McCoy provides insurance option for Eagles if Westbrook can't go
By LES BOWEN
Philadelphia Daily News
bowenl@phillynews.com
THERE WAS a time when what Andy Reid said yesterday would have sent Eagle Nation into a panic. Maybe it still should; maybe, if the 2009 season disappoints, this will be remembered as a watershed moment.
Reid was asked if he is concerned that even if Brian Westbrook's ankle swelling goes away, as the coach expects, and Westbrook returns to action when the Eagles come back from the bye on Oct. 11, could this become a continuing pattern? Westbrook didn't play at all in the preseason, as his ankle healed from surgery. He came out of the opener early, to guard against injury. Then he was less than 20 touches into Game 2 before he sprained his repaired right ankle - an injury Reid seemed fairly confident late last week would not keep Westbrook out of Sunday's Kansas City game. But it did, when, as Reid acknowledged, Westbrook's improvement stalled.
"We'll see how it goes here. I don't get into all that. I know we've got other players here too that can play," Reid said. "We'll just see how he does. This could be a one-time thing or it could come up again. I'm not too worried about that."
Any year before this one, Reid would have been plenty worried "about that." The reason he isn't sweating this time wears No. 29. LeSean McCoy's 20 carries for 84 yards and the rookie's first NFL touchdown Sunday reminded fans at times of the way Westbrook used to look out there, not so long ago, cutting and bobbing and dipping.
Of course, looking spry against Kansas City does not make McCoy a Westbrook equivalent, any more than Kevin Kolb's strong performance made him the equal of Donovan McNabb. But McCoy is the only runner the Eagles have had during the Westbrook era whom the coaches feel they can plug in and run the same stuff they run with Westbrook. They never felt that way about Correll Buckhalter, a bigger back who was a slashing, talented runner, with more of a straight-ahead style.
Reid ruminated yesterday on a popular newspaper and talk-show topic from 2008, why the heck Buckhalter couldn't get more than a handful of carries per game with Westbrook obviously hobbled by knee and ankle problems. Reid gets the NFL stats; he knows that Buckhalter has 230 yards on just 31 carries for the Broncos this season, 7.4 yards per carry.
"It's not tough," Reid said, when asked if it was hard to split the work between two backs. "That can be done. I think this game helped with LeSean, just to see where he was at with the [pass] protections. I thought he did a nice job with that. That's always a concern with certain guys. We can do that. I need to do a better job of that. I should have done it with Buck, obviously, he's up in Denver gaining 100 yards every week, probably should have had him play a little bit more."
One of the best things McCoy did Sunday was run from the Wildcat, taking the shotgun snap. How did the coaches know he could do that so well? They really didn't, McCoy explained afterward. They'd put that package in for Westbrook, thinking No. 36 would play. On Saturday, when it was decided that Westbrook couldn't go, the package just shifted over to McCoy.
McCoy might not be a better NFL runner than Buckhalter right now - he still carries the ball away from his body too often, even when he's concentrating on taking care of it, as he said he was Sunday - but he does a better Westbrook impression, it seems.
"These two are very similar in a lot of things they can do, LeSean and Brian," Reid noted. "You can flex LeSean out; we haven't had a lot backs that can do that part. It should make it easier [to use both]. I just have to do a little bit better job when they're both healthy, doing that."
Westbrook hasn't spoken to the assembled media since right after the New Orleans game. The Eagles have said he will talk again when he returns to practice. He has given a few broadcast interviews, but he really hasn't addressed at length how he feels about his future, his ongoing role.
Westbrook, who turned 30 earlier this month, fought hard to become a featured back. That didn't happen until 2004. His 2005 season was curtailed by a foot injury. If this turns out to be the beginning of the end for him, he has a right to feel shortchanged by fate. Three more or less healthy seasons as a full-time starter isn't a long "prime."
Given all that, how will Westbrook react if Reid decides the thing to do is split the carries, to develop McCoy and to try to cut down on the risk to Westbrook? This was the mind-set Westbrook fought so hard against, the one he reveled in defeating in 2007, when he was the Eagles' offense, with 1,333 rushing yards on 278 carries and 90 catches for another 771 yards.
At the time, lots of people said he might never again equal those numbers. They meant it as a tribute to the heights Westbrook had reached, not as a prediction of premature aging.
You check down more when you have more pressure on you. Kolb basically said he wasn't touched all day by the KC defense so there was no need to check down.
You check down more when you have more pressure on you. Kolb basically said he wasn't touched all day by the KC defense so there was no need to check down.
You check down more when you have more pressure on you. Kolb basically said he wasn't touched all day by the KC defense so there was no need to check down.
