Limping Westbrook
It's more and more apparent that one of the problems the Eagles face is a seriously hobbled Brian Westbrook.
Limping Westbrook
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
In the pressbox, we don't get the TV audio, so your Eagletarian had no idea what the FOX announcers were saying about Brian Westbrook until news reports repeated their assertions on Monday. Eagletarian is not surprised the announcers stressed that Westbrook is more limited right now than the team has admitted publicly.
While we don't doubt these revelations stemmed from the comfy chats with coaches the rightsholding broadcasters get for their zillions of dollars paid to the NFL, it's also true that Westbrook has very quietly been admitting as much, while trying to put the best face on it, for more than a week now. You might recall this Daily News story, written off Westbrook's radio show, in last Tuesday's paper.
This Monday, as was noted in today's Daily News, Westbrook looked alarmingly hobbled as he navigated a 
NovaCare corridor. We were reminded of Fred Sanford's arthritic shuffle. (In light of recent events, perhaps we could have expanded that image, with BWest declaring: "Donovan, you big dummy!")
Westbrook upped the ante again on his ESPN 950 AM radio show this week, when he explained his success Sunday on draw plays, vs. a distinct lack of success with other types of runs, by saying that his high ankle sprain and knee troubles make it much easier for him to accelerate in a straight line these days than to cut sharply.
Westbrook also noted that a high ankle sprain doesn't really heal until the season is over.
Andy Reid seems to be reacting to this situation by embracing the worst of both worlds -- he won't put Westbrook on the shelf until he heals, instead he's keeping Westbrook out there, using his injury-related ineffectiveness as an excuse to pretty much abandon the running game. Running with Correll Buckhalter or even Lorenzo Booker -- inactive two successive games now -- is not an option, somehow.
Reid explained Monday that his priority was to get Westbrook going. (??!!) Unequipped with the requisite Reidspeak secret decoder ring, your Eagletarian is unable to tell you how that assertion makes any sense, under the circumstances.
BTW, an interesting aside on Booker. You'll recall that he was highly touted by the Eagles when they traded for him from Miami last April, and he looked great in minicamp, a little less great in training camp, lost the kickoff return job to Quintin Demps after a shaky preseason effort in Pittsburgh, and then pretty much disappeared from the team's plans. He got a snap here and there early in the season, looked totally unacquainted with the concept of blocking, and did nothing with the ball in his hands, before disappearing completely.
Here is what a Miami-area reporter had to say in an e-mail exchange yesterday, when I brought up Booker's puzzling demise:
"LoBook was a weird case. Looked great in the minicamp, shirts and shorts workouts. He talked about his exhaustive film study and wanting to be the kind of multipurpose, Reggie Bush-type back. Then, couldn't catch punts in training camp practice and, in preseason games, didn't do jack. Nice guy and we all wanted him to succeed because of that.
"So, he sat on the bench for about 11 weeks. Heck, he was inactive for most of those weeks. We asked (then-head coach Cam) Cameron every week what he had to do to just get on the roster, especially once their running backs started dropping like flies in front of urinals. Finally, he got a shot and he made the most of each run or pass thrown to him, taking us from asking, 'Why isn't he playing?' to 'Why wasn't he playing?' It became an example of that staff's ineptitude."
Indeed, Booker gained 56 yards on 8 carries for the Dolphins against New England last Dec. 23, 33 on 7 against the Bengals the next week. He caught 6 passes three games in a row, and 7 (for 54 yards) in the season finale, the Bengals game. The Birds burned a fourth-round pick for this guy. Don't they have to take a longer look at him, sooner or later? They've already dismissed Tony Hunt and Ryan Moats.
Yes, Booker is built like an undersized wideout and he so far has talked a much better game than he's played. But are they in a position to overlook anybody on their roster who has any chance of helping them run the ball a little more effectively? The guy's last nongarbage time carry was in Chicago, Sept. 28, which also was the last time he caught a pass.
And it pretty much goes without saying that they could do way more with Buckhalter, as they have done whenever Westbrook sits. It's a weird mindset, that if Westbrook puts the uniform on, you can't possibly give Buckhalter more than a couple of touches.
This whole running mess really needs to be rethought bigtime, with Baltimore's defense looming.
