ALWAYS BREAKS OUT THE TY ON HOLIDAYS
Eagles running back Brian Westbrook said today that his goal is to play again this season, but it appears highly unlikely that his return from a second concussion will come Sunday against the New York Giants.
"Yeah, that's my hope, to get back out there and play," Westbrook said. "I think all the signs right now are aiming toward being able to play before the end of the season."
Coach Andy Reid said the Eagles wanted to "ease" Westbrook back into things and that started this afternoon with him running plays for the scout team.
Westbrook admitted he doesn't know exactly when he'll return.
"It's still dependent upon the doctors and how things go out there in practice," Westbrook said.
Westbrook reiterated that he is worried about how concussions could impact him 20 to 30 years from now, but said he believes that risk is worth playing the game he loves.
"You want to play the game," he said. "It's weird. You see the situation with boxers and they just want to fight the next fight and you ask them why they want to come back and I think it's because of the love of the game. You feel like you can still play. In my situation, I still think I can play, still think I can produce.
"Really what I've learned from the doctors is that I don't have a high risk of getting a concussion by coming back after healing completely. That's the number one thing. You have to heal completely before you come back. I want to play football. That's what I love to do."
Reid's extension
Andy Reid's contract extension is finally official.
The Eagles' longest-tenured coach received a three-year contract extension, which will take him through the 2013 season. At that point, he will have been the Eagles' coach for 15 seasons.
"I'm a piece of the puzzle here," Reid said. "By my waist size I'm a big piece, but in reality I'm just a piece of the puzzle. I love Philadelphia. The fans have been unbelievable. They're fair, which means if we stink they let us know we stink and if we do OK they let us know we're doing OK. But they're always there."
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said he believes Reid is obsessed with winning the Super Bowl even though he has to do so.
"One of the reasons for this contract extension is the obsession and the prioritization of that (pursuit)," Lurie said. "There has been so much accomplished over the last decade ... and the one remaining priority is to win a Super Bowl and go from there."
Lurie said he has never given any thought to replacing Reid as his head coach.
"There has never been one seed of doubt," he said. "In the NFL, you're going to have some seasons that don't go as planned. When you have somebody excellent at what they do, you don't ride the ups and downs and have a knee-jerk reaction. You have to look at the body of work.
"And when I try to look back at where the franchise was 11 years ago, there had been some success. But the popularity of this franchise, the fans we've had on the road this year ... enormous TV ratings ... so by every measure there is tremendous support."
Are we done with business? No. We have something else we have to get done. This is just another statement by Jeffrey and Joe (Banner) to say that we have the top organization in the National Football League and we want to go get another championship.
Hanson's return
Eagles cornerback Joselio Hanson talked extensively about his four-game suspension that ended with Sunday's game at Atlanta. Hanson was suspended for violating the league's drug policy after a diurectic was discovered in his body following the Eagles' NFC championship loss to Arizona.
"It was very rough," Hanson said. "I was out of football for a month. That's what I do best. For what I was out for, it made it even worse. Now I have to let it go and go on."
