"When you're a free agent, you're coming in at the bottom," said Hanson. "You've got to work your way up. I'm still working my way up. It never ends. The proving never ends." Hanson will be an unrestricted free agent after the season. The Eagles want to re-sign him, but he is expected to get considerable interest from other teams. "He just has a good feel for the game," Johnson said. "You tell him something once and he'll do it well and you don't have to say anything about it again. You can see he's around the ball. He's got a real nose for the football and a feel for the defense. And he's physical. He plays hard and he plays tough."

--Eagles coach Andy Reid isn't ready to suggest that the Eagles will continue to run the ball as much as they have the last two games. The Eagles ran the ball a season-high 41 times in Sunday's 20-14 win over the New York Giants, and had 40 rushing attempts the week before in a 48-20 Thanksgiving night win over the Arizona Cardinals. The Eagles ran the ball a lot against the Cardinals mainly because they jumped out to an early lead. As for the 41 runs against the Giants, Reid acknowledged that the cold, windy conditions at Giants Stadium played a big role in their running the ball so much. "It was pretty windy down on the field," Reid said. "It was kind of a cross-wind at times. To have an effective offense under those kind of conditions, you've got to be able to run the football against what I think is a pretty good defense."

--Prior to this season, Eagles kicker David Akers had just one field goal attempt blocked his entire career. This year, he's got three, including two that have been returned for touchdowns. Two of those three came in Sunday's 20-14 win over the New York Giants. Giants defensive end Justin Tuck blocked a 32-yard attempt at the end of the first half that teammate Kevin Dockery returned 71 yards for a touchdown. In the third quarter, Akers had a 34-yarder blocked by Terrell Thomas. "Believe it or not, I felt like I had a pretty good game even though my numbers looked crappy," said Akers, who did convert 51- and 34-yard field goal attempts. "Being 50 percent in the conditions we had feels pretty good." Akers has had his problems at Giants Stadium. He's just 9-for-18 there for his career, and just 4-for-12 from 35-plus yards. The Eagles need to fix their field-goal protection problems quickly. On Sunday, they'll be facing Browns nose tackle Shaun Rogers, who leads all active NFL players with 12 career blocks.

--Reggie Brown, a three-year starter who had 61 receptions last season, was a healthy inactive Sunday against the Giants as coach Andy Reid suited up just five wideouts. Brown missed four of the first seven games with injuries and has just 13 receptions this season. Asked what he thought he could do to get back on the field, Brown said: "I would say there's nothing I can do."

BY THE NUMBERS: 6 - The number of catches TE L.J. Smith had last week for 44 yards against the Giants. That's a season-high for receptions, which could signal that Smith is going to be a more integral part of the passing game down the stretch. He blocked well in the running game and had back-to-back 10- and 12-yard receptions just before Brian Westbrook's 30-yard touchdown run.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's good. But at the same time, the headlines could be a lot different next week. I'm not even going to sit here and act like I don't know what's going on. I had a good game today, and then next week, if I don't have a good game, the headlines could be something different." -- TE L.J. Smith, who had just 22 catches in his first 12 games but caught a season-high six passes last week against the Giants.