Victor Abiamiri News

Why can't the Eagles win close games? They can beat Washington 27-17. They can pummel New York by three touchdowns.

BY JON MARCKS PHILADELPHIA - It's like old times in the NFC East, as the NFL season reaches the midway point.In other words, the Philadelphia Eagles are again looking up at the Dallas Cowboys.In a city where they're still feeling the sting of the Phillies' near miss in winning back-to-back World Championships, folks here at Lincoln Financial ...

Eagles running back Brian Westbrook was inactive for Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys, the second straight game he'll miss with a concussion.Westbrook missed the Eagles' rout of the Giants last week with a concussion sustained a week earlier in a victory over Washington.

Two injured Eagles who are rarely seen during open locker room sessions reported encouraging news about their recoveries Thursday at the NovaCare Complex.

Seems the good news is always tempered with something negative for the Eagles , who finally expect to have almost all of their offensive pieces in place on a night when they'll likely be without two defensive starters.

Moise Fokou can do it all. At least that's way it has felt since the Eagles linebacker was drafted in April.

Some of the worst games of his life have come against the Philadelphia Eagles. Tony Romo was picked off twice and completed just 48 percent of his passes in a 23-7 loss at Lincoln Financial Field in 2006.

The first time Steve Spagnuolo faced his former team, his defense sacked Donovan McNabb 12 times and held the Eagles' offense to one field goal.

ONE RECENT Eagles trend really seemed to blossom in last Sunday's victory over the Giants.

THOUGH ANDY REID'S postgame implication was that Brian Westbrook was held out of the rout of the Giants merely as a precaution, Reid could not say yesterday that the Eagles' franchise back will be able to play Sunday night, when the Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys.

Eagles running back Brian Westbrook was inactive for Sunday's game against the Giants after suffering a concussion in last week's win.

During training camp, one of the most-watched position battles was at free safety.

Will Witherspoon is an aberration. Over the course of the last decade, it has been rare for Eagles defensive newcomers to step right in and make a difference.

"We'll see how he does this week," Eagles head coach Andy Reid said Wednesday. Westbrook was knocked unconscious in the Eagles 27-17 win over Washington on Monday night when he took a knee to his head in the first quarter.

The Eagles' version of the Wildcat offense has not been wildly successful in recent weeks, but quarterback Michael Vick thinks that will change.

Brian Westbrook's status for Sunday's showdown with the Giants will probably be a game-time decision, coach Andy Reid said.

Now the 11th-hour trade for Will Witherspoon makes much more sense. No longer a desperate move by a team trying to improve its play at the position, the Philadelphia Eagles' deadline deal for the veteran linebacker Tuesday has become a move born of necessity, with the news Thursday that starter Omar Gaither's season is almost certainly over.

No real surprises among the Eagles inactives for tonight's game at Washington. Dimitri Patterson, Joe Mays, Max Jean-Gilles, Mike McGlynn, Kevin Curtis, Victor Abiamiri and Omar Gaither are inactive.

THIS IS a problem you don't confront every week, the opposing team taking play-calling duties away from its head coach, who has an offensive background, and giving the job to a guy recently hired from the outside.

Last year in Washington, DeSean Jackson dropped what would have been the game-tying touchdown from Donovan McNabb .