The Eagles have lost 29-year old starting center Jamaal Jackson for the rest of the year due to a torn ACL.  This will hurt the Eagles as Jackson has started all 15 games this season and he has played in 71 games (all starts) for the Eagles the last five years.  Jackson’s injury will cause the Eagles to shuffle the line a bit.  25-year old Nick Cole will shift from RG to center the rest of the year.  He has started all 15 games for the Eagles this season.  He is bigger than Jackson at 6′0″, 350 pounds and Max Jean-Gilles will replace Cole at guard and he is also huge at 6′3″, 358 pounds.  Jean-Gilles has played in 12 games (4 starts) for the Eagles this season.  Jackson is a great center so the Eagles will miss him but Nick Cole is a good player and he should do a decent job replacing him.  The bigger issue is at guard where the Eagles will need Max Jean-Gilles to step up.

The Eagles will be without WR Jeremy Maclin for a couple of weeks due to a torn plantar fascia.  Maclin has caught 46 passes for 623 yards (13.5 avg) with 4 TD grabs this season.  His injury will force the Eagles to get Reggie Brown out of the mothballs and that is a silver lining to this injury because he still is a good player.  For some reason Brown got into the Dog House for the Eagles.  He has caught 7 passes for 135 yards (19.3 avg) this season.

The Eagles lost veteran running back Brian Westbrook for the second time in three weeks due to a concussion.  This time the Eagles will likely shut down Westbrook for a while to ensure his health.  Westbrook has played in 6 games for the Eagles this season and he has carried the ball 47 times for 225 yards (4.8 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also has caught 19 passes for 156 yards (8.2 avg) with 1 TD grab this year.  In other years the loss of Westbrook would have been huge but rookie Lesean McCoy will be able to replace Westbrook without the team losing much if at all.  McCoy has played in 9 games this year for the Eagles and he has carried the ball 86 times for 353 yards (4.1 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  McCoy also has caught 23 passes for 181 yards (7.9 avg) this year for the Eagles.  Look for McCoy to do a good job for the Eagles the rest of the way as the team’s main running back.

The Eagles have lost CB/KR Ellis Hobbs for the year due to a back injury.  Hobbs played in 8 games this season for the Eagles and he returned 20 kickoffs for 481 yards (24.1 avg).  He also had 11 tackles this season for the Eagles.  The Eagles will try to replace Hobbs on kickoff returns with rookie WR Jeremy Maclin.  Maclin has returned 2 kickoffs for 35 yards (17.5 avg) so far this season.  Maclin has also caught 25 passes for 337 yards (13.5 avg) with 3 TD grabs this season.  Maclin should do a good job for the Eagles in his new role returning kicks.

The Eagles will be without starting running back Brian Westbrook for the next couple of weeks due to a concussion caused when he was knocked out cold in the game Monday Night against the Redskins resulting in memory loss.  Westbrook has carried the ball 41 times for 197 yards (4.8 ypc) with 1 TD run and he has also caught 17 passes for 130 yards (7.6 avg) with 1 TD grab.  The Eagles are fortunate that they drafted Lesean McCoy last April as he will take over as the full time starter at running back.  He has carried the ball 59 times for 212 yards (3.6 ypc) with 1 TD run and he has caught 13 passes for 92 yards (7.1 avg) this season.  McCoy has a very similar skill set to Westbrook so the offense shouldn’t suffer too much while he is out. 

UPDATE:  Brian Westbrook wants to play this week but the Eagles should error on the side of caution trying to protect his health.