YONG KIM / Staff photographer
Brian Westbrook was much more effective running out of the Wildcat vs. Saints.
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Reid optimistic that Westbrook can regain old form
ANDY REID SAID yesterday that Brian Westbrook's issue is regaining sharpness after a layoff, not diminished capability.
By the end of the season, we'll probably know for sure whether Reid is right. Right now, we know that in two games, the Eagles' once-electric running back has carried 26 times for 116 yards, a respectable but unremarkable 4.5-yard average. Westbrook, who caught more passes than any other NFL running back from 2004-2008, has just six catches so far this season, for 22 yards. He has looked more or less OK. He hasn't taken anyone's breath away.
Of course, the Birds have more attractive receiving options now than they had in 2007, when Westbrook set a team record by hauling in 90 passes. DeSean Jackson alone changes that equation. It might be reasonable to ask whether Jackson has become Westbrook - the bottled-lightning guy for this offense - with Westbrook, at 30, more in the role of the late-career Duce Staley.
Perhaps more ominous than the possibility that Westbrook can't quite find the extra gear that made him so special is the sprained ankle he suffered in the second half of Sunday's 48-22 loss to the Saints.
Reid said yesterday that Westbrook "has a little bit of swelling in it. It's the same ankle that he had surgery on. We'll just see how he does here in the next couple of days."
Reid said Westbrook will not get an MRI on the ankle, which needed surgery for removal of bone fragments in June, after Westbrook experienced lingering discomfort from last season. Even if this turns out not to be a serious setback, fans have to wonder - Westbrook was held out of the entire preseason to keep him healthy, he left the opener early because it was a blowout win and Reid wanted to be careful with him, yet less than 20 touches into the next game, Westbrook was hobbled.
"He should be able to work through these, and then get himself right, where he can make it through the whole game," Reid said. The Eagles' coach added that he won't change his offensive plans if Westbrook can't play Sunday against Kansas City.
"Whether he's 100 percent or not, we continue to do what we do. He gave us some productive yards [Sunday] and I thought at times looked very good, so we'll just keep bringing him along," Reid said.
"He hasn't played much in games, and everything is obviously a little faster in games . . . He's going through that process [of working his way back] right now. It's just important that he keeps working through it. I know that he's working like crazy with the trainers. He gets frustrated a little bit because he wants to be out there every snap. But that's just not the way it's going to work here right now. So he just has to gradually get himself back in there going."
Westbrook said Sunday that the injury was "definitely not" as serious as last year's high ankle sprain. It was unclear whether this is a regular sprain or a more serious high ankle sprain. Asked if he thought he would be able to play this week against the Chiefs, Westbrook said, "I hope so, yes."
Of course, last year it was never quite clear how much of Westbrook's lackluster, 4.0 yards-per-carry average had to do with his infirmities and how much had to do with running behind a line that didn't run-block very well. That was a big focus of the Birds' offseason o-line rebuilding project. But the line Westbrook ran behind Sunday didn't resemble the one management thought it was constructing back in the spring. Right tackle Shawn Andrews already is done for the year. His brother, right guard Stacy Andrews, played only on placekicks Sunday, after showing what Reid felt was hesitancy to sharply plant his right leg with its rebuilt ACL in the opener. Left guard Todd Herremans hopes to be back before Halloween after foot surgery.
In fact, the state of the line might have had something to do with all that Wildcatting Sunday; it was hard not to notice that those were the running plays that worked. The few times the Eagles ran conventionally, the ballcarrier was swarmed. Westbrook gained 30 of his 52 rushing yards against the Saints on four Wildcat carries. Westbrook carried nine other times, for 22 yards.
"We'll see how this week goes," Reid said when asked whether we can expect sub guards Nick Cole and Max Jean-Gilles to still be playing ahead of Stacy Andrews this week against the Chiefs. "We're talking about Monday today, so we'll just see how all that works out. They did OK. Can they do better? Yeah, they can do better."
Reid said using Westbrook as a Wildcat quarterback was "another opportunity for him to touch the football."
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