This year, Reid, who also is the team's executive vice-president of football operations, decided to go into the season without an experienced fullback. First, he moved running back Tony Hunt to fullback. When that didn't work out, he switched defensive tackle Dan Klecko to fullback.

Klecko is working hard to learn the position. But it's a slow process, and the lack of a legitimate lead-blocker has contributed to the Eagles' running woes this season, particularly in short-yardage and goal-line situations.

That was evident again in Sunday night's 36-31 loss to the New York Giants. The Giants stuffed a critical fourth-and-one run by the Eagles' Brian Westbrook with less than two minutes left in the game. Weakside linebacker Chase Blackburn got past right guard Max Jean-Gilles clean and tackled Westbrook for no gain.

"The fullback has to pick up a guy who goes unblocked like that," said Fox Sports analyst Daryl "Moose" Johnston, who spent 10 years as Emmitt Smith's blocking back in Dallas. "But Klecko's only been playing the position a few weeks. He's not going to react or anticipate as quickly as a fullback who's been playing back there most of his career."

Last year, with Thomas Tapeh blocking for Westbrook, the Eagles finished eighth in the league in rushing. They averaged 123.4 yards per game and 4.7 yards per carry. But the Eagles didn't re-sign Tapeh, mainly because he couldn't play on special teams.

This year, going into Sunday's game against the 1-8 Cincinnati Bengals, those rushing numbers have shrunk to 98.3 and 4.0. The absence of Pro Bowl right guard Shawn Andrews, who has been out since Week 2 with a back injury, certainly has contributed to the drop in run production. So has Westbrook's health. He has missed time with ankle and rib injuries and admitted earlier this week that his ankle still is giving him problems.

But Reid's mishandling of the fullback position also has been a big factor, particularly in those short-yardage situations. A year ago, Westbrook was one of the league's most effective third-and-short runners. This year, the Eagles have converted just seven of 15 third-and-one attempts and only three of their past 10. When they've run the ball on third-and-one, they've converted four of 11 attempts, including zero of their past seven.

Reid uses his fullback only about 30 percent of the time. His formation of choice, as is the case with many NFL teams in this pass-happy age, is three wide receivers, one back (Westbrook) and one tight end.

Reid has been an NFL coach for 17 years, including the last 10 as the Eagles' head coach. Even if you're only using a fullback on a third of your snaps, it's hard to fathom that he thought he could get by with people who have never played the position.

"(Playing fullback) is a skill you develop," Johnston said. "It's very hard to ask a guy like Dan to do things and anticipate things a guy who's been playing that position for years can do.

"The other thing is, it takes time to get into a rhythm with how your running back runs. It took me a season-and-a-half to really get in sync with Emmitt. I would sit in the film room and find out why he did what he did on a play. What he saw. Why he ran that way instead of this way.

"Dan doesn't have that with Westbrook. He can't. Not in this short a time span. Not with as little experience as he has at that position."

SERIES HISTORY: 11th regular-season meeting. Bengals lead the series, 7-3, but the Eagles have won two of the past three. Bengals won the last meeting, 38-10, on the final weekend of the '04 season. The Eagles, who had clinched the home-field advantage in the playoffs that year, rested most of their starters in that game. They ended up going to the Super Bowl.