Vintage Dawk as Broncos help Eagles
Philly.com, Inquirer, and Daily News coverage of the Eagles
Vintage Dawk as Broncos help Eagles
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
In an otherwise awful day of Thanksgiving Day football, one player's performance stood out for Eagles fans across the country.
Brian Dawkins.
The Broncos' safety, who turned 36 in October, played like he was 10 years younger, forcing a fumble, recovering another and leading all players with eight tackles in Denver's 26-6 win over the Giants.
The Broncos had lost four in a row, prompting Dawkins to call a players-only meeting during the short week. And on Thursday night, he provided an example to some of his inexperienced teammates about what it's going to take down the stretch to get into the playoffs.
"He’s been playing like he’s 25 all year,” Broncos coach Josh McDaniels told the Longmont Times-Call. “That’s the spirit he has. His spirit, I’ve said it a number of times already, I don’t think I’ll ever be around another player that has the spirit that Brian Dawkins has."
Quite a quote, considering McDaniels' background with the Patriots.
"His leadership, his quality of it, and just his persona, his positive attitude, the things that he brings to our team every day. What a great example for every player, every coach, whether they are young or old."
Something football fans in this city saw on display for 13 years.
Meanwhile, the Giants looked like a lost football team, going down for the fifth time in six games.
Offensively, they managed just 38 yards in the first half and 57 yards rushing overall.
The loss puts the Giants at 6-5 and in third place in the NFC East, two games behind the Cowboys, who beat the Raiders earlier in the day to improve to 8-3. New York's remaining five games include three straight against divisional opponents and a date with the 9-1 Vikings in Week 17. They have a huge matchup a week from Sunday against the Cowboys.
As for the wild-card picture, the Packers improved to 7-4 with a win over the Lions. The Falcons are very much in the mix at 5-5, and Chicago (4-6), Carolina (4-6) and San Francisco (4-6) still have outside shots of sneaking in.
The Birds, meanwhile, despite their up-and-down season, will find themselves in great position with a win over the 'Skins Sunday. They will have a chance to determine their own fate down the stretch - both for the division and wild card - with games remaining against the Cowboys, Giants and Falcons.
Later, we'll post our weekly Q&A with Dave Staley of sportsbook.com. We'll also do 10 obersvations on the Redskins and take a look at who's picking the Eagles on Saturday. Plus, we'll be chatting live from the Linc Sunday afternoon.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. And we are thankful that you make MTC one of your daily stops.
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, Sheil. Thanks for all the good work.
Wow, Dawkins actually tackled someone. That should be worth the ridiculous money he took and ran with.— jonnyb0916
jonnyb0916, or should I say, Andy, you sir are a duchebag!
Comment removed.- Really jonnyb0916? And our safeties have done exactly what this year? We should have kept Dawkins, no question about it. He should have finished his career here. This organization shows no loyalty to anyone not named Reid, McNabb or Banner. Dawkins has been more important to this team over the years than ANY OTHER PLAYER. It's easy to see why this team has no discipline, they get constantly get rid of veterans because they are too damn cheap. It's not like they were using that money on other players, just using it to stuff Lurie's pockets. Nice to see they would rather pay an always injured OL (Shawn Andrews) and a backup OL (Stacy Andrews) about $9 mil/yr each, a 5th string WR (Reggie Brown) $5 mil/yr but can't give their best player and (former) top starter $5 mil/yr. I hope that common sense and logic don't get in the way of Lurie and Banner's twisted view that this is the best roster in the NFL.— woogie
- Comment removed.
- Dawkins leads all free safeties in tackles, continues to play with emotion and shows the leadership this Eagle team is lacking. Let me ask you something, ThomasFoley. What would you do in the same situation? He wasn't grossly overpaid in Denver. The Eagles have room under the cap. And he is playing to the level of the contract. Get a clue.— jpru30
- Dawkins did what he should have done. The Eagles were low balling him because of his age. Denver offered him a contract as if he is still one of the top 3 safties in the game. He tookt he contract which is what any human being in his predicament would have done! He thought he would be back here, because he wasn't even expecting that!— FetchDixon
- I hope everyone that is bashing Dawkins is joking... He defines class, leadership, and realized potential.— dgreils
- We did not do right by Dawk....We low balled him with an insulting offer and hoped no team would pay up....He left town, they gave him a ridiculous offer which he could not refuse it....We could have given him a fair offer and guranteed the second year and he never would have gotten on the plane and never heard the big numbers.......(I would cost us a million and half more on this end....and Dawk would have not been aware of the extra two million than he ended up getting) ...but NO, old tight wad JOE was pinching pennies and using his vast array of negoitang skills (NOT) and we lost a leader and a player.....(duh, you think we could use him now....maybe we would not have had to waste a spot on Trot) (He is a great guy but here for leadership only...as his skills hve diminished...) But typical Joe he trails Jeffery so close that his brain is diminished and his football acuumen is non existent......and we lose because Joe is an idiot and the defacto GM and Andy just wants tokeep his job so won't argue with anybody...— nuggett
- I cannot believe how some are talking bout Dawkins. This is an era of grossly overpaid athletes. EVERYONE is making big bucks!!! Get it thru your minds people and stop being jealous of these athletes The Eagles insulted Dawkins and the fans with their offer. He was underpaid alot throughout his career compared to what he brought to the Eagles. Brian Dawkins is a class act and yesterday was a prime example of how good he still can be. He is sorely missed by many of us fans that have a clue what is going on.— johnny v
- I CAN'T BELIVE THEY LET THIS GUY GO................FIRE BANNER, REID AND TRADE MCNABB— bow
johnnyboy and thomasfoley - It's a business and these guys are employees looking to make a living in accordance with the going market rate just like you.— bigcityballer
The Eagles should have kept Dawkins. It was possible, and they didn't do it, with the results we see now, both in Denver's secondary and in their own. Somehow I don't feel Macho Harris and Sean Jones have the same impact. Silly me.- Hey dierte- Joe Banner tried to lowball Dawkins the way they do every other player that they think they have leverage over. The difference is that Dawkins is old and smart, not like the younger, less proven and less mature players that they usually lowball. They thought Dawkins was old and washed up and they could sign him for dirt cheap. McDaniels and the Broncos, however, knew that as long as a safety has brains and heart, he needs just enough speed and athleticism to get to the ball. Young and cheap is not always the way to go.— woogie
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