Les Bowen: Dawkins: I played the way fans would love to play

Brian Dawkins knows why Philadelphia fans love him, even though he never won a Super Bowl, even though he's from Florida and lives in Colorado now.

"I really feel like I played the game the way they would love to play if they had a chance to," Dawkins said Friday, as he looked ahead to Sunday night's ceremonies at Lincoln Financial Field, when his No. 20 will be retired at the Giants-Eagles game. "If a fan got a chance to go on the football field, what would you do? How excited would you be, before the game? Would you do a flip, would you crawl? Would you do those things? Probably so, because you're so excited to play those games.

"If you had a chance, and you had the mindset, and you had the skill, and you had the courage to hit one of these dudes full speed, would you do it? Absolutely, they would do it."

Dawkins played 13 of his 16 NFL seasons with the Eagles, as the team's greatest-ever safety. Now he's experiencing the first NFL season on the sideline since 1995, but he doesn't seem to be at loose ends. He has an analyst job with ESPN and a weekly 97.5-FM radio gig in Philadelphia. Dawkins coaches defensive backs for his son Brian Jