A Bold Eagle

Freddie Mitchell is trying to deflect attention from himself.

Honest.

Mitchell is trying to downplay his accomplishments.

Really.

That’s what the Philadelphia Eagle receiver said at a news conference Sunday following the Eagles’ 27-14 playoff victory over the Minnesota Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field, a victory that enables the Eagles to play host to the Atlanta Falcons in Sunday’s NFC championship game.

“I’m trying to take a humble approach,” Mitchell said with a straight face.

He said it after mocking Minnesota Viking receiver Randy Moss by acting as if he were pulling up his pants after catching a touchdown pass Sunday. A week earlier, Moss had mimed mooning the crowd in Green Bay after catching a touchdown pass against the Packers.

Mitchell said it while wearing an Indiana Jones-type hat and a red bow tie to a news conference.

He said it just before he said, “I’m a special player, and I just want to thank my hands for being so great.”

He said it while hogging the interview session he was supposed to share with teammate Brian Westbrook. An exasperated Westbrook finally broke in while Mitchell took a breath and told the next in line with a question, “I’ll take this one. Freddie can’t answer all the questions.”

Oh yes he can. Completing his fourth season with Eagles, Mitchell is drawn to the spotlight like a moth.

At UCLA, he caught 119 passes for 2,135 yards and 10 touchdowns in three years. In his final year, he broke the school record for yards receiving in a season with 1,494 and was chosen first-team All-American.

Coming out after his junior year, Mitchell was made a first-round draft choice by Philadelphia, the first wide receiver taken by the club in that round in 17 years. He arrived in town able and willing to quote his press clippings and drop the names of show-biz acquaintances such as Mick Jagger and Elizabeth Hurley.

Mitchell has talked a good game since putting on his green and white Eagle jersey, but his numbers have been lacking. He has yet to emerge as the star he’s convinced he should be, has yet to lead his team in receptions in a season, has yet to catch more than 35 passes, gain 500 yards or score more than two touchdowns in a season. In his four years in Philadelphia, Mitchell has caught five touchdown passes. This season, one in which he did not start seven games, he was his club’s sixth-leading receiver.

And perhaps even worse for a highly skilled self-promoter such as Mitchell, he was even second on the team in that department -- to hypemeister Terrell Owens.

Compared with a headliner performer such as Owens, Mitchell looked like a bad warmup act.

Mitchell’s teammates, equating him with a fighter who mouths an endless stream of trash talk but has no championships to show for it, nicknamed him “The People’s Champ.”

And Mitchell, never one to turn his back on a profile-building gimmick, responded by pretending to put on a championship belt every time he scored.

But now he figures he doesn’t have to pretend anymore. Owens’ act has been put on hiatus because of a fractured ankle, and open auditions are being held.

Mitchell proved adept at filling both of Owens’ roles -- receiver and showman -- on Sunday. Mitchell caught five passes for a team-high 65 yards, caught the one touchdown pass and wound up with the ball in the end zone on a second occasion when a ball fumbled by teammate L.J. Smith landed in his arms.

Mitchell nearly had a third score when officials ruled he successfully spun into the end zone on a 31-yard play. That decision was reversed, however, when replays showed he had lost the ball on the one-yard line.

“If he had scored for the third time,” Eagle Coach Andy Reid said, “I’m not sure we’d be able to put up with him.”

It’s already difficult.

Asked about Mitchell’s pants-pulling celebration after the first touchdown, Reid said he missed it. When a reporter started to explain the move, Reid waved him off. “No, don’t tell me what he did,” he said.

Of course, if Mitchell continues to get in the end zone, al la Owens, Reid will be happy to put up with the theatrics, just as he did with Owens.

Mitchell’s biggest previous moment as an Eagle also came in a divisional playoff game, last year against the Packers. Trailing by three points with 1 minute 26 seconds to play and facing a fourth-and-26 situation, Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb passed to Mitchell over the middle for 28 yards. The Eagles went on to tie the score and won in overtime, 20-17.

Teammate Ike Reese, a linebacker, is a big Mitchell supporter.

“The man called for the ball, and I’m happy to see him get the opportunity to get it,” Reese said after Sunday’s game. “As teammates, we felt his frustration.”

Mitchell gave a hint of that frustration when he sat down at the packed news conference.

“I’d like to say hi to all my new friends out there, the people that doubted me,” Mitchell said. “I’ve been patient. I knew my time would come.”

And now that it has, he will humbly accept it.

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Mitchell by the Numbers

Former UCLA standout Freddie Mitchell’s regular-season statistics with Eagles:

*--* Year G No. Yards Avg Lg TD 20+ 40+ 2001 15 21 283 13.5 29 1 5 0 2002 16 12 105 8.8 18 0 0 0 2003 16 35 498 14.2 39 2 7 0 2004 16 22 377 17.1 60 2 8 2 Totals 63 90 1,263 14.0 60 5 20 2

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