Just two days after suffering a humiliating loss to the Oakland Raiders, the Eagles front office made moves before the trade deadline Tuesday to acquire veteran linebacker Will Witherspoon. Philadelphia gave up a 2010 fifth round pick as well as wideout Brandon Gibson who they picked in the sixth round of this year’s draft out of Washington State.

The trade is seemingly beneficial for both teams. The Rams are in desperate need of receiver help since Donnie Avery has been battling injuries all year, Laurent Robinson was lost for the season, and no one else can name another receiver on the St. Louis roster. The Eagles loved what they saw from Gibson in training camp but with injuries to Stewart Bradley and now Omar Gaither after Sunday’s debacle in Oakland, they had to pull the trigger and secure a reliable middle linebacker.

Witherspoon, an eight year veteran in the league, was playing the weak side in St. Louis’ scheme this season but has experience anchoring the middle in his days as a Carolina Panther. Despite the fact that Witherspoon came off the field with an apparent injured knee in the Rams’ overtime loss to the Jags, the Eagles added him to the roster to replace the struggling Jeremiah Trotter. Trotter was brought back to the team to help stop the run but his slowness and terrible pass coverage skills have lost him the job after just a couple games back in Philadelphia.

The Eagles confirmed today that Witherspoon in fact has a bruised tailbone and that he will still start at middle linebacker in Monday night’s tilt with the division rival Redskins. The 29 year old veteran is an durable every down player, missing only seven games in his last seven seasons, who already knows this defensive scheme and will look to repeat his performance from two years ago when he recorded a career high seven sacks.