The Washington Redskins' 45-yard-line, midway through the first quarter, is not an ideal spot for a nap, all jokes about the home team's ability to entertain aside. Burkholder knew the running back had been knocked out when the side of his helmet collided with linebacker London Fletcher's knee, Westbrook's arms flying up in a defense mechanism known as decerebrate rigidity. Burkholder knew it was important that Westbrook be awakened a certain way.

"One of the standards that I have out there is that I am the only guy that gets to talk when they're knocked out, because what happens is, players start yelling [the injured player's] name, and we don't know whether he has a neck injury yet," Burkholder said. "We don't want him moving his head too fast.

"That's why my assistant, Chris [Peduzzi], had a hold of his head, firmly . . . When he was coming out of the unconsciousness, he was a little bit combative. That's not unusual. He was trying to push us away, but he was still unconscious. As he came out of it, as soon as he was awake and as soon as he recognized me, I said, 'Brian, who are you talking to?' He said, 'It's Rick.' I said, 'Where are we?' He said, 'FedEx Field.'

"As soon as he woke up, he knew everything - he knew his brother [Redskins cornerback Byron Westbrook] was there, he knew coach [Andy] Reid was behind me, he knew Chris was holding his head, he knew exactly what happened."

To anyone who witnessed that scary, nationally televised moment, it might seem unfathomable that the Eagles would consider having Westbrook play this Sunday against the Giants. But Reid said yesterday that Westbrook's participation would be a gametime decision, and the Eagles then made Burkholder available to provide reporters the full context on the team's concussion criteria and procedures.

The bottom line, as per Burkholder: If Westbrook's current mild headache goes away, and his results on neurological tests improve to match baseline results recorded earlier, and he then is able to exercise without triggering more symptoms, then the franchise running back might indeed be able to participate in what many fans would call the most anticipated matchup of the season to date.

How likely is all that? Well, the Eagles found it prudent yesterday to sign running back P.J. Hill, a former Wisconsin star, off the Saints' practice squad. Linebacker Omar Gaither, who underwent Lisfranc surgery last week, was officially placed on IR, ending Gaither's season.

While Reid and Burkholder sat behind the NovaCare microphones yesterday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was facing an even more skeptical group of questioners, as Goodell testified before Congress on the subject of football head injuries and degenerative brain problems some players face later in life.

That was one reason why Reid and Burkholder - who serves on the league's concussion committee - wanted to stress that they are taking Westbrook's injury very seriously, even as they refused to rule out the notion that he might play.

"That injury has a lot of focus within the media and within the players' union and within the players' safety group. It's [gotten to be] a big issue with their livelihood, and that's one of the things I concern myself with as their health-care provider," Burkholder said. "We've gone to great lengths to know what we're dealing with."

There was a time when concussion standards said a player losing consciousness had suffered the most serious sort of concussion, and would likely take the longest time to recover. Burkholder said current standards on returning to play are based on resulting symptoms and not on the initial event - though he noted that a player who is knocked out cannot return to the game in which he was injured.

"We don't grade the concussions until we've run the whole course on how they've responded to their symptoms and how quickly they return to normal function," he said. "Brian did lose conciousness on the field. We think it was less than a minute. We don't use it as a grade, but we use it as an indicator that he may take a little bit longer. [Though] that is not always the case, either.''

Reid and Burkholder said they were aware of cases in which players had been knocked unconscious one week and played the next. Giants coach Tom Coughlin told a conference call with Philadelphia-area reporters that his team will prepare as if Westbrook is playing.

Burkholder said Westbrook's retrograde amnesia - the part of the event he doesn't recall - only lasts from just after the play was called until Burkholder woke him up. Sometimes, with really bad concussions, players later can't recall leaving the field or subsequent events. Burkholder and Reid said that was not the case with Westbrook, who returned to the sideline in sweatclothes and watched the second half of the Eagles' 27-17 victory.

"The amnesia that we worry about is [if] he can't remember things after he was hit," Burkholder said. "He has none of that. He remembers waking up. He actually remembers that he was dreaming . . . He doesn't have any time in there where he says, 'I don't remember you guys walking me off the field, I don't remember how I got to the locker room. I don't remember the second half of the game, being out there on the field, talking to Andy and the team.' He knew all of that, so those are good indicators for us."

Reid said Westbrook, "is making progress. It's a matter of time. We'll just see how he does this week."

Westbrook suffered an ankle sprain in the second game of the season and missed the next game. Monday night was his third game back, and he seemed to be regaining his timing and his prominent role in the offense, after splitting time with rookie LeSean McCoy. If Westbrook can't play, McCoy presumably will start against the Giants, backed up by Eldra Buckley and Hill.

For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com.