This is why Andy must go. His playcalling, talent understanding and clock management all put the Eagles at a disadvantage and when he doesn't sub for his hurt players, he puts an added strain on their health. Prayerfully, Lurie will get it and get rid of Andy, his staff, Donnie and get a talent evalulator who can bring the Birds back to being more than Raiders East.— KGKoons- How on earth can the eagles be only 1.5 pt underdogs to the Ravens?— chicagoB
- vegas still doesn't think the giants are that good..they are over reacting to the ravens being spanked by the giants.— xatsmann
- KG, I agree but unfortunately I think Lurie is partly to blame for the whole mess. Lately the Eagles have been trading their first round picks for late rounders, strictly for financial reasons and the talent on the team is being depleted. He won't let Reed go because Reed is doing exactly what Lurie wants which is not so sign first rounders and getting rid of players who want more money. After seeing that Cincinnati game, I'm not so sure they could actually beat the Raiders.— dapmman
- But at least they're way under the salary cap........— antmry312
- A High Ankle sprain will ruin any players season....except TO's during 2004, hmmmm.....HGH sure would help it heal quick though.— Cant Climb
- Look let's face it, we all know Reid and DM have have tremendous success in the past for Philly. But I'm a philly fan stuck in MA and all I ever hear about is how lame they are now. How bad they suck week to week. This past weekend is the straw that broke the camels back. Time to cut my losses, get rid of the Direct TV Sunday ticket (can't bear to watch this poor excuse for an NFL team) and use the time I would spend watching the Eagles to get some face time with my wife and kids. Sort of build up points for later use, a much more productive use of my Sunday afternoons.......— The Manager
- I just hope some of the players look at this. I have a message for them....YOU GUYS SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!— The Manager
- To The Manager, I am in the same situation in MD. "I spent the afternoon watching this why??" The NFL package was a great deal when I first got it 8 years ago but now, with the way the Eagles are playing,it's a waste of money. Until this team gets areal GM, and a real Offensive Coordinator, forget it.— Scobie1
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newsflash1--> Westbrook is ALWAYS INJURED. nothing against him, but the poor guy gets injured with a wrist slap. newsflash2-->BOOKER SUKs. just watch his dolphins footage and ya see him deke sideways forever for 0 yards. the guy cant ever decide to run forwards. newflash3--> Andy Reid is FAT! not a cut, just the truth. how can he let himself get that way without eating every pork chop in sight. many more flashes to floow, except we KNOW THEM ALL ALREADY. good luck to us!— daveH- You gotta play Klecko as he is costing over 10 million for this season— jakelbi
- Does anyone else notice that Reid's career is following the path of Holmgren, with a 2 to 3 year lag? It gets even scarier when you see where the Seahawks are now.— jakelbi
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- Why is Klecko costing over 10 million this season? Please clarify. At least he had more receiving yards than R. Brown on Sunday.— ItalianSausage
- Please make it all stop.— red rock
- To Italian Sausage. If you check the Eagles Salary in USA todat, it states salary $630,000 and bonus at $10,036,720. Here is the link usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/salaries/default.aspx— jakelbi
- BOOKER WAS A TERRIBLE RUNNING BACK AT FSU AND COULDN'T BLOCK FOR THEM. PERCELLS LAUGHED ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK WITH A FOURTH ROUNDER FOR HIM. REMEMBER REID AND HECKERT WERE SO PROUD OF HIS AQUISITION CLAIMING THEY WANTED TO DRAFT HIM IN 2007. TYPICAL. THE EAGLES HAVEN'T DRAFTED A DECENT RUNNING BACK WITH ONE EXCEPTION IN THE 10 YEARS REID HAS BEEN COACH. WESTBROOK BEING THE EXCEPTION AND HE WAS WHAT, A SIXTH ROUNDER ? GREAT MISTAKE.— JACK V
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- We're gonna get killed her on out! And from out of the ashes rises the Phoenix (Eagles of the future)— phillyfan19335
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- I say the Eagles should rest Brian Westbrook and call on Lee Bougess or Izzy Lang to run for the Iggles— cheeks4two
- Hank Sperka? Aren't you the guy that would hang wit Dr. Francis Davis and Al McDowell at the City Line Ave. Holiday Inn coctail lounge ????????— cheeks4two
- Unfortunately as long as Reid is here DM will not be benched. This season is gone. We should be starting Kolb. He may or may not be the guy, but better to find out about him during the remainder of a lost season than to wait until next year. If he is the guy then let him get some game experience this year so he will be ready to hit the field running next year.— obergruber
- Carrying a B class back who's at 100% is smarter than an A class back at 70%, let Westbrook get healthy and use Buckhalter like they did vs San Fran, anyway we are a West Coast ball control team by philosophy and personnell, his contibutions in screens and blocking are adequate til westbrook back to 90% or better.— robinlupe
- it's worth noting too that a draw play requires different technique from a run play. The linemen are supposed to react as if in pass protection, rather than moving towards the defernders. So Westbrook being more effective on draw plays may have more to do with the line's abilities to pass block and the fact that defenders react to the play as a pass rather than crashing into the line on a run.— rakmike
