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Byron Westbrook’s big brother is football smart

Philadelphia Eagle running back Brian Westbrook, brother of Redskin rookie Byron Westbrook, was in the clear for a fourth quarter touchdown against the Cowboys in Dallas. Realizing that killing the clock was more important than padding the score, Westbrook stopped short of the goal line to down the ball at the one yard line.

The Eagles ran out the clock with Dallas — out of timeouts – powerless to stop them. Eagles 10, Dallas 6.

Westbrook deserves the accolades for the heady play, but it wasn’t spontaneous. He thought about it after facing a similar situation at FedEx.

Eagles at Redskins in week 10; the Skins have blown another lead and trail the Eagles 26-25 late in the fourth quarter. With 2:33 to go, the Eagles recover QB Jason Campbell’s fumble on the Skins’ 10 yard line. Short of time and desperate to get the ball back, the Redskins allows Brian Westbrook to score a quick  10-yard touchdown for a 33-25 lead.

Washington got the ball back, but its drive stalls on the 40 yard line. Game over.

After the game, Westbrook was quoted

“I wish I would have known that [the Redskins allowed the score]. I would have stopped at the 1.”

In a similar situation in Dallas. That’s exactly what he did, disappointing legions of fantasy footballers.
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Joe Gibbs was criticized for conservatism in that Philadelphia game when, on third and seven in the red zone with a 22-20 lead, he called for a Clinton Portis draw play rather than attempting a pass for a touchdown. The Skins kicked a field goal for a 25-20 lead. Subsequent mistakes would cost them the win.

Fast forward to last night’s Giants game, 3:14 in the second quarter, third and nine from the Giants 14 yard line, Gibbs calls a conservative draw play rather than passing for a touchdown. Ladell Betts runs 14 yards to score. Redskins 13, Giants 0.

Did Joe Gibbs get a lot smarter, or was execution a lot better? You make the call.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Philadelphia Eagles, Joe Gibbs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.