Giants preparing for Westbrook

The New York Giants are preparing for a game Sunday against the Eagles as if Brian Westbrook will play, even though it seems unlikely the star running back will be able to return from the concussion he suffered Monday night at FedEx Field.

"You prepare for Westbrook," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said during a conference call yesterday. "He's a guy they rely on tremendously, and in key situations in the game you have a good thought that he's going to get the ball. So you prepare for Westbrook."

The Eagles, meanwhile, can do nothing but hope that Westbrook has recovered in time for the pivotal NFC East game against New York at Lincoln Financial Field.

There's no medical cure other than rest after a player suffers a concussion. Eagles trainer Rick Burkholder went into great detail yesterday about what happened Monday at FedEx Field and how the medical team will monitor the running back's recovery.

"Brian did lose consciousness on the field," Burkholder said. "We think it was less than a minute. That does not play into grading. What the loss of consciousness oftentimes gives you is an indicator that it's going to be a little bit longer for him to return from symptoms than a guy who is not knocked unconscious. We don't use it as a grade, but we use it as an indicator that he may take a little bit longer."

Burkholder described Westbrook as having "a mild headache" yesterday and said his condition was being monitored by the trainers and Gary Dorshimer, the team's internist. The Eagles' guidelines for dealing with a concussion stem from three international conferences held since 2001, with the most recent being in Zurich, Switzerland, last year.

"This is a constant, ongoing thing with him," Burkholder said. "We look at his symptoms as he goes along here over the next couple of days. We look obviously at headache, his fatigue factor, how he's responding in meetings, whether watching film or studying the playbook affects him, whether he's irritable, whether he's nervous, whether he appears to be depressed. I'm talking to Brian all day.

"Once his headache clears . . . the next step is you take him through an exercise program so you can get his heart rate up. Does that make his symptoms worse? If it doesn't . . . then you go to the next step, which is you start to do some football-type drills. If that goes well, then you return him to practice."

Westbrook did not practice yesterday and he also did not make his weekly trip to the podium to talk to reporters.

Burkholder, one of two NFL trainers appointed to a league committee that deals with concussions, said he has had players knocked unconscious who were able to return to the field the following week.

"I've also had guys not knocked unconscious here and not play the next week because the grading scale to us does not matter," Burkholder said. "It's all symptoms and it's how do they return from their symptoms. That's exactly what we'll do with Brian."

According to Burkholder, Westbrook's loss of memory was minimal after taking a knee to the helmet from Redskins middle linebacker London Fletcher midway through the first quarter of Monday night's game.

"I will tell you that immediately once he woke up on the field, he knew everything," Burkholder said. "He knew where he was. He knew his brother [Byron, of the Redskins] was in front of him. He knew Coach Reid was behind me. He knew everything.

"He has a very short interval between breaking the huddle and the play that he doesn't remember. That's called retrograde amnesia. It's not a big indicator for us when we look at recovery. The amnesia we worry about is that he can't remember things that happened after he was hit. He has none of that."

None of this is stopping the Giants from worrying about Westbrook.

"I expect him to play," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "I don't know the severity of the injury or anything like that. I know Brian pretty well, and if he can go he definitely is going to be out there. He's played with multiple injuries before. I think this is one of the more important games of the season, so if he can be out there, I expect him to be out there."

If Westbrook cannot play, the Eagles will turn to rookie LeSean McCoy to handle the majority of the work at running back.

"I think they lose a lot" without Westbrook, Tuck said. "I mean, obviously, McCoy is a talented running back, but Westbrook is one of the most diverse and he's been a Giant killer over the years, so I think they lose a lot if he's not back there."

In the 12 games he has played against the Giants since 2003, Westbrook has averaged 123 yards from scrimmage per game and scored 14 touchdowns. He has also averaged 4.6 yards per carry against New York.