he was banking on when he decided to hold out, but Buckhalter, coming off missing last season with an ACL injury, doesn't give Philadelphia quite enough of a comfort zone to toss him the keys to the starting job. Especially since second-year running back Brian Westbrook has missed each of the Eagles' past two preseason games with a bone bruise in his right knee.

"I'm ready for whatever challenge that's ahead of me,'' Buckhalter said. "Whether I'm the starter or if I'm behind Duce, I'm going to accept my role. I hope he does come back. Duce is a great guy and I learned a lot from him. I think me, him and Westbrook would be a great combination.''

• In the week since Mike Vick's broken ankle, it has again become popular to question why the NFL needs to play four preseason games, thereby risking the health of its players in meaningless exhibitions. But what happened to the Eagles (2-1) Friday night added another layer to anti-preseason drumbeat.

Philadelphia lost a host of players to injuries, including starting receiver James Thrash, who was taken off the field on a stretcher after suffering a first-half concussion and neck sprain, first-team linebacker Carlos Emmons (high ankle sprain), reserve defensive tackle Paul Grasmanis (neck strain and concussion), and rookie defensive end Jamaal Green (fractured fibula).

"We took a blow tonight, not just in the win-loss column, but also injury wise,'' Vincent said. "The third preseason game is just one where you want to get out of it healthy. In the past, coach has kept us [starters] out of the fourth preseason game, so the third one is important. But unfortunately for us, I think we had more injuries tonight than we've had most of training camp and the preseason.''

Thrash, Emmons and Grasmanis all will be evaluated further Saturday after undergoing MRIs, Reid said. Green, whom the Eagles are high on, might need surgery, which could end his rookie season before it really began.

"I think we are going to get some of these guys back,'' Reid said. "They are not season-ending injuries for some of the [starters]. Some of the younger guys are going to be out.''

• Through the miracle of NFL schedule making, New England and Philadelphia play again in just 23 days, right here at The Linc in Week 2 of the regular season. That alone assured that Friday night's game would be a show-no-cards affair in which both teams tried not to give their opponent much of their playbook.

"Both sides [were] pretty much vanilla tonight,'' said Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who was a spotty 12-of-19 passing for 111 yards, with three sacks and a fumble lost. "We're out there working on the fundamentals. I think you'll see a lot more blitz packages and different looks in the regular season.''

There's no doubt of that, but despite the blandness of the game plans, undefeated New England (3-0) clearly manhandled the Eagles on this night, racing out to a 24-3 lead after three quarters on the strength of Tom Brady's three touchdown passes (two to receiver David Patten, who has three in two weeks).

For Philadelphia, it was not the way it dreamed of christening its new stadium, or returning NFL football to the city for the first time since that shocking day in January, when Tampa Bay shoved aside its Veterans Stadium curse and trampled the Eagles in the NFC title game.

"It's a beautiful stadium and a beautiful [playing] surface,'' Reid said of game one at The Linc. "It was a lot more beautiful than how we played.''

Now there's a switch that this city may not be ready for. The Eagles' stadium is pretty, but not their execution.

Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com.