The Eagles' Donovan McNabb. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After days of analyzing what was wrong with Donovan McNabb, all it really took was a kick to wake up the Philadelphia Eagles' dormant offense Thursday night.

        Actually, the Eagles used two fortuitous kicks to snap out of their offensive slump and loosen up McNabb for a rejuvenating 23-10 win over the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

        On the opening kickoff of the game, coach Andy Reid pulled out an old trick by starting with an onside kick. Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil apparently didn't pay attention to his former team while in retirement last season when the Eagles started the season opener with a successful onside kick at Dallas.

        The Eagles followed up the trick kick later by recovering their own punt that was blocked to take an early 10-0 lead.

        The two kicks helped get McNabb on track with two touchdown passes after the Eagles failed to score a touchdown for the first time in 25 games last Sunday in a 13-3 loss to Washington.

        McNabb recovered from the unnerving Redskins' loss that left critics saying he was playing too tight, to hit five receivers on passes of 21 yards or longer against the Chiefs.

        The Eagles rebounded to improve to 7-4 and will hold onto first place in the NFC East for the seventh straight week. The rising Redskins (5-5) can stay one game behind the Eagles with a win at home against Dallas on Sunday.

        The Eagles also improved to 5-0 on the road for the first time ever and have won eight straight regular-season road games going back to last season to set a franchise record, breaking the old mark of seven set in 1949.

        PATRIOTS:

        The nameplate was gone from Terry Glenn's locker. Only an ankle brace was inside — no warmup clothes, no uniform.

        One day after going to practice with headphones but no helmet, the New England wide receiver, who has missed 10 of the team's 11 games, was suspended again Thursday by coach Bill Belichick. His absence could last longer.

        “You have to ask him,” Belichick said when asked if Glenn will rejoin the team when the suspension ends.

        Glenn wasn't available to answer that question — “he'll be off the premises until next week,” Belichick said.

        The suspension is “not injury-related. It's a disciplinary matter” resulting from developments Wednesday, Belichick said. He gave no other details.

        Glenn missed the first four games of the season while serving an NFL suspension for violating its substance-abuse policy by missing a drug test. The Patriots wanted to suspend him for the season for leaving training camp but an arbitrator ruled in his favor.

        On Wednesday, Glenn, slowed by a hamstring injury, was upgraded to probable on the team's injury report for the first time in seven weeks. That meant the club felt there was a 75 percent chance he would play Sunday at the New York Jets. New England, in playoff contention at 6-5, could use the deep threat. In his only game this year, he had seven receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown in a 29-26 win over San Diego on Oct.14. But Glenn attended that day's practice wearing sweatclothes and headphones, leaving his helmet in the locker room. He worked out with injured players and didn't participate in the full practice.

        “It's been six weeks since the injury,” Belichick said Thursday. “It's gotten better.”

        Glenn's agent, James Gould, wouldn't comment, said his assistant, Miesha Cole.

        Glenn's friend, wide receiver Troy Brown, wants him back.

        “Even though he was suspended, he was always a part of our team. We were willing to welcome him back and we would greatly appreciate having him back,” said Brown, who is tied for third in the NFL with 70 receptions. “I just hope that he can get all that stuff situated and be able to play again soon.”

        Glenn has fought the team's decision to withhold $8.5 million of an $11 million signing bonus. Five grievances brought by Glenn — including one seeking his bonus — are unresolved.

        He also filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, apparently claiming that he missed the drug test because he suffers from chronic depression.

        He faces a court hearing next Tuesday on a motion to dismiss a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery on the mother of his son.

        In an interview Sunday night after New England's 34-17 win over New Orleans, Glenn implied that his injury was related to his bonus being withheld.

        “I'm bothered by a hamstring right now, and I'm not getting paid,” he said on WBZ-TV. “You do the math.”

        He also said he didn't see himself playing for the Patriots next year, but Belichick said the suspension was not related to the interview.

        Glenn had 79 catches last season, the first in which he didn't miss a game because of injury, but hasn't lived up to the potential of the seventh overall draft pick in 1996 when he caught 90 passes. He missed only the first game that year — because of a hamstring injury.

