If there was a moment of hope for the Eagles in their 36-7 pounding by the Ravens yesterday at M&T Bank Stadium, it came just before the half ended when Demps raced 100 yards with a kickoff to chop Baltimore's lead to 10-7. Frequently, a big play like that fuels the rest of the team. In this case, all it did was prevent a shutout.

"You know what? I'd trade it all for a W, man," Demps said in a grim Eagles locker room. "It doesn't feel good with a loss, just to be honest with you. I don't even want to be asked these kinds of questions."

But he was. Demps acknowledged he was convinced he would run back a kickoff for a TD before the season ended. His runback seemed inevitable. Before yesterday, Demps had returned kickoffs 47, 63, 44 and 40 yards, and on a few occasions all that separated him from the end zone was one tackler.

"I had confidence it was going to happen sooner or later," he said. "It finally came through."

Demps covered the length of the field untouched. He said that in previous kickoff returns, he had paused to make a move, trying to do it himself. This time, he said, he made sure to take advantage of his blockers.

"I just trusted my blocking and picked up my knees and ran hard," said Demps, a fourth-round draft pick from Texas-El Paso. "Anytime it's a kick return, you just want to hit the hole and go. It just comes with experience. Me being a rookie, sometimes you think you can do it by yourself. But now I have to trust my blocking and go."

By returning the kickoff 100 yards, the longest by an Eagles rookie, Demps had 18 more yards than the entire Eagles offense the first half. Add the 77 yards he had on three other kick returns, and Demps was only 29 yards shy of the game's output from the Eagles. That speaks more to the Eagles' thoroughly ineffective offense than anything else, which is why Demps couldn't enjoy a moment he'll never forget.

Contact staff writer Ray Parrillo at 215-854-2743 or rparrillo@phillynews.com.