The Westbrook question, offensive personnel
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The Westbrook question, offensive personnel
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Daily News columnist Rich Hofmann made an interesting argument in his column a week ago, before the Eagles traveled to Dallas and got smoked by the Cowboys.
Hofmann argued that we would be able to learn a lot about the future from the way Marty Morhninweg and Andy Reid used Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy and Michael Vick against the Cowboys in the wild-card playoff game.
The Westbrook situation has been well-detailed. If the Eagles are to keep him on board under his current contract, they would owe him $7.5M. Westbrook will turn 31 before the start of next season, and he had just 61 carries this past year while suffering a pair of concussions.
If Hofmann's theory proves right, we've probably seen the last of Westbrook in an Eagles uniform. Of course, there's always the possibility that the Eagles and Westbrook could work something out in terms of his contract to reduce the $7.5M number.
In our Stay or Go feature, 63 percent of you voted that it's time for the Eagles to let him go.
I charted the Eagles' offensive snaps, and while I know you've probably put the loss behind you, I wanted to share the information anyway.
Westbrook was on the field for 16 snaps, McCoy 32 and Weaver 21. But as I explained earlier this week, 14 of McCoy's plays were in the final three possessions of the game. If you take away the Eagles' final two possessions during "garbage time" the numbers were: McCoy (22), Weaver (19) and Westbrook (16).
In terms of touches, Weaver had seven, McCoy six and Westbrook one.
Any way you look at it, the fact that Westbrook, one of the greatest playmakers this franchise has ever seen, had the ball in his hands just once in a playoff game is telling. But maybe more telling is that I've heard no fans or media members argue that the Eagles would have had a better chance against Dallas had Westbrook been more involved.
As for the offensive personnel packages, the Eagles used 19 different combinations against the Cowboys. The most common was a one running-back, three-receiver, one tight-end set of McCoy, DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Jason Avant and Brent Celek, which was featured 18 times. Here are the rest of the combinations:
Westbrook, Jackson, Maclin, Avant, Celek (11)
Weaver, Jackson, Maclin, Celek, Alex Smith (6)
Weaver, McCoy, Jackson, Maclin, Avant (4)
Weaver, McCoy, Jackson, Maclin, Celek (3)
Weaver, Jackson, Maclin, Avant, Celek (2)
McCoy, Westbrook, Jackson, Maclin, Celek (2)
McCoy, Jackson, Maclin, Avant, Smith (1)
Weaver, McCoy, Jackson, Maclin, Smith (1)
Vick, McCoy, Jackson, Maclin, Smith (1)
McCoy, Jackson, Maclin, Avant, Brown (1)
Weaver, Buckley, Avant, Celek, Smith (1)
Weaver, Jackson, Brown, Celek, Smith (1)
Weaver, Westbrook, Jackson, Brown, Celek (1)
Westbrook, Jackson, Maclin, Celek, Smith (1)
Weaver, Westbrook, Jackson, Maclin, Avant (1)
Jackson, Maclin, Avant, Brown, Celek (1)
Vick, Weaver, McCoy, Jackson, Celek (1)
McCoy, Jackson, Maclin, Celek, Smith (1)
The two most-common personnel packages were the same as in the Week 17 game, except in that matchup they were reversed. The package with Westbrook, three receivers and a TE was the most popular, and the package with McCoy was the second-most used.
Here are percentages of plays by personnel grouping:
57 percent - 1 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE
15.5 percent - 1 RB, 2 WR, 2 TE
13.8 percent - 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE
8.6 percent - 2 RB, 3 WR
No other grouping was used more than once. Initially, I thought they went with two tight ends more than in Week 17, but that was not the case. Celek and Smith were on the field together 10 times, the same number as the previous week.
Brown played four snaps. And Vick played three.
Comment removed.
having a tough time coming up with something to write huh?— sima_down_nah- Yeah, it would be nice to see them work something out, but, if they can't come to an agreement, it's hard to imagine Westbrook being the same player after these injuries. More importantly, Andy Reid is the poster-boy for insanity; he just keeps doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. He has single-handedly halted winning streaks with his lack of balance.
- I love Westbrook but I think there comes a point where you're trying to get too many people involved and no one can get in a rhythm. I remember last year before the Eagles went on their run, Reid finally decided to cut down the number of WR's because (in part) nobody could get in a rhythm when they're rotating in 5 or 6 receivers. As sad as it is to say, if McCoy's the guy, let him be the guy and give him some work. (However, I'd sure miss Westy's impeccable blitz pickup)— jabostick
- "Any way you look at it, the fact that Westbrook, one of the greatest playmakers this franchise has ever seen, had the ball in his hands just once in a playoff game is telling." Yeah, it was telling of the fact that Westbrook was coming off a second concussion, he had a sore ankle and he had missed half of the season and wasn't really in game shape. Of course his carries would be limited, we all knew that before the game started. The Eagles will judge Westbrook based on his ability when he's healthy. However, it looks like best-case scenario is that he splits carries with McCoy next year and, if that's the case, they aren't going to pay him $7.5 million to do that. If Westbrook's ego gets in the way and he still thinks he's worth $7.5 million or that he can be an every down, 16 game running back somewhere, then he'll probably get cut or possibly traded. Don't see anyone else wanting to take on his $7.5 million salary though in a trade given his injury history.— JimG
- "and while I know you've probably put the loss behind you"... That's pretty funny, Sheil. Of course, we Eagles fans only ever put wins behind us. We never let a loss go. On Westbrook, I wish him the best, but we could probably put that $7.5M to better use.— FKD215
make him a TE. he can do everything better than Celek!!!!!— daveH- yes, try to re-work his deal. hopefully he recognizes he's no longer a feature back and that he may be able to play 2 more years (and be healthier later in life) if he limits his touches. imagine a healthy westbrook getting 6-10 touches a game behind mccoy & weaver? that'd be pretty nice. and with our o-line in trouble, it'd be nice to have a RB who is excellent at picking up the blitz as well as teaching mccoy what he knows.
- You want to limit his touches? They're already doing that. He only played 61 snaps this season, and even before the concussions he was always a question mark during the season.— p-diddy
- Here's a fan complaining that Westbrook wasn't used more.Maybe he wasn't in game shape,maybe the personnel packages the Birds thought were correct for the Boys game simply didn't include him,but for whatever reason it still mystifies me and millions of other Eagles fans as to why we never employed the same style of play the Giants used to beat the Cowboys.It's what we used to do very well.Put it behind us? Yeah,right. 44-6 stickers were all over the Boys mental dressing rooms.And this team better do the same.— red rock
- We will need 2 RB behind McNabb and Weaver. McCoy and another RB (may be there is another Cedric Benson somewhere). RB's have very limited shelf life as they get hit repeatedly at high speed. We need PHYSICAL run game. Soft run will not work. We have a QB that can do soft runs if necessary.— Seed
Flyers should deal for Ilya, need a bona fide sniper.- Why rework Westbrook's deal? A contract is a contract isn't it? Isn't that what they told us as the reason not to give the hardest working man, Sheldon Brown, a renewed deal? Westbrook and the Eagles front office sat down and hammered out that deal that both sides agreed to and now the Eagles want to possibly weasel out yet they criticized Brown last year for wanting a restructured deal. The Eagles front office couldn't possibly be playing both sides of the fence could they?— Nothing but the truth
Hey Nothing, the NFL fact of life is that contracts are not guaranteed. That's why it is so important for someone like Brown, who is still a valuable resource, to get his money now. When the team thinks a player is not worth the money, it's not like baseball where the contract has to be paid. In the NFL, the player is cut and the money is reallocated.- Face the facts, he'w always hurt, even when he was playing he was not very good. No miracle is going to happen where he becomes a healthier better player after going downhill for the last 2 years and he is now over 30 years old.— borncynic
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