Not surprisingly, on their first day back to work since Sunday's game at Green Bay, many Eagles players were asked about the current hot button topic in the NFL world: The controversy surrounding the New England Patriots and their use of video camera to steal signals in their season-opening win over the New York Jets.

The topic holds special relevance to the team, considering that only three seasons ago, it was those same Patriots who beat the Eagles 24-21 in Super Bowl XXXIX.

McNabb joked that the Eagles could get their rings back after word of the scandal got out.

"There are always going to be questions about the situation," free safety Brian Dawkins said. "Was it great adjustments at halftime or what? But the bottom line is, we didn't make the plays we needed to make to win that game, and that's basically where it stands."

The adjustments that Dawkins referred to are the ones made by Patriots coach Bill Belichick and his staff that allowed New England's offense to score 17 second-half points after struggling in the early part of the game.

Whether or not the Patriots used a camera to help them make those adjustments is unknown. If they did, how much of a difference it made is another question that will not - and cannot - be answered.

"I don't think back to it at all," running back Brian Westbrook said. "When I think back to the Super Bowl, I just think about the opportunities that we missed as a team on offense and I go from there."

Westbrook's opinion closely mirrored that of many other players. Yes, having a team's signals would be an advantage, but the players on the field still have to execute.

"When it comes down to it for me, the guys, they have to make the plays out there on the field. If you can't catch the ball, if you can't tackle, you can't block, no matter if you have the signals or anything else, you are not going to be able to play in this league," Westbrook said.

"It definitely is an advantage, but for me to think back two years now to the Super Bowl, to something they may or may not have done at the time, is not worth my time."

Dawkins said he was not surprised by the revelation, not because of anything he saw specifically from the Patriots, but because the competitive climate in the NFL is constantly pushing teams to look for any possible edge. It is common knowledge that many teams try to intercept signals through sight, but the players agreed that using a video camera - which is against NFL rules - crossed the line.

The Eagles coaching staff is well aware of the threat. During Sunday's game at Green Bay, players held towels around a defensive coach to block him while he signaled in the calls.

The Patriots were fined $250,000 and stripped of a 2008 first-round draft pick on Thursday night (if they fail to make the playoffs in 2007, it will be a second and a third-round pick). Belichick was fined $500,000. That means little to the Eagles. Super Bowl XXXIX is over, and all the team can worry about now is getting to Super Bowl XLII.

"We don't actually know what actually is going on, we are just going by hearsay, but maybe we can get our ring back," quarterback Donovan McNabb said.

He was quickly reminded that he had to have a ring to get one back.

"You're right, maybe we'll get the real one," he said.

He laughed, realizing like his teammates, that there is nothing else that can be done