IS GETTING ITS DRAFT BOARD READY
Eagles running back Brian Westbrook said that when he warmed up at Soldier Field Sunday, he couldn't maneuver quite well enough to play in the Eagles' loss to the Bears.
"We warmed up and we tested it. It just wasn't right. You would hate to go out there and injure it more, and then be out for two, three, or four more weeks," Westbrook, who suffered an ankle strain Sunday a week ago against Pittsburgh, said tonight on his ESPN 950-AM radio show.
"I was just trying to get a feel for how much pain there was going to be with running. I felt OK running straight. The problem was going, just the little simple weaves and things like that, just carrying and cutting, that was a problem, more than anything. At that point, I knew that it probably wasn't wise to go."
Toward the end of his foray onto the field, Westbrook conferred with team head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder, offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and general manager Tom Heckert.
"I told him how I felt," Westbrook said, referring to Heckert. "Tom's a reasonable guy. He wants what's best for the team, but he also wants what's best for me, as well. "I told him how I felt, I told him the pain that I was having, him and Rick, I was honest with them, they went and conferenced with coach (Andy) Reid, and they made the decision."
Earlier today, in Reid's regular day-after news conference, the coach said that if Westbrook had to practice Monday, he couldn't have. Reid said he wasn't sure about Westbrook's status for the next time the Eagles really do practice, on Wednesday. This would seem to indicate it isn't a given that Westbrook will play Sunday at home against the Redskins.
Even more ominous was Reid's disclosure that right guard Shawn Andrews' back doesn't feel better, two weeks after he injured it in Dallas, and that Andrews will see a specialist this week.
Reid also indicated it was unlikely that wideout Kevin Curtis, back doing scout team work as he recovers from sports hernia surgery, will become more than a limited practice participant this week.
The only good injury news was that Reid said L.J. Smith's back feels better.
Les Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News since 2002. Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
Paul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 27 years at the paper covering the Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually wa s boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad and very dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 29 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 26, a lawyer and graduate of Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 23, who graduated from Clemson and works in marketing and sales for a professional baseball team.
