Wide receiver Jason Avant makes a one-handed grab during Tuesday's practice. AP

New Face, New Place

Running back Lorenzo Booker. What's not to like about Booker, acquired from Miami in the offseason? He just turned 24. He averaged 4.5 yards per rush, and caught 28 balls in only seven games of part-time play in Miami last year. He has looked strong and decisive in his cuts here. The Eagles just might have caught the kind of Ryan Grant lightning-in-a-bottle with Booker. Look for him to beat out Correll Buckhalter for the backup running back job and become the kind of trusted change-of-pace back that could give Westbrook a blow for a series or two a game.

Looking at the Schedule

With the four teams from the AFC North providing the cross-conference competition this year, the Eagles have about as balanced a schedule as you could have playing in the tough NFC East. They never play two home games in a row. They play consecutive games on the road only twice -- an AFC North swing to Cincinnati and Baltimore (just 90 minutes away) in November. There isn't a stretch on the sked that scares you. But they'd better be in good playoff position come December. Philly is at the Giants, home for a Monday-nighter with Cleveland, at Washington and home with Dallas to close the season.

Memorable Image From Camp

Jason Avant and Hank Baskett, 6-foot and 6-4 respectively, have had most of their glory in training camp with the Eagles. With 68 combined catches in four collective seasons, they're young receivers who always seem to be on the edge of the roster, always the guys the Eagles are looking to replace and upgrade, the kind of players I thought of in the offseason when McNabb said, "We need more weapons.'' (And he didn't get any, by the way, after the Eagles failed to pry Randy Moss from the Patriots in free-agency.)

This is the kind of day both receivers need to have to show Reid and McNabb they can be trusted in the third quarter at Dallas. Avant made a great one-handed catch on a nine-route, causing the crowd to oooooooh. He generally caught everything in sight.

Working against Sheldon Brown on a route near the near sideline, Baskett went up for a jump ball and outfought Brown, tumbling to the ground hard and hanging on. A terrific catch . And camp aide Harold Carmichael, the former star Eagle wideout standing nearby, got in Baskett's ear. "Great job!'' he said. "Way to play above the rim, big fella!'' Remember Carmichael, one of the original really big receivers? That's the league the Eagles need Baskett to play in.

On the Menu

Ate lunch at the usual sandwich place in town, Deja Brew, and had an interesting experience. The owner, Jeff, told me they'd make me a sandwich, and what did I like? Turkey, tomato, lettuce, oil and vinegar ... something like that. So here came the turkey sandwich, on Russian Rye, with an inventive grape-tomato and romaine salad on the side.

Perfect for me, because I don't exactly get a lot of roughage on the ol' training-camp trip. The topper, of course, was the peanut-butter ball for dessert. Jeff's mom makes these classic balls with a hint of chocolate, things that look like big marbles but are the perfect smallish cap to a great lunch.

I noticed that as a tribute to Eagles play-by-play man Merrill Reese, Jeff has invented a coffee concoction for the broiling days here -- a iced latte with coffee ice cubes, peanut butter and chocolate syrup and coffee. Unusual, but I polished it off in about three minutes.

"We had the Dalai Lama here on campus this year,'' Jeff told me, "and so we made a Dalai Latte in tribute to him. It was a chai drink. People loved it. And one day, we had some monks come in here to eat. They were big eaters. Imagine this -- one day the monks, and the next day Chuck Bednarik came in.''

Parting Shots

• The Eagle hope rookie Trevor Laws, who looks a little smallish for the NFC East wars, can be the third DT in a rotation with Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson.

• Darren Howard is in the best shape of his life. He could be the missing defensive end Jim Johnson thought the Eagles bought from New Orleans two years ago. He's given them only six sacks in two years, so that's why they went out and got Clemons.

• DeSean Jackson, counted on to be a returner and deep-threat, third-down receiver, isn't doing himself any favors by staying out of practice. Reid said he needs to be practicing. But Jackson injured a hamstring at a June mini-camp in Philadelphia and re-tweaked it Sunday.

• Asante Samuel also has a hamstring strain. No one's very worried, but he walked off the practice field Tuesday morning with a slight limp.

• McNabb is happy. Seems carefree and his usual cutup self.