Why can't the Eagles run?

The Eagles are also hoping that their running game, which has been charged with unexcused absences a number of times this season, reappears Sunday when they play the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. Exactly why Brian Westbrook's ability to cover huge chunks of yards on a single play has disappeared is not easily explained. "It's not one particular person, one particular position," coach Andy Reid said before practice. "That's not what it is. We just have to tighten it up a little bit, make sure we get it right, and we're going to work on it until we do. "I mentioned before, it starts with us making sure that we scheme it the right way for the players to execute it. We can do a better job in both areas." Asked to weigh in with his opinion, Westbrook suggested that running more might help. "If you don't get those carries, then you don't really establish a rhythm," Westbrook said. "It's tough to do it with a couple carries here, a couple carries there. I have to do a better job of getting more yardage so that we get more carries. That's my part in the whole deal." Asked if he felt that the game plan was always committed to the run, Westbrook did not dance around the question. "We don't always have it, no," he said. "At some points in some games we have it, at some points in other games we don't. I think there are situations at times when we probably should have more commitment to the run. "You have to have patience and you have to have a belief in it. . . . There are going to be some plays where you're not going to have too much of a gain. You might have a couple yards here and there, but then there might be some plays where you get 12, 20, 30 yards, so you have to be patient." There has long been a sentiment in this town that the Eagles, under Reid, have not run the football enough. Examine this team's history, however, and you'll see that even though Reid loves a pass-first offense, the Eagles' ability to run the football has often been outstanding. In eight of the coach's first nine seasons, the Eagles ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in yards per rush. As recently as a year ago, they averaged 4.7 yards per run, which was second in the NFL. So even though they were not running a lot, they were running effectively. That's not the case this season. The Eagles are averaging 4.0 yards per carry, which ranks 16th in the league. Westbrook is averaging 4.1 yards per carry, well below his career average of 4.7. A popular theory is that the Eagles have underestimated the importance of the fullback position, a job that now belongs to converted defensive tackle Dan Klecko, who admits he is learning on the fly. "Absolutely," he said. "We've played four different defenses since I came over to the offensive side of the ball, so I'm always learning." Klecko said one of his tools for learning has been watching other fullbacks on film. "You know who I really watch is the guy from the Giants," Klecko said. "He's so big, so I watch how guys take him on, because they take me on similarly." After seeing the Giants' Madison Hedgecock block for Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward on Sunday against the Eagles, it is obvious that he is more advanced than Klecko at the fullback position. The Eagles have a more natural fullback on the roster in the recently acquired Kyle Eckel, but Reid does not plan on making a change at the position. "We're insinuating here that the other guy [Klecko] isn't doing his job and I'm not saying that," Reid said. "The other guy is doing his job and he'll be fine out there." Reid refused to get into the specifics of the Eagles' problems in running the football, particularly in short-yardage situations. Failures in those situations cost the Eagles games against Chicago, Washington and the Giants. It certainly has not helped that Westbrook has not been healthy for much of the season. He missed one game with a severe ankle sprain and another with fractured ribs. "I'm still not 100 percent, but I'm feeling better than I was last week," Westbrook said. The offensive line also has had some issues. Right guard Shawn Andrews has not played since Week 2 because of a back problem that required surgery. Center Jamaal Jackson learned before the Eagles' Week 2 game in Dallas that his older brother had been killed in a car accident, and that cannot be an easy situation to deal with in the middle of a season. Left guard Todd Herremans let his teammates down Sunday by doing something that made Reid decide to keep him out of the lineup in the first quarter against the Giants. Tackles Tra Thomas, 34 later this month, and Jon Runyan, 35 later this month, are not getting younger. When you combine all the things mentioned above - scheme, health and personnel decisions - maybe that explains why the Eagles have had so many problems running the football.