Dawkins prods Eagles’ defense

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Before the Eagles' defensive players scattered for their various positional meetings at training camp Tuesday night, veteran safety Brian Dawkins stood up and said a few words.

Dawkins "gave his opinion, which was fact," defensive end Jevon Kearse said after the Eagles' first live scrimmage of camp yesterday morning at Lehigh University.

That opinion, according to Kearse, was that the defense let the Eagles down in January during their season-ending playoff loss in New Orleans.

"The reason the season ended last year was because of the defense," Kearse said. "So now we have to take it upon ourselves from day one to set the standard around here, especially for these young guys."

Kearse, of course, had been exonerated from any wrongdoing against the Saints. His season had long since been ended by multiple ligament tears in his left knee suffered in a Week 2 loss to the New York Giants.

Linebacker Takeo Spikes did not deserve any of the blame, either. Then a member of the Buffalo Bills, he was seated comfortably on his couch in Georgia while the Eagles surrendered 208 rushing yards to the Saints.

And still it disturbed him.

"I watched the game, so I remember the game - every play," Spikes said. "I felt like I was there because that's how in tune to football I am."

Spikes felt Dawkins came up with the perfect combination of words when he addressed the defense for the first time Tuesday night.

"I thought it was needed," Spikes said. "Everybody can talk, talk, talk, but when you get a guy like that to stand up and get his points across, it means something. People know it's not a selfish thing, because this guy cares.

"He's accomplished so much in his career, he could just sit down and not say nothing. But he chose to stand up and say, 'This is the way it's going to be. This is the way it has to be. This is the way I felt, and I hope you felt the same. From now on, when we step out on the field, no more.' "

Dawkins, entering his 12th season, conceded that he told his defensive teammates he was disgusted with what happened in the Eagles' postseason loss, but would not discuss much else about his speech, which Kearse said lasted about five minutes.

"I'm not going to get into any details," Dawkins said. "This is really a challenge for all of us. Every last one of us needs to go out and not only do our job, but do it to the fullest and correct a lot of things that we didn't do last year."

Figuring out what that means is not difficult. The Eagles surrendered 136.4 rushing yards per game last season (ranking 26th among 32 clubs), and even quarterback Donovan McNabb commented yesterday that "we've got to see guys stopping the run."

"Unfortunately for them, they had injuries last year, and that always takes its toll on a defense," Spikes said. "But attitude helps, and we've got some new guys in here this year, including myself."

Spikes, as it turned out, made the first tackle by a starting defensive player yesterday, closing on running back Correll Buckhalter and stopping him for no gain.

"That's one of the strengths I bring to the team that is going to help us get back into the top 10 as far as yards per rush," Spikes said.

Spikes, a two-time Pro Bowler hungry to make the first postseason appearance of his career, should help the defense if he stays healthy. A healthy Kearse would also be a tremendous help, and it wouldn't hurt if Dawkins was able to duplicate his play of last season.

"We're playing with a lot of dogs out there on the field, so you don't feel like you have to put everything on your shoulders," Kearse said, using a term of endearment. "You're able to play free and have fun and know that if you mess up, somebody else is going to stop him."

It was only the first day of contact at training camp, but the defense wanted to get off to a good start by stopping the run. Given what happened last season, that was the most logical place to focus.