Runyan hauls tail, makes key block on TD
LANDOVER, Md. - It was a sight for a sore tailbone, or something.
On that 57-yard Brian Westbrook screen touchdown yesterday, Jon Runyan was all dressed up with nobody to hit, until he saw Redskins defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin desperately chasing the ball, Griffin's eyes locked on Westbrook.
Fullback Thomas Tapeh was engaged with the linebacker Runyan was supposed to seal off. So Runyan, who said he fractured his tailbone when he slipped and hit the edge of a cold tub last month, but has stretched his streak of regular-season starts to 169 anyway, decided Griffin would do.
"I got up the field and turned around, and there was a guy chasing [Westbrook]," Runyan said. "The guys that usually chase the play are the ones that make it, because if the back has to make somebody miss upfield, he usually gets hit from behind.
"I just turned around and tried to block him."
Runyan had explained on Friday that he can run without pain now, but pushing on someone is painful. As a right offensive tackle, Runyan has a job that entails a fair amount of pushing.
"I saw it coming for about four steps. I'm just looking, I'm like, 'This is gonna hurt, this is gonna hurt.' I thought he saw me; apparently, he didn't," Runyan said.
Griffin eventually saw the sky, after his facemask made contact with Runyan's left shoulder and he stopped abruptly, on the wrong end of a Runyan check that would have made Derian Hatcher proud.
Turned out it didn't hurt a bit, Runyan said.
"That was one of the ones kind of like when you swing a golf club and you hit the 'sweet spot' and you don't feel it," he said. "That's how it ended up. I didn't think it was going to end up that way, but it did."
Center Jamaal Jackson was a witness to the blow-up.
"He just met the guy right there. I didn't see the rest of it; I just saw legs up in the air," Jackson said.
Like everyone else in green, Runyan was frustrated at the hole the Eagles dug yesterday, at the way they even gave the ball back after their defense finally forced a fumble in the fourth quarter.
"You get the opportunity to come back, and you give it right back to 'em," Runyan said. "It's frustrating, but it's kind of a good thing to be able to overcome that kind of stuff and be able to come out with a victory . . . Bad things happen and you don't let it bury you, you come out swinging. I think that's what everybody did today."
When the Redskins got the ball back after the Westbrook touchdown, the Eagles leading 26-25, Runyan spoke to linebacker Takeo Spikes. Spikes, an Eagle since March, said it was one of very few times Runyan has said anything to him.
Runyan's message? "We need a stop."
They got one, and Runyan and the offense got the ball back for their final touchdown.
Birdseed
Jevon Kearse played little early, but a lot down the stretch . . . Rookie defensive end Victor Abiamiri estimated he played 15 or 20 snaps . . . Running back Correll Buckhalter was ill and was a late scratch in favor of Tony Hunt. J.R. Reed returned six high, short kickoffs for a 15.7-yard average . . .
Donovan McNabb's shoulder and throwing arm felt weak, he said, when he came out to the sideline for the second half, presumably in the wake of a LaRon Landry hit near the end of the first half . . .
played little early, but a lot down the stretch . . . Rookie defensive end estimated he played 15 or 20 snaps . . . Running back was ill and was a late scratch in favor of . returned six high, short kickoffs for a 15.7-yard average . . . shoulder and throwing arm felt weak, he said, when he came out to the sideline for the second half, presumably in the wake of a hit near the end of the first half . . .Before yesterday, ex-Eagle James Thrash hadn't caught two touchdown passes in a season, let alone a game, since he played for the Birds in 2002 . . . McNabb broke Ron Jaworski's team record of 2,088 completions . . . Brian Westbrook said if he had realized the Redskins wanted him to score that final touchdown, so they could get the ball back, down 8 with time left, he might have stopped on the 1-yard line, but he didn't realize what had happened until he was in the end zone . . .
"He had one of those bad days," Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said of corner Will James, who didn't play in the second half. James was the victim on two 31-yard Thrash completions. "We'll see what happens next week. He competes hard, but he let them get outside." *
