But while his team annually is in the bottom third of the league in rushing attempts and in the top third in passing attempts, the Eagles usually have been pretty effective when they have run the ball.

Just twice in the Reid era have the Eagles averaged less than 4.3 yards per carry - in '99 (4.1) and '05 (3.9). Not coincidentally, those are the only two losing seasons they've had under Reid.

Through five games this season, though, the Eagles are averaging just 3.5 yards per carry, which is the fourth lowest figure in the league, ahead of only Arizona (3.3), Cincinnati (3.3) and New Orleans (3.2).

It doesn't figure to improve much Sunday when the 2-3 Eagles travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers, probably without their bread-and-butter running back, Brian Westbrook.

Westbrook, who missed the Eagles' Week 4 loss to the Chicago Bears with an ankle strain, fractured two ribs last week in a 23-17 loss to the Washington Redskins. While he has not yet been ruled out of Sunday's game, it's extremely unlikely he'll play.

His backup, Correll Buckhalter, is expected to start. Buckhalter had just two carries for no yards against the Redskins, but rushed for 66 yards on 16 carries the week before when he replaced Westbrook against the Bears. He also had 43 yards on 10 carries after replacing Westbrook in the Eagles' Week 3 win over Pittsburgh.

"There are a few things we need to get better at, and that's one of them," Reid said when asked about his struggling ground game. "We've got to do a better job. I've got to make sure I call the right plays against the defense (the 49ers) are going to play and make sure everybody executes those plays properly."

The Eagles were turned back in two critical goal line situations in both of their losses to the Bears and Redskins. Trailing by four late in the fourth quarter against the Bears, they failed to punch the ball in from the one-yard line on three consecutive run attempts.

Last week, they had a second-and-one at the Washington two midway through the fourth quarter and couldn't pick up the first town. On the first, Westbrook was stopped for no gain. On the second, he was thrown for a three-yard loss when a run to the left side blew up after tight end L.J. Smith lined up on the wrong side.

"We haven't really executed as well as we would like to be executing at this point in the season," said Westbrook, who rushed for 1,333 yards last season, but has just 194 and is averaging 3.6 yards per carry this season.

"I think it's one of the things that we have to go back and put some more emphasis on and spend some more time on. Everybody knows we are more of a passing team. But we have to put some more emphasis on the run and try to take care of the running part as well."

Injuries haven't helped. Not just Westbrook's, but also Pro Bowl right guard Shawn Andrews, who is expected to miss his fourth straight game Sunday with a back injury. He's been replaced by third-year man Max Jean-Gilles.

"Max has done a fine job," Reid insisted. "That's not the issue there."

One thing that is an issue is the lack of an effective blocking fullback. The only fullback on the roster is Tony Hunt, a running back who had little blocking experience until the Eagles switched him to fullback two weeks before the start of the season. He hasn't been very effective.

In fact, on that third-and-one play last week, Hunt wasn't even in the game. Defensive tackle Dan Klecko -- the Eagles signed him last March to play fullback then abandoned the idea in the spring -- lined up at fullback on that play and got blown up by Redskins defensive end Andre Carter. Reid said Wednesday that Klecko will be taking more practice reps at fullback.

"We've worked him in at practice in some of our base stuff," he said. "We're just going to increase that a little."

Klecko will continue to be part of the defensive tackle rotation as well, Reid said. "He'll be fine," he said.

SERIES HISTORY: 27th regular-season meeting. The 49ers lead the series, 16-9-1. The Eagles have won three of the last four meetings, including the last one, a 38-24 victory in San Francisco in September of '06.