My answer is, because they aren't going to the Super Bowl behind a 21-year-old Shady McCoy.
Maybe it seems silly to bring up the Super Bowl, with the Birds at 5-4. They aren't numbered in the realm of contenders right now, just as they weren't a year ago, just as the Cardinals weren't last season until they started winning playoff games. The Eagles remain alive for the postseason, and the only point in making the playoffs is to get to the Super Bowl.
I thought it was revealing that McCoy, promising and precocious as he is, did not touch the ball Sunday until Westbrook came to the sideline - "foggy," as Reid described him yesterday - having collided helmet-to-helmet with Chargers safety Eric Weddle, Westbrook falling forward over Stacy Andrews. It seemed that as long as they thought they had a healthy Westbrook, the Birds were content to let McCoy watch and learn.
In fact, when Westbrook came off the field on third-and-goal from the 1 in the second quarter, little-used Eldra Buckley got the ball. After the game, Reid said he used Buckley in that spot because he knew the ex-Chargers practice-squad player would "hit it up in there." If you're really into dissecting subtext, one of McCoy's problems has been that he tends to dance into the hole when it looks less than promising, hoping to break outside, or at least make a tackler miss, instead of sticking his nose in and taking a yard or 2. That's typical for rookies who could always find open space in college.
Even if Westbrook can't be what he was 2 years ago, the Eagles need him. He picks up blitzes, doesn't drop screens, reads the blocks correctly, gives McCoy an example to follow while taking pressure off his shoulders. And as McNabb would tell you, if you strapped him to a polygraph, you just can't win - really win, as in the Super Bowl - with an entire arsenal of skill-position players who can't walk into a bar without having to show a driver's license. Experience counts in tight spots.
