Eagles to clash with "brother" Dawkins
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Eagles to clash with "brother" Dawkins
Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
Get out your No. 20 jerseys, Brian Dawkins is coming home.
The former Eagles safety may play for the enemy now, but there are sure to be plenty of No. 20s at the Linc on Sunday when the Eagles host Dawkins' Denver Broncos.
"I think it will be neat for him to come back here," Eagles coach Andy Reid said today. "It think the crowd will be great for him and all that."
Dawkins left in the off-season via free agency, but he also left amid a cloud of controversy. It's become a he-said-organization-said-type story, but the gist of Dawkins' leaving Philadelphia had a lot to do with money. The 13-year Eagle ended up getting a better deal from the Broncos than what the Eagles were offering and he left.
"It worked out great for Brian," Reid said. "That's what's important there. It was something that Denver needed to do. Listen, it worked out fine for him and his family. Would we have loved to have kept him here? Yeah. But they did a nice job with it."
Dawkins has played a prominent role for the 8-6 Broncos. He's second on the team with 100 tackles, has seven tackles for loss and two interceptions.
So how did things work out for the 10-4, playoff-bound Eagles?
"We've done OK," Reid said. "We've won a couple games."
The Eagles, though, have had a hard time replacing Dawkins in the secondary. And they didn't bring Jeremiah Trotter back because they thought he would become a Pro Bowler again. The defense was missing some of the fire and leadership Dawkins provided. Reid was asked what he's missed most about Dawkins.
"First of all, you miss him as a person," Reid said. "He's a great guy. He was a big part of us getting to where we have gotten as an organization. To say I don't miss him on a daily basis, I used to enjoy seeing him and being around him. He brought a lot of energy. I have nothing but good things to say about he or [Correll Buckhalter]. Those were two of my favorite guys. They're doing a heck of job for Denver now."
Buckhalter, the Eagles' second-leading rusher last season, also left this past off-season.
There will be a lot of emotion in the stadium but it probably won't rival what both Dawkins and his former teammates will feel in their gut before the game.
"It's going to be really emotional, especially at the beginning of the game," safety Quintin Mikell said. "I think that once the first hit happens, everything will go away. Once that first kickoff happens, it will all go away."
Reid equated it to a fight between brothers.
"I always say that when you're a kid and you get into a fight with your brother, for a second there it's one of the most vicious fights you've ever been in and then you love each other afterwards," he said. "That's what this will be."
In other Eagles-related news, Reid said that he anticipates Brian Westbrook being cleared tomorrow to return to action this Sunday. The running back will undergo tests tomorrow. Concussions have sidelined Westbrook in seven of the last eight games.
Jeremy Maclin will return to practice on Wednesday, but Reid could not predict if the wide receiver's foot would be healed enough for him to return to game action. Maclin missed Sunday's 27-13 win over the 49ers.
In other injury news, Michael Vick has a quadriceps bruise and is "sore," according to Reid. His status is day-to-day, as is that of safety Quintin Demps, who has a "slight" ankle sprain.
b dawkins.. my favorite eagles of all time— GetMeToThePlateBoys- Man I miss having Dawk in the secondary!— ChrisM
- This is a bunch of bull. For some ungodly reason, the Eagles didnt want to pay Dawkins. Dawkins should have never been allowed to walkaway. When that meeting occurred, Lurie shouldve been sitting there with an open checkbook and said, name your price.— Potstirrer
- Enough of the teary eyed BS. Lets go and win a game...go birds.— ceocreates
- And why should Lurie have said that, Potsmoker?— DCSS215
- I miss him on and off the field...my wife misses his "finely tweezed eyebrows." Ooo Kay.— KannonWired965
- Denver will be 8-7, same as Titans by the time Eagles are done with Dawk and his team. It is hard to imagine Titans started 0-6 and Bronco's started 6-0.— Seed
- You had this game signed on your calender so you could prepare your brilliant statement and name-Postirrer....— phigglesfan75
- Pot iS one of those guys who wants to over pay everyone, then go through years of misery blaming the organization.— maximus
Comment removed.- Why do I have this sinking feeling that Westbrook will play, and get hit, and it will be serious, and the hitter will be Brian Dawkins....just doing his job as always.— citizenkane
- Dawkins will always be a legend in Philly, and A.R. is right, he did a ton to make the Eagles what they were for the last ten years or so. The Eagles bar I go to in Phoenix always has 20-30 people wearing #20 jerseys (out of 100 fans or so), and I imagine that won't change for a long time. All that being said, we are still playing for a first round bye and home playoff games, Dawk or not, we need the win. And I hope he doesn't get anywhere near 1yard with his Wolverine'esque flying tackles we all loved to see him put on shEli and any cowboy. Love you Dawk, but you're going down this week.— Bleue
- Even though the Birds are 10-4, they have a glaring weakness at FS and zero leadership on defense. When the time comes in the Divisional Round, they will be exposed and lit up by either New Orleans or Minnesota, irrespective of what happened this weekend. The smart move would have been to put Brian at SS and move Mikell over full time to FS, but what's done is done. I am a diehard Iggles fan, have been for 30+ years, and will always be; that said, with the absurd arrogance of this front office (how many Lombardi trophies Jeffrey and Joe??) and penny-pinching with Dawk, I find it harder and harder each year to root for this organization.— Dean1
- We all miss Dawkins here in Philly. His leadership, emotion and tackling have not been replaced well. For the most part, the Eagles decision making with personnel has been excellent and even when they move a popular player, its usually ended up right for them. I hope that the Eagles will be a little more careful in the future with potential key players like Sheldon Brown. Brown had had a great year and has been underpaid. Give him his due Banner and keep him on for a few more years at market price.— bradco
The Birds are a good team, Young and Hungry. I love Dawk just like everyone else but this is a young man's game and he has clearly lost a step and the team was not going to pay him what he wanted so Life goes on. I will wear my Number 20 jersey on Sunday and I will cheer him on just all the other 68k fans in the linc, But none the less I want his team to get smoked! Like all the rest that visit our fine city. See you Sunday and in Canton B-Dawk! GO EAGLES!— citysims
