Stepping up: the running back has come to the forefront for the Eagles

Football Digest, Dec, 2004 by Bob Grotz

BRIAN WESTBROOK WAS THE only NFL player to score at least one touchdown running, receiving and returning last year. Only three players--LaDainian Tomlinson, Shaun Alexander and Ahman Green--scored more combined rushing-receiving touchdowns than Westbrook, who ran for seven and caught four TD passes.

No NFL player, however, produced more rushing and receiving touchdowns with fewer chances than Philadelphia Eagles running back Westbrook, who, with 154 touches, had less than half the opportunities of Tomlinson, Alexander or Green.

How special is Westbrook, who tallied 13 times in 2003, eighth in the league? With quarterback Donovan McNabb in the running for league MVP, a handful of Eagles considered Westbrook the team MVP. They were believers after Westbrook's 84-yard punt return in a miserable 2-3 start beat the New York Giants and triggered a nine-game winning streak leading to a third straight NFC East title.

Westbrook was expected to start this year before Duce Staley exited in free agency and Correll Buckhalter was injured in the preseason. It was obvious before he joined Donovan McNabb for a Campbell's Chunky Soup commercial shoot.

This past summer, the third-year running back out of Villanova University whose style reminds many of Marshall Faulk, worked out in the privileged company of Pro Bowlers McNabb and Terrell Owens at McNabb's exclusive offseason home in Arizona. Westbrook didn't disappoint in his starting debut, ripping off a career-best 119 yards in the Eagles' opener.

Westbrook set his shoulder pads down to get together with Football Digest and discuss his past, the present and his future. Here's what he had to say:

FOOTBALL DIGEST: What's it like in the same starring lineup as McNabb and Owens?

BRIAN WESTBROOK: It feels great. Every game I can go out there and I can play pretty much pressure-free because I know if I don't get it done, those guys will make plays and get it done. At some points in my college career at Villanova, I felt like I had to get it done every game or we wouldn't even have a shot at being in the game. But now I know I can go out there and I don't have to try to go out-of-body to try to make something happen to help us win. It's the same way with me, and T.O., and the other guys helping Donovan. Donovan doesn't have to go out-of-body and try to make us win. All he has to do is play his game and make smart reads and read the coverage and whatever. He doesn't have to be super, superman to help us win.

FD: You've noticed a change in McNabb since Owens arrived?

BW: He still runs the ball well. He's still an accurate passer. But sometimes he's going to have guys open because the defenses double-cover T.O. Todd Pinkston is going to be open, wide open, sometimes. Those are things as a quarterback he can appreciate because he doesn't have to kill himself running the ball.

FD: How does Owens impact the Eagles offense?

BW: He gives us opportunities to open the field up a lot more, to open some things up not only for Donovan and the running backs, but for the other receivers and tight ends L.J. Smith and Chad Lewis. (The opposition is) definitely going to have massive match-up problems out there.

FD: What's it like in the huddle with McNabb and Owens?

BW: Well, it's fun. You know that every play, literally, something is going to happen. It's like being out there on the court with Allen Iverson. Every play you know that T.O. has the potential to make a play because he's just that good. And Donovan is just that good, to make a play on every play. It feels like I'm out there amongst a cast of Pro Bowlers. And, as a fan of the game, it's fun to watch sometimes.

FD: What motivated you to hook-up with McNabb and Owens in Arizona?

BW: I was coming off an injury and I definitely wanted to condition myself a lot better. I wanted to get in sync with Donovan. And I wanted Donovan to know he could rely on me. Not to say that those guys that didn't go out there, he can't rely on. But, I think sometimes when you're out there on the field and the quarterback is trying to make a decision on who he's going to throw to, if he has a relationship with you, as far as you being out there and working out with him, I think it helps. It definitely helped me run routes better, see what he's thinking and see that were on the same page. We had a chance to just sit out there and chill, too. But Arizona is too hot. For me, for my money, I like the East Coast.

FD: What's T.O. really like?

BW: He keeps to himself. I think his and my personalities are similar in some ways but we're definitely different in some ways. He likes to play to the crowd. That's his personality. There's nothing wrong with that. But in some ways he is very quiet. He's a very personal type of guy, and I respect that.

FD: You set dozens of records at Villanova, scoring 84 touchdowns and becoming the first college player on any level to gain 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season. But you weren't drafted until the third round.

BW: There are a lot of quality players in the NFL who have played at the I-AA level but a lot of people don't recognize that. Those records and that yardage and those touchdowns aren't going to go anywhere. But a lot of times people say, yeah, he did that but he did that at Villanova.