Highly respected Dallas Morning News columnist Rick Gosselin recently released his ranking of all NFL cornerback units. The Eagles came in at number one.

After signing Pro Bowler Asante Samuel this off-season, the Philadelphia Eagles have three corners capable of lining up against anyone. Lito Sheppard has gone to two Pro Bowls, and Sheldon Brown led the team with three interceptions and 19 passes broken up in 2007.

Add Joselio Hanson, who has started eight games in his three-year career, and the Eagles have the best corps of cornerbacks heading into the season.

1. Philadelphia

Since 2003, Brown, Samuel and Sheppard have combined for 50 interceptions and nine touchdowns. Opponents completed 57.6 percent of their passes against the Eagles last season, third best defensively in the NFL. That percentage should decrease with Samuel.

This weekend the Eagles take on the Rams on opening day for the second time under Andy Reid. Under Reid, the Eagles have faced the Rams 3 times in Philadelphia winning two of those contests. To get up to speed on all things St Louis Rams, I exchanged 5 questions with VanRam from the Rams' blog Turf Show Times.

You check out my answers to his questions over there.

The big national story around the Rams this offseason was the holdout of Stephen Jackson. He did finally sign a new deal and rejoin the team. What kind of shape is he in? Do you think he's fully ready to go?

He's reportedly in top-notch physical condition, after an intensive offseason program in anticipation of signing a big contract. He even had a colonic! Head coach Scott Linehan is saying Jackson is ready to go and will have a full workload. In reality, I think Antonio Pittman, who had a nice preseason in Jackson's stead, will get some of the 30 or so carries usually reserved for Steven Jackson. He's practiced with pads but not with game-level contact, so there could definitely be an adjustment there.

Another Eagles blogger commented on what he saw as a lack of Rams coverage in the local St Louis media. What is your response to that?

Well, you have to remember St. Louis isn't a big media market to being with, and the Rams are now starting to build more of an online media presence. However, the Cardinals own the city though in terms of fan dedication and media attention. They just choked up their playoff chances in the last week, and the Rams could steal away some of that attention with a solid start to the season. It doesn't help that the Rams haven't exactly given people here much to get excited about in the last few years, whereas the Eagles have been considered contenders for a few years now.

Hey... with places like Turf Show Times to get Rams news, who needs the MSM?

Who is the guy or guys on the Rams right now that we may not have heard of but you think will make a major impact this year?

I think WR Keenan Burton, a fourth round pick, will make some noise. He's already shown a familiarity with the playbook, no easy task with Al Saunders as the offensive coordinator, and has a skill set similar to the Packers' James Jones. Drew Bennett, the guy in front of him on the depth chart, hasn't played well, looking out of sync with Bulger. If he falters, Burton's ready to take his place. I think CB Tye Hill is primed for a breakout in his third season too.

I think it's safe to say that the biggest acquisition the Rams made this offseason was drafting Chris Long #2 overall. I've some mixed reports about his progress so far, where are you on Long as he prepares for his first game?

Like any rookie at a position like that, Long's dealing with some adjustment time. Remember how many people snidely snickered at the Texans for the Mario Williams pick in 2006, before he made 14 sacks in his second season? The Rams play a 4-3 and Long came from a 3-4 in college. He is, however, dedicated and has rarely made the same mistake twice through the preseason. He'll play well from the start, but he has to grow into being a "presence" on the field.

Finally, if you could steal one Eagle and add him to your roster who would it be?

Sheldon Brown

A bit of surprise at the end there, but not a bad choice if you ask me...

Donovan McNabb may not be convinced Desean Jackson is a major weapon yet, but Rams coach Scott Linehan just might be.

In practice Wednesday, the Rams used one of their own to simulate the Eagles' rookie wideout on the scout team during practice, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report.

Derek Stanley, a practice-squad receiver, wore DeSean Jackson's No. 10 red pinafore as the team prepared for its Sunday opener against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

This is the type of stuff teams usually do with Brian Westbrook. Using one of their players as a clone of him to prepare their defense to defend him on game day. The fact that the Rams are doing it with Jackson really speaks to how impressive the rookie looked in preseason. It's a real sign of respect to hear the Rams specifically targeting Jackson in their game plan.

"We certainly know a lot about him," Rams coach Scott Linehan told Eagles reporters via conference call.

The Eagles web site has released their projected lineup for Sunday and Jackson is indeed listed as starting in place of Brown, whereas Brown is listed as starting in place of Curtis.

For the first time in his 10 years as head coach of the Eagles, Andy Reid looks set to start a rookie at WR for the first time. At his press conference yesterday Andy said that Desean Jackson will man the "X" position one side normally filled by Reggie Brown while a few guys will rotate in an out of the Y position other side normally manned by Kevin Curtis. Reggie only had limited participation in practice this week and is day to day at this point. He certainly might play, but it's unlikely we'll be seeing a full game out of Reggie.

For Desean Jackson, everything seems to be going to plan.

"My plan was to come in here and help this team right away," Jackson said yesterday.

Reid was aked how Desean's development so far is comparable to other Eagles rookie WRs of the past

He is going to have an opportunity to play this week, probably a bit more than others did. We'll see. He'll have a great challenge this week because their defense is very active and their corners like to get right up on you and challenge you every play. Even in the zone coverage they are going to be up there challenging you, so this will be good work for him right there.

