Kansas City, Mo. ? Donovan McNabb’s battered body has a chest bruise, an abdominal strain and a sore shin.

The Kansas City Chiefs are still reeling from their 30-10 Monday night debacle in Denver. Their pride is hurting like a pounding migraine.

Today’s clash between McNabb’s Philadelphia Eagles and the shaken Chiefs of Philly-favorite Dick Vermeil, moved back to a 3:15 p.m. start for national television, might ultimately swing to the side with the strongest resistance to pain.

So give the Eagles (2-1) the edge.

“Donovan McNabb is a tough, tough guy,” said cornerback Patrick Surtain of the Chiefs (2-1). “A hurt Donovan is still better than 80 percent of the quarterbacks in this league.”

Despite an array of ailments that probably would have most office workers calling in sick, McNabb is coming off the first back-to-back 300-yard passing games of his career. This is, after all, the quarterback who once led his team to victory over Arizona, only to discover later he’d been playing on a broken leg.

“I think first you have to be mentally strong,” McNabb said. “You don’t want to go out on the football field constantly thinking about the injury, constantly thinking about another injury, or constantly thinking, ‘If I get out here will I hurt anything else?’

“You have to have your mind prepared to just go out and forget about the soreness, forget about the pain, and just play football.”

The biggest worry by far is the abdominal strain – known by the relatively recent term of “sports hernia.”

Rest will not help. Surgery would. But McNabb decided to put that off until after the season, trusting that fate and a powerful constitution would prevent further damage when hard-charging linebackers ram into his aching midsection.

“It’s just something you have to deal with and realize that some days you’ll feel great, and some days you won’t,” McNabb said.

The five-time Pro Bowler leads the league with 964 yards passing, a pace that would break Dan Marino’s single-season yardage record of 5,084. He’s also thrown eight touchdown passes, seven more than Trent Green has managed for Kansas City’s slumping offense.

Since 10-time Pro Bowl left tackle Willie Roaf disappeared because of a strained left hamstring in the first half of the season opener, the Chiefs’ offense has struggled. Roaf was expected to miss a third straight game today.