Eagles Notes: Good news, bad news for Birds' passing game

It may not have been evident on the field, but the passing game has been shorthanded over the last month.

It will be without an important piece with starting wide receiver Jeremy Maclin officially out for tomorrow's game against the 49ers. And even though coach Andy Reid and Brent Celek himself have declared the tight end fit enough to play, the team listed the offense's leading receiver as questionable.

The Eagles will get one cog back, however. Wide receiver Kevin Curtis, who hasn't played in three months, will dress. He won't fill Maclin's spot, one that was his at the start of the season. Reggie Brown will start opposite DeSean Jackson.

Curtis, who had arthroscopic knee surgery in October, will likely be the fourth receiver. It's difficult to gauge how effective he can be.

"Is he in game shape? Well, he has to play in the game," Reid said. "At this time of the year, you don't have the opportunity to have preseason games and to get yourself back into game shape other then practice. It'll be good to get him in there and let him run around a little bit."

Three years ago, Curtis led the Eagles with 1,110 receiving yards. Last year, he missed seven games. This season, he's been held out of 11. In two games, he has five catches for 70 yards.

Brown has also seen his production slip in the last two seasons. He's been healthy this season, but until the last two games hasn't been much of a factor.

With Jackson having suffered a concussion and Maclin having been hobbled by plantar fasciitis in his left foot, Brown has seen his playing time increase. He had four catches for 95 yards in the last two games.

Celek has been limited by what he described as back spasms. He didn't practice on Wednesday and wasn't a full participant in workouts Thursday and yesterday. Reid was asked if Celek would be listed as questionable.

"Right now, he's good, ready to play," Reid said.

Celek agreed with his coach.

"You're going to have little bumps and bruises and nicks," Celek said. "You got to be able to play through them, otherwise it's going to be tough to play many games in the NFL."

If Celek can't play, Alex Smith and the recently promoted Martin Rucker will handle the tight-end duties.

As expected, Brian Westbrook will miss his fifth consecutive game as the running back continues to recover from a second concussion.

Reid said that Westbrook wasn't medically cleared after the latest round of neurological tests, but that the 30-year-old did not suffer a setback after practicing with the scout team for the second straight week.

"He'll take another [test] this next week and we'll see how he does," Reid said. "The primary thing is that we get him back into shape where he's comfortable going out there.

"I know he wants to play, but it's a little different at running back, where you're taking the reps that he normally takes."

Westbrook missed two games after his first concussion, suffered on Oct. 26 at Washington. He returned on Nov. 15, at San Diego, only to suffer his second, and hasn't played since.

Westbrook was also held out against the visiting Chiefs on Sept. 27 with an ankle sprain.

Giants safety Aaron Rouse was fined $5,000 for his head butt of Jackson on Sunday, according to the league. Jackson, who appeared to be taunting Rouse, was not fined. . . . According to Celek, the wintry conditions predicted for this weekend are "snow" problem. The 49ers are "from warm weather, so it's going to be tougher on them."