The NFL Network defended its coverage of the Eagles-Seahawks game Thursday in the wake of unexpected criticism from Eagles head coach Andy Reid.

Reid said he was "disappointed with the NFL Network, very disappointed in the way they portrayed" Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson. Reid felt DJax was shown in a light in which he wasn't giving his all.

The NFLN offered no apology.

"The broadcast team commented on what they saw on the field last night, as they do for all game telecasts,” an NFL Network spokesperson said.

The NFLN must be doing something right. Their Thursday night ratings are up 24 percent over last year.

The Eagles-Seahawks rating jumped 9 percent over the Thursday night game last year between the Eagles and the Houston Texans.

Dog game that it was, Eagles-Seahawks was the most watched show on cable Thursday night, according to the network.

No one knows why Reid felt compelled to support Jackson. Reid benched him in the fourth quarter last Sunday, and only weeks before that scratched the diva receiver for missing a team meeting.

"I’m going to tell you now that DeSean was all-in in that game, and he had a great attitude during that game," Reid said at his news conference. "You can take a camera and make some things look any way you want to make it look but that kid was all-in last night. I was proud of him for that.”

Something is going on. By the way, the Eagles still can sign players to contract extensions before the end of the season  and prorate money against the 2011 cap. Thus the spate of recent signings.

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