        “Each player in this league comes in with the same opportunities,” Belichick said. “They get a chance to practice, a chance to play. It's up to each individual to make his career.”

        Where Glenn's is headed is anybody's guess.

        “I'm not trying to make any determination on the future right now. We're just dealing with the situation as it is,” Belichick said. “Based on what happened, this is what I had to do.”

        • Linebacker Kole Ayi was placed on injured reserve. He hurt his leg Nov.18 against St. Louis.

        He played the first six games of the season with the Rams after signing as a rookie free agent, was on the inactive list for three weeks with the New York Giants and was claimed by the Patriots off waivers on Nov. 14.

        VIKINGS:

        Quarterback Daunte Culpepper is expected to start Sunday against Pittsburgh despite a strained ligament in his left knee.

        “I think he's a good competitor,” coach Dennis Green said Thursday. “He's always going to go on the field and play. I don't think he feels he's ever missed a game. The key thing is for us to do everything we can to keep him healthy.”

        Culpepper, injured last week against Chicago, had an MRI exam Wednesday. It revealed a strain of his posterior cruciate ligament, but he was listed as probable on the league's injury report.

        Fullback Jim Kleinsasser was downgraded Thursday from probable to questionable with an ankle injury.

        SEAHAWKS:

        Cornerback Shawn Springs says “an honest mistake” led to his four-game suspension.

        In an interview in Thursday's Seattle Times, Springs gave his version of why the NFL punished him for violating its policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.

        “A lot of times because of what the league can and cannot say, you get cast a drug user, and with me, that wasn't the case,” he said. “It was an honest mistake and a one-time thing. Obviously, had I known what it was, I wouldn't have taken it.”

        Springs wouldn't talk specifically about details of his case but said he would give a detailed account in the next few days after consulting with his agent and lawyer.

        Springs is the first player in Seahawks history to be suspended for violating the league's steroids policy. He's eligible to return for the team's final two games of the season.

        GIANTS:

        Defensive end Michael Strahan lost some ground in his pursuit of Mark Gastineau's single-season sack record.

        After reviewing the tape of the Giants-Oakland game last Sunday, the Elias Sports Bureau took away a half-sack from Strahan. That leaves him with 15 1/2 — and needing 6 1/2 in his remaining five games to tie Gastineau's record of 22.

        On the play in question, Strahan knocked the ball from Oakland's Rich Gannon as he was preparing to pass and the ball went right back to the Raiders' quarterback. Gannon ran and was stopped 2 yards short of the line of scrimmage by linebacker Brandon Short.

        Strahan was credited with a full sack during the game. But after the Elias decision, the league credited Short with a half-sack.

        BROWNS:

        Rookie defensive tackle Gerard Warren won't have to face firearms charges until after the NFL season is over. A pretrial hearing on a concealed firearms charge in Pittsburgh was delayed until Feb.21 at the request of Warren's lawyer.

        The Browns play their final regular-season game Jan. 6, in Pittsburgh. The season ends after the Super Bowl on Feb. 3.

        Warren, the team's No.1 draft pick this season, was arrested in Pittsburgh on Nov.20, for having a concealed weapon in his car while attending a party thrown by Steelers wide receiver Plaxico Burress.

        JAGUARS:

        With his NFL-imposed suspension over, wide receiver R. Jay Soward returned to the team this week claiming he's ready to tackle the substance-abuse problem that haunts him.

        “I don't need to put myself in bad situations anymore,” said Soward, speaking publicly for the first time since the end of his 10-game suspension. “It's the embarrassment that it's caused my family, my wife. It's something that's going to be with me forever, and that's the most embarrassing thing about it.”

        Soward says his life has changed. He just came back from three months at a rehab center, he has gotten married to his longtime girlfriend, Tanaka, and they are expecting their first child.

        Those are responsibilities Soward wasn't ready to handle when he was a first-round draft pick out of Southern Cal in 2000.

        “You come out here by yourself, a 22-year-old kid with millions of dollars — who wouldn't go crazy?” Soward said. “I just went about things the wrong way.”

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