Eagles feel offense still in good shape without Owens

	Versatile back Brian Westbrook will be counted on to carry more of the offensive load this season. Al Tielemans/SI
	RELATED • Huddle Up: Who will capture the NFC East? • Eagles' McNabb is healthy and happy again • Quick learning curve for Bloom, Eagles rookies
	MAILBAG Peter King will answer your questions each week in Monday Morning Quarterback: Tuesday Edition. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

PHILADELPHIA -- Want to make Andy Reid fly into orbit and see his short-cropped auburn hair stick straight up in the air like Don King's? Suggest to him what everyone in the football world thinks right now -- that the Eagles still need a weapon on offense to replace Terrell Owens  for Philly to get back to the Super Bowl.

"Let's say I don't really buy that assumption,'' Reid says, after his blood pressure settles down and his gaskets are adequately replaced.

I exaggerate. Nothing makes Reid freak out. But you can tell Reid has had enough of the woe-is-us stuff he's heard around Philly about life after Owens. An Eagles source tells me that Reid had every game tape of the 2003 season digitally filed onto each one of his coaches' computers at the Eagles' Nova Care Complex. Why? He wanted every coach to understand how good the Eagles were on offense before Owens came to town, and he wanted them to understand that if Brian Westbrook had been healthy in the postseason that year, there's a good chance they would all have Super Bowl rings on their fingers right now.

It was interesting being in the Eagles' building the other day. Not a lot of references to Terrell Owens anywhere. I got Donovan McNabb to say the initials "T.O.'' without spewing venom, but overall Owens is a nonperson here. Beat guys say you never hear his name mentioned by anyone.

The Eagles, in fact, had amazingly similar offensive teams in terms of production from 2002 through 2004 -- with and without Owens. The temptation is to think they stunk it up in '02 and '03 and were forced to go out and get a weapon like T.O. True, they struggled late in each season. But I would argue that the difference in this team has been as much Westbrook's absence in spurts over the last four years as it has been the lack of a big star like Owens.

If the 5-foot-10, 205-pound Westbrook had the staying power of the 5-10, 202-pound Tiki Barber, things might be different. But Westbrook hasn't been able to avoid injuries. Ankle and triceps injuries caused him to miss three games in 2003, including the Eagles' toothless offensive performance against Carolina in the NFC title game. He missed three games in '04 with minor injuries, but none in the playoffs, when the Eagles played well offensively and almost won the Super Bowl. In '05 he missed the final four games with a Lisfranc midfoot sprain that required surgery. Westbrook is expected to be fully healed going into this season, but we really won't know for sure until he endures training-camp-type of contact and battering.

I didn't run into Westbrook here, but I did ask Reid about the running back's penchant for getting hurt and not being able to play a full season.

"I can't say anything,'' Reid said. "He's gotta do it.''

Maybe it's a freak thing. Maybe he's just injury-prone. I've always felt that Reid, if you gave him sodium pentothal, would pick Barber over Westbrook in an open draft.