What Tony Hunt brings to the Eagles.

Wait a second, you want to pass Westbrook off as the most versatile in the league? Yes, he did run for 1217 yards last season and caught 77 passes for another 703 yards. He also has yet to play a full 16 game season in his career. He has 20 career rushing TDs.

Now let's look at a couple other guys. LaDainian Tomlinson: has missed one game in six seasons, never rushed for fewer than 1236 yards in a year, last season rushed for 1815 yards, caught 56 passes for 508 yards and scored 31 TDs. Tomlinson has never caught fewer than 51 balls in a year, and did have a 100 catch season in 2003.

Stephen Jackson: Rushed for 1528 yards last season. Caught 90 passes for 806 yards. Totalled sixteen TDs.

One last thing about Westbrook: versatility means you can go outside, yet still pound away on the inside to gain the tough yards. If you don't feel Westbrook can go inside on 3rd and 2, how versatile is he truly?

I know that was probably hard for an Eagles fan to say Justin, so I give you full marks for that.  :D I didn't want to shred the kid too bad, but to me Westbrook is in the second tier of backs, which makes him NOT the most versatile in the league.

What I mean by second tier, is he is not a Jackson, Tomlinson, or Alexander (05 back, not the 06 version). To me those are the elite backs, the cut above. Westbrook is a very good back, and if he could stay healthy year in and year out could be extremely productive, but until that happens, he can't be classed with the other guys.

I'm guessing that this guy is NOT represented by Drew Rosenhaus.

im not talking about past performences from 05 or later i mean comeone 03 anything could have changed in 4 years at like what JuTMSY4 said the west coast is alot different

He also said that Westbrook is NOT LT. If you want to crunch numbers from last season, see my first comment. Tomlinson led the league in rushing yards, still had over 500 receiving yards, and set an NFL record for TDs in a season. Jackson rushed for 1528, added 806 in receptions. Both of those guys went over 2300 yards in total offense, and can get the yards up the middle on 3rd and 2 with eight or nine in the box. In your post, you flat out said that Westbrook can't. That automatically means he is not the most versatile.

lol if you can explain to me what he was trying to say in his comment Justin, full marks to you. Apparently past performances are not a factor, and the west coast offense is different. I was under the impression that the Chargers had been running a variation of the West Coast, since it was the offense Norv Turner installed six years ago when he was the O Coordinator there. As for Jackson, we know how Martz loved to be pass happy and have a back that could run and catch the ball out of the backfield, and the offensive theory has not changed much since his departure.

Modified or not, it still technically is a WC offense. As for yards per touch, his numbers are similar to the other two guys I mentioned. We know Tomlinson lines up in the slot, or split wide, and hell, he even threw two TDs last season. To me, and this is just my opinion, he is the most versatile back in the league, he can do it all. Run for power, run to the outside, catch the ball, throw it in trickery situations, and most importantly, BLOCK. With him and Burner Turner in the game at the same time, things become increasingly difficult for defenses.

heh, I am not asking you to defend your position, I want to hear from the guy who made the claim. Let's get some substantive evidence to support the claim, instead of having you have to battle for him. I see where you are coming from.

You keep talking about how many yards they had but look at the td differences Steve Jackson had 3 recieving TDs and same as LT were as Westbrook has 7 TDs last year and has 18 career TDS playing since 2002 and LT has only 11 career and hes been playing since 2001 Jackson has 5 career TDS in 3 years but his rookie year had zero Westbrook has 14 in the past 3 years and 8 the past two that Jackson scored and Brian also had 10 TDs recieving in his first three years also scoring nothing in his rookie year I go past the yards also in first downs recieving Westbrook has 108 career 30 in 06 and LT has only 3 more 111 playing one entire more year and 22 in 06 and steve jackson had 31 first downs recieving in 06 but thats 1 above Westbrook

so you are basing it on receiving TDs? Because if you want to really crunch numbers, let's. Westbrook last year combined to score 11 TDs. Jackson had 16. Tomlinson had 31.

In his entire CAREER to date, Westbrook has 38 total touchdowns (20 rush, 18 rec). Tomlinson has 111. Now you want to talk about how Tomlinson played one more season than Westbrook. Is B West going to score the 73 touchdowns that is the difference in one season? I don't think so.

So now you want to talk about receiving 1st downs? A running back's job, first and foremost, is to RUN the ball. I noticed you overlooked this stat, so I will bring it up. Westbrook ran for 60 first downs last year, and has totalled 163 first downs running in his career. Tomlinson had 81 rushes that ended in a moving of the chains last year, upping his career total to 458. That is 295 more first downs on the ground by Tomlinson. Jackson had 74, and for his THREE year career, the first of which was spent primarily backing up Marshall Faulk, has 161...or two less than Westbrook in three fewer years.

So if you want to combine rushing and receiving first downs, it breaks to this: Westbrook 271 (163 rush, 108 rec), Tomlinson 569 (458 rush, 111 rec), Jackson 210 (161 rush, 49 rec).

One last note as to why LT trumps Westbrook: 398 receptions to 257. Until I see Westbrook catch 141 passes in that lost season, score the 73 TDs I mentioned, and run for the extra 295 first downs, he is not a matchup. Tomlinson: 9156 career rush yards, Westbrook: 3452, Jackson: 3247.

I would like to point out that LT gets ran alot more he ran 2050 times Westbrook only 736 so unless LT is hurt all year and cant play and Westbrook runs 1314 times in one year so what else you want to throw at me

While I think LT is by far the best back in the league, I can see what is being said about Westbrook. There isn't a more dangerous receiver from the runningback position. He's a good, but not great pure runner, but he can hurt you in as many ways as anybody in the league: running inside, running outside, swing routes, slants, screens, deep routes, and kick returning.

also in the post season game against the giants Westbrook did set an Eagles record for longest post season rush and longest punt return in the Saints playoff game except for the clipping call and even if he wasnt clipped him he never would have caught brian westbrook

That was your entire dissertation on defending Westbrook. That Tomlinson runs the ball more. Of course he does. He is a workhorse back and stays healthy.

Westbrook has YET to play 16 games in a season. Look at his numbers: 15, 15, 13, 12, 15. He is not tough enough to get the ball 300 plus times a season. Don't you think if he was, the Eagles would give him the ball 20 times a game, week in and week out? He carried the ball 20+ times 4 times last year. That's it. 20, 22, 22 and 26. Seven times he carried the ball 17 times or fewer. That is not a workhorse, or a versatile back. That is an injury waiting to happen.

Westbrook gained 77 yards in the red zone last year, Tomlinson 261, Jackson 183.

Now, when you can talk coherently about the differential in TDs, first downs gained by rushing, combined first downs, TD totals, and how Stephen Jackson has matched Westbrook's rush 1st down total in three fewer seasons, then we can continue. If you are going to pick one stat and try to use that as a defense of your entire argument, you already lost.

you know this conversation was about Tony Hunt I just said that one thing in the beginning and no one relizies what this article is even about

the Eagles have normally been the top NFC team for the past couple years but now they really have to fight to make it to the top

Well mostly we have to worry about the saints and we can take them both those games we lost were by 3 points one kicked with 3 seaconds left

but like the colts there a team that can score 23 plus points per game