"Hey, guys, I'm not talking right now," Westbrook said when asked how much he did at practice.

However, Westbrook's brother Byron, a cornerback with the Redskins, was talking yesterday. The younger Westbrook told the Washington Post he would be surprised if his brother played this Sunday. Byron said the two Westbrooks speak nearly every day.

"I don't think he'll play," he said. "The ankle injury is more serious than what the Eagles put out. You know how Andy Reid is about injuries and giving out information. Just watching him on the sidelines after he turned his ankle [against Pittsburgh two weeks ago], it didn't look good."

Before practice, Brian Westbrook, who sat out the Eagles' loss Sunday to the Bears, said he was optimistic about playing against Washington on Sunday.

"I've gotten better every day," the star running back said. "Just like last week, you try to evaluate how close you are to playing and how close you are to 100 percent. If you're close enough, then you play. If not, then you have to take the week off."

Elsewhere on the injury front, tight end L.J. Smith returned after missing the Bears game with a back injury; guard Shawn Andrews visited a back specialist and said he's uncertain when he will be healthy enough to practice; and quarterback Donovan McNabb said he's still hurting from the bruised chest he suffered two weeks ago. He was limited at practice.

"We'll see what the next couple of days brings," said Andrews, who declined to give specifics of the injury that has kept him off the field for three weeks. "Things are looking very up. The last few days, I can feel myself getting better."

Also limited at practice were cornerback Asante Samuel (bruised chest), wide receiver Kevin Curtis (hernia surgery), and defensive tackle Dan Klecko (hand injury).

If called on . . .

"If the play was called, then I would have done whatever I had to do to help," he said. "But in those plays that we called, we should have scored. No way around it."

McNabb was referring to the four consecutive run plays called when the Eagles were in a first-and-goal situation from the Bears' 4-yard line late in the fourth quarter. Reid was second-guessed for not trying a quarterback sneak with his 240-pound quarterback. The coach said that he didn't want to risk aggravating McNabb's injury and that he had determined before the game that McNabb was not going to run any sneaks.

Giving too much

"They came out with some different things that went against some of the things we studied on film," Dawkins said. "The second half, we came out of the locker room and were bent on not allowing them any more points."

Extra points

- Ray Parrillo