As he's done all preseason, Donovan McNabb tried to temper expectations for Desean... but this time there seemed to be a little more bite to it.

"Everyone looked to Todd Pinkston to come in and be that guy," the quarterback said. "In his second year, everyone looked at Freddie Mitchell to do the same thing. Any time that we draft a receiver here, since I've been here, everyone expects him to be a world beater."

You can't argue with him... he's right. However, you can't help but hear a little frustration in that statement. Is it because instead of a proven playmaker, McNabb got a rookie? Is it because he was frustrated by the way Mitchell and Pinkston didn't develop? Hard to say, but am I being too sensitive in saying that invoking the names of Mitchell and Pinkston in regards to Jackson is a bit harsh?

Brian Westbrook, on the other hand, had no problem expressing his confidence in the rookie.

"I like seeing that confidence, He has proven what he can do in the preseason and now we need to see that in the regular season. I think he understands the preseason is gone. The regular season is a whole different level than the preseason. He knows what we expect from him."

And finally, what is Jackson's response to teammates that may doubt him?

"I hear [teammates caution that Jackson is just a rookie] and it's motivation, you know, to want to go out there and prove to all the guys here that I can get the job done,'' he said. "When I hear it, I just know I've got some things to be doing.''

That's what you want to hear. Don't be insulted, get motivated to change people's minds. If I know McNabb, he'll be the first guy to praise Jackson when he does prove it on the field.

Eagles fans, we may have a little situation brewing...

In his latest youtube video about Lito Sheppard's, status Drew Rosenhaus made some comments that could, in a way be construed as a swipe at Sheldon Brown

Now (Sheppard) has had to deal with the disappointment of the team starting Sheldon Brown and relegating Lito to being the third cornerback on the team," Rosenhaus said on the video. "It is very frustrating for Lito."

Now, like any Eagles fans Drew Rosenhaus is certainly not on my Christmas list... but honestly I don't see that as a real big insult to Sheldon. Had he said Lito has to "deal with the embarassment" or "disrespect" of being relegated to the 3rd corner behind Brown... then those are fightin' words. The fact that he singled out Brown and not Asante Samuel is curious however. That's really where I can see a few eyebrows raised.

Still, whether I think it was a swipe or not isn't relevant. What does Sheldon Brown think?

"I wouldn't say it bothered me, because I'm bigger than that, I'm a professional ... Drew hasn't been with Sheldon Brown for 7 years; I think he's been with Lito for 2 months. He hasn't followed by career. He hasn't broke down any film; he probably couldn't tell you what number (Brown wears). It's really irrelevant ... (from watching the video) you would think the guy has been scouting tape and know(ing) the statistics and following us our whole career. A lot of times, people should just worry about their (own) jobs."

First, anyone who reads the blog regularly knows I love when Sheldon refers to himself in the third person... Clearly, Sheldon Brown is annoyed that Rosenhaus is talking about Sheldon Brown. In fact, it prompted Sheldon to wonder why Lito would have ever hired the guy in the first place?

"If you know (Rosenhaus') track record, it's more of a disappointment to me that he enticed the guy into signing with him," Brown said. "Thinking that he could get the deal done. Agents don't get the deals done. The player gets the deal done. That's what's disappointing.

The whole thing really did play out like a high school drama. "Sheldon, did you hear what Lito's friend Drew said about you?" "OMG Lito, do you agree with what your friend Drew said about Sheldon?" When Lito was asked about the comments he said he hadn't heard them. In fact the quote Les Bowen got was "(Bleep). What did (Rosenhaus say)?"

I'd recommend you check out the rest of Bowen's piece to hear what else Lito had to say. Long story short though, you can tell the whole thing made him very uncomfortable.

Something has to be done about this and it has to come from the top. Andy Reid needs to get Lito in his office and work something out. If it means getting rid of him, so be it... But the last thing this team needs, or Lito should want is a player's agent making taking even veiled swipes at a team mate.

How about one final thought from Sheldon Brown?

“I think sometimes agents can run players careers,” Brown said. “And what I mean by that is we have an agent who has four players who are disappointed with the way their deal is and we’re going into Week 1 and nobody has accomplished anything with those players. I’m bringing this to your attention because it’s how the players play … that gets you paid.”

Don't take my word for it... that was the finding of Forbes magazine.

They've been called passionate and they've been called classless, but if you're selling tickets or merchandise you don't really care. Eagles fans are the most loyal in the NFL, based on attendance variance and ticket sale waiting lists.

And devotion keeps the cash registers ringing.

They explained their basic methodology.

Our final rankings were a combination of a few factors: How closely related fan attendance patterns were to winning percentage. We used what statisticians would note as the P > |t| value and checked for the mathematical confidence of that assessment; as well as the slope of the line as it went from zero wins to 16 possible wins. The sharper the slope broke downward for every point the team lost, and the faster it broke upward for every win, the less loyal fans were deemed to be. Results were controlled for league wide attendance variation.

Eagles fans topped the list with the redskins and packers rounding out the top 3. Not surprisingly, Dallas fans did not make the top 10. Could it be because of the disappearing act they do when their team doesn't play well? Could it be because most Dallas fans you meet have never even been to Texas let alone tried to buy season tickets?