NOTES FROM THE NOSEBLEEDS: Two steps forward, two steps back

EAGLES USE BYE TO PREP FOR DALLAS | FLYERS STUMBLE, LOSE PRONGER | AND OTHER PHILLY SPORTS NEWS ...

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NOTES FROM THE NOSEBLEEDS: Two steps forward, two steps back

POSTED: Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 1:00 PM

Sports nut Massimo Pulcini rounds up a week of everything Philly sports. Strike!

EAGLES USE BYE TO PREP FOR DALLAS

The Philadelphia Eagles were on their bye this week so there was no football in Philly on Sunday. Instead, many of the Eagles took the week to visit their homes, as well as get healthy. Benefiting from the Birds week-seven bye were defensive ends Trent Cole and Brandon Graham, as well as offensive lineman Jason Peters. Cole (pictured), who recently suffered a calf injury, finally returned to practice on Monday. A wrecking-ball on defense, Cole will return to the starting lineup on Sunday night, where he looks to add to the three sacks he already has this year.

Second year defensive end Brandon Graham, who has been recovering from off-season knee surgery, returned to practice for the first time all season. A pass rush specialist, the Eagles and defense coordinator Juan Castillo may be looking for creative ways to get Graham on the field and play him to his strengths.

Finally, starting offensive tackle Jason Peters returns to his slot as the starting left tackle after sitting out with a hamstring injury last week. Peters will once again protect Mike Vick’s strong side and Todd Herremans, who, while starting at left tackle last week, slides back to the right.

Sunday night will mark the Bird's first matchup with the hated divisional rival Dallas Cowboys. The game will be primetime on NBC’s Sunday Night Football at 8:20 p.m. this Sun., Oct. 30. In this pre-Halloween game, Eagles fans are hoping the Birds treat us to a win and bring the team one step closer to contention in the NFC East.

FLYERS STUMBLE, LOSE PRONGER

After a very strong opening week of play, the Flyers took a small step back this last week, winning two games and losing two.

On Tuesday, the Flyers pounded the Senators 7-2. Last year’s regular-season starting goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, got the start in net and played well, turning aside 21 shots. The offense, led by Matt Read’s one goal and three assists, was relentless. A great team effort, each of the Flyers’ seven goals was scored by a different player.

The Bullies went on to lose their next two games, a 5-2 defeat to Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals and a 4-2 loss to the Saint Louis Blues.

The Flyers turned it around last night in Bobrovsky’s second start, this one against the Toronto Maple Leaves. Philly got two goals from Scott Hartnell (pictured) and two more from the newly acquired Jaromir Jagr, who scored his first goals since April 6, 2008 — he had played three seasons in Russia before signing a one-year deal with the Flyers this off-season.

Unfortunately, there was a major loss associated with the victory — captain and star defenseman Chris Pronger left the game last night after a brutal hit to the face, creating a swollen mess on his right eye.

"He was hit on the side, and there's a lot of swelling," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said. "The hope is that there's not a lot of blood buildup there where it will create issues."

Now the Flyboys will be without their leader as he spends the next few days in bed and the next two to three weeks on the bench while his eye recovers.

This week, the Flyers close out October with a Wednesday night game in Montreal before returning home Thursday for a duel with Winnipeg. Philly ends the first month of play against Carolina on Saturday.

IN OTHER PHILLY SPORTS NEWS

➤ The Temple Owls suffered a disappointing loss to Bowling Green on Sunday, losing 13-10 in a low-scoring affair. The Owls, who blew out Buffalo 34-0 a week earlier, struggled to produce points, resulting in a loss that dropped their season record to 5-3 ➤ The Philadelphia Union kick off their franchise’s first trip to the MLS Playoffs on Sunday at 4 p.m. This game will feature the second seed Houston Dynamo traveling to PPL Park, home of the third-seeded Union, and will be broadcast on ESPN2. The Union will then travel to Robertson Stadium in Houston for the return leg on Thu., Nov. 3 at 8:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the conference finals on aggregate goal count ➤ Phillies Pitchers Roy Halladay and Vance Worley are both finalists for the Players Choice Awards for Best Pitcher and Best Rookie, respectively. Halladay, last years Cy Young winner, had another amazing year in Phillies’ red, posting a 19-6 record and a 2.36 earned run average, along with 220 strike-outs and a whopping eight complete games. Worley (pictured) was a surprise all season. When injuries forced him into the starting rotation, the “Vanimal” came up big, going 11-3 with a 3.01-earned run average. The Phillies also won 14 consecutive Worley starts, the most by a Philadelphia pitcher since Steve Carlton won 15 straight in 1972 ➤ After suffering a controversial, second-round TKO loss last week in a bout against Chad Dawson, Philly’s own boxing bad boy Bernard Hopkins was given his title back by the World Boxing Council after they declared last week’s controversial fight a technical draw, releasing a statement saying that, “[Dawson’s] action reflects a clear intentional lifting the body followed with a push by Dawson to Hopkins that made him fall on his left side with part of his body out of the ropes," and that Dawson's shove was indeed a foul because the WBC views "any rough tactics other than clean punches" as fouls. Hopkins went on the say this in a recent interview with ESPN.com: "I feel very happy. I feel that justice was done."

(massimo.pulcini@citypaper.net) (@massimopulcini)

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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