What He Said

You should read Football Outsiders' breakdown of the Eagles' first possession against the Redskins.  Check out how many times Westbrook is mentioned, even on plays where he doesn't get the ball.

The "lessons learned" section at the bottom is also interesting.  I'm not sure about #3 (how do you see that on TV?) but #4 and #5 are common themes around here:

4) The Eagles keep things very simple when they run. They really just like to run the stretch and give Westbrook cutback lanes. It's not as effective when Westbrook is banged up or another back is in there. You will rarely see a lot of designed counters, pulling guards, other runs with complex blocking schemes from the Eagles. That makes them predictable and easy to stop when Westbrook is not at full speed and/or a key blocker like Andrews isn't around.

5) The lack of playmakers is still a problem. Watch the tape and you will see Lorenzo Booker trying to run the deep sideline route. He catches the ball out of bounds; I don't know if Westbrook would have made the catch in bounds or created more room for himself on the sidelines so McNabb could make a better throw. You've got Jason Avant and Hank Baskett running around doing very little. Greg Lewis is still playing a significant role. These aren't players who are going to make much happen against a good defense ... It can all still work when McNabb and Westbrook are 100 percent, but they rarely are, and there is no Plan B.

For more on the run game creativity issue stretching back well before this season see here.  For more on the playmakers issue, check the entirety of the Internet.

Comments

[Eagles Fan in San Fran]

Any insights into Booker?

Domo can't figure it out - from his column:

It's not clear why Booker isn't playing more. With Reid, it's often a trust issue. But Booker seems to have a pretty good grasp of the offense, isn't a fumbler and doesn't drop passes. He's not a very good blocker, but neither is Reid's fullback, Tony Hunt. And that's supposed to be Hunt's primary responsibility.

"There are a couple of things he needs to work on,'' Reid said. "He's going to do that. We'll just see how his reps go as we go on here. He has to continue to get better at some of the things he hasn't been asked to do before, and he's working on those.''

[Derek]

That's bogus. Hunt's a much better blocker than Booker. Hunt just isn't a fullback.

And Booker does drop passes. More than one.

Like I said a couple days ago, I'm not ready to give up on the guy, but what he's shown so far isn't much.