Chad Lewis couldn't believe it. It's Wednesday, and as usual, the locker room was filled with media. But very few reporters were interested in talking about Steve Spurrier and the much-improved Washington Redskins.

Sadly, as Chad Lewis said, the subject was race and the NFL quarterback. Specifically, Donovan McNabb and the controversial remarks made by Rush Limbaugh on ESPN's pregame show Sunday that the Eagles quarterback was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.

"Here it is Wednesday, 2003 and this is what we're talking about," Lewis said. "I mean everyone in here would rather talk about the Redskins and the preparation we have to play a great team. Why are we talking about this.

"That hurts and it shows you that, as a country, we still have a long way to go."

QB Donovan McNabb and TE Chad Lewis

Over the last few days, the story has taken on a life of its own.

On Sunday, Limbaugh said he didn't think McNabb was as good as perceived from the start: "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.

"There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

The Associated Press reported Wednesday afternoon that Limbaugh didn't back down from his comments during his syndicated radio talk show earlier Wednesday.

"All this has become the tempest that it is because I must have been right about something," Limbaugh said. "If I wasn't right, there wouldn't be this cacophony of outrage that has sprung up in the sports writer community."

Players, too, are outraged.

Corey Simon, for one, said it's an attack on the league.

"If you sit down with your friends and you want to discuss that, well that's fine," Simon said. "But when you start bringing your opinions, forcing your opinions upon other people, I totally think that's wrong in the sanctity of this game.

"I think he needs to talk to Donovan personally and be a man about the subject. If this is how he feels, then this is how he feels and there's nothing that we can do or say that's going to change his mind about it. But at least be man enough to understand that this is not the place for it. This game isn't the place for it."

Added Lewis: "I don't know why the whole situation was brought up. Look at what Donovan's done. The guy's a warrior. He's one of the best players in the league. In my opinion, he is the best player in the league.

"But for someone to bring those kind of comments up is way more than left or right field. I mean I don't know where that came from."

CB Troy Vincent

According to reports, NFL officials said ESPN knew what it was getting into when they hired Limbaugh.

According to an Associated Press article, Chris Berman, who anchors the ESPN show, described himself as "a New England Democrat" but added "I don't think Rush was malicious in intent or in tone.

"As cut and dry as it seems in print, I didn't think so when it went by my ears. I probably should have looked to soften it. We're sorry we upset a guy who got off to a rough start. We don't need to be in the middle of his travails.

"As the quarterback of the show, I feel bad about it. I don't think it was meant the way it came out. I don't think that defines the way Rush feels about people."

Judged by the comments in the Eagles locker room, it's clear how the players feel about Limbaugh, and more importantly, what they think of No. 5.

"I just think Donovan is one of the greatest people ever to play in the National Football League," Lewis said. "He conducts himself with class. He's one of the greatest leaders ever.

"To try and attack someone like that, I don't why he was doing that or what his motive was. You look at the way Donovan reacts to adversity, he's never hid from it. He stands up like a man."

That's what McNabb did Wednesday in his weekly press conference, which was carried live by CNN. Lewis and some of his teammates watched from TVs in the locker room and in the cafeteria at the NovaCare Complex.

"I just saw his interview on CNN, it's one of the greatest interviews I've seen him in," Lewis said. "The guy is just a class act."

On Wednesday, Troy Vincent watched the tape of the ESPN segment and offered these remarks: "I don't think he (Limbaugh) was looking for a racial fight. It was controversy. I thought it was inappropriate.

"Before I saw it, and from what everyone has said, there was a racial element to it. After seeing it, I don't think that was the case. And I think that's why Michael Irvin and Tom Jackson didn't jump right in, because they didn't see it as a racial issue, either."

Vincent also offered a tip for Limbaugh the NFL analyst: "If you want to say someone is not playing well, just say we're not playing well. You don't need to bring the black, white, Hispanic issue into play. That's not appropriate.

"We just weren't playing well as a unit. Of course, that's going to fall back on your leader's shoulder. That's the way the game is. When we play well, he reaps all the benefits. When we don't play well, he is the target."

Limbaugh, however, was the target of N.D. Kalu's remarks.

"He's an idiot, but the problem is that he's so eloquent and he's so well-read and so educated that when he makes a dumb statement he sounds smart saying it, so a lot of people are going to put some thought into it," Kalu said. "I found it very offensive.

"To me, it's actually opposite. Black quarterbacks have to prove themselves more than others and for him to say that the best quarterback in the league is portrayed that way because he is black is a slap in the face of all of those black quarterbacks in the past like Doug Williams, Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham."

Others like Jon Ritchie and head coach Andy Reid didn't hear physically hear the comments, but still had a few words on the topic.

"I didn't hear him say it, but I've heard all the backlash and I think that the backlash is appropriate," Ritchie said. "I don't even feel it's right to dignify it by paying it any attention. In some respects, you do need to pay attention to something that inflammatory."

Added Reid: "Rush who? I honestly didn't hear any of the comments. I don't get into all of that. Everyone has an opinion. I don't pay any attention to it."

Meanwhile, Limbaugh reiterated Wednesday that he doesn't think McNabb is a bad player, just that he isn't as good as some media members think he is.

"This is such a mountain out of a molehill," he said. "There's no racism here, there's no racist intent whatsoever."

CNNSI'S Peter King wrote Wednesday that Limbaugh's comments on McNabb aren't racist, but they are boneheaded.

Wrote King: "Limbaugh was not making a racist statement about black quarterbacks. He was making a racist statement about me. Actually, about me and my colleagues. But I feel like he was talking to me.

"I am not going to make this about any political view Limbaugh might hold about affirmative action--or about anything, really, except his exact words. And I can tell you that they are incredibly absurd."

Remarks aside, the team focused on its preparations for the Skins on Wednesday. They are football players and what happens on the field is their sole focus.

"This has nothing to do with our ability to focus on this game," Simon said.

Thursday is a new day, and hopefully, the only banter and chatter will be about the Washington Redskins and not the color of the guys on the playing field.