The Associated Press

Donovan McNabb can't wait to throw passes to Terrell Owens.

"It is going to be exciting to get out there and work with him," McNabb said Monday. "He is a big play waiting to happen."

The Eagles acquired Owens, a four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver, in a trade with Baltimore and San Francisco earlier this month.

"Just knowing that he wants to win, that is exactly what we want to do here and hopefully with that same attitude it will give us that push that we need," McNabb said.

The Eagles have lost three consecutive NFC championship games. Their receivers were blamed for the 14-3 loss to Carolina in the conference title game in January.

Owens has averaged 93 receptions, 1,316 yards and 13 touchdowns over the past four seasons while feuding with teammates, coaches, the 49ers' front office and the media.

BILLS: Defensive tackle Oliver Gibson and Buffalo agreed to a two-year contract, the team confirmed. A nine-year veteran, Gibson spent the past five seasons in Cincinnati, where he had 57 starts in 73 games before being released this month.

He played four seasons under Bills defensive line coach Tim Krumrie, who held the same position with the Bengals and was hired by Buffalo last season.

BEARS: Chicago acquired fullback Bryan Johnson from the Washington Redskins in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick. Johnson, a converted linebacker and a three-year starter, caught nine passes for 71 yards and had two carries for 5 yards. In 2002, he led Washington with 21 special-teams tackles. Washington was slow in its attempt to sign Johnson to a new contract, so he signed a four-year, $4.3 million offer sheet with the New Orleans Saints two weeks ago. The Redskins matched the offer on Friday, but the contract included a bonus that was to be paid Tuesday - which would have wiped out much of Washington's remaining cap space.

The trade with the Bears beat the bonus deadline and gives the Redskins a much-needed draft pick. Washington has just two other selections - in the first and fifth rounds - in April's draft. Also Monday, the Redskins waived linebacker Armegis Spearman.

ATTENDANCE RECORDS: The NFL set an attendance record for all games - preseason, regular season and postseason - in 2003.

Overall attendance was 21,639,040, which was 133,902 more than the previous year. During the regular season, the 32 teams averaged 66,328 per game.

The total attendance in the playoffs was 805,546 for 12 games, including 71,525 at the Super Bowl in Houston. That's an average of 67,129. The average was 59,393 tickets sold for preseason games.

Washington led the league in regular-season home paid attendance for the fourth straight year, 667,033. Also topping 600,000 were the Giants, Chiefs and Jets.

DRAFT PICKS: The Eagles, Rams and Jets received the maximum of four compensatory draft picks each from the NFL. In all, 32 picks were awarded to 16 teams for next month's draft.

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