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Anyone who figured matters could not get worse for the Eagles after dreary back-to-back losses to the Bears and Redskins shoved them into the NFC East basement . . . well, figure again. They have.
Brian Westbrook suffered two fractured ribs on his right side in the first quarter of Sunday's 23-17 loss to Washington. His status for Sunday's game in San Francisco is uncertain.
Westbrook said last night on his radio show that his ability to play will not be determined until late this week. He said he is likely to be limited if he does play.
"Every time you're hit, you feel it," he said on ESPN-AM (950). "Every time you run, you turn, you feel it. It'll be wait-and-see, and try to rehab it and do everything you can to try to get yourself ready.
"At the end of the day, you have to try to find out what it's going to feel like. Can you stand the pain and play with it and be effective? Now, do I want to be out there at 45 percent and take a hit and hurt this team more than help it? No. I would rather have Correll Buckhalter, a proven running back, a guy who can get the job done, carry the team. I wouldn't want to set the team back, but what I'm going to do is rehab, and I'm going to see where things end up at the end of this week."
Westbrook, who had an MRI exam yesterday, added that he was unable to sleep because of the pain.
He returned against Washington after missing the game against Chicago two weeks ago and three quarters of the previous game against Pittsburgh because of a sprained right ankle.
The star running back got off to an impressive start, picking up 39 yards on his first five touches, including a 9-yard touchdown run on the Eagles' first possession. It turned out that Westbrook scored after his ribs were fractured.
He appeared to suffer the injury after he gained 5 yards on the sixth play of the 12-play scoring drive. Westbrook was first hit by LaRon Landry and then by Chris Horton, who fell on top of him. Westbrook touched his side and grimaced as he returned to the huddle. He went to the locker room for medical attention, but played the remainder of the game after missing most of the Eagles' second possession.
"It was a situation where you get tackled and a couple guys fall on top of you, and that's how you crack your ribs," he said.
Like the rest of the offense, Westbrook was ineffective for the rest of the game, finishing with 84 total yards on 12 carries and six catches. After averaging 7.9 yards for his first five touches, he managed only 3.9 yards his last 13. He said after the game that his ankle was not completely healed.
Westbrook suffered a similar injury against Cleveland on Oct. 24, 2004. A cracked rib and bruised chest left him unable to play the next week against Baltimore, and he played sparingly the following week against Pittsburgh.
"I think this time there's a little bit less pain," he said. "Hopefully, the pain is tolerable enough that I'll be able to play."
One season after he amassed 2,104 yards from scrimmage with career highs of 1,333 yards rushing, 90 catches and 771 yards receiving, Westbrook has yet to really get started this season. Healthy for the first two games, he ran for 149 yards on 37 carries and caught eight passes for 46 yards. The Eagles rank 29th in the NFL in rushing.
"The effort's there," Reid said. "In football games, there are going to be highs and lows. We've got to do a better job working through the lows, and that directly comes back to me. I have to do a better job."
The Eagles' problems on offense go beyond Westbrook's truncated season. In the last three games, they have not scored a touchdown in the second half. In the fourth quarter of the last two games, they were unable to get into the end zone from the 1-yard line.
"You're at the 1-foot line the last two weeks, that's not acceptable," Reid said. "I have to make sure I get that taken care of."
Rarely does a team's offense go as flat as the Eagles' did after a productive first quarter. They had 133 yards and nine first downs their first two possessions, and could have built their lead to 17-0 had David Akers not missed a 50-yard field goal at the end of the quarter. In the last three quarters, the Eagles managed only 121 yards and five first downs, and at one point they had four consecutive three-and-outs. They ran only 47 offensive plays, compared with 75 for Washington.
Reid said that the team is embarrassed by the way it is playing, and that there is a fine line between winning and losing. The Eagles have lost three games by a total of 14 points.
"These games come down to the wire, so you have to minimize mistakes and maximize consistency," Reid said. "You just keep working and working and working, and as long as you stay aggressive here, I think good things will happen."
For multimedia Eagles coverage, go to http://go.
philly.com/eagles.
at 215-854-2743 or rparrillo@phillynews.com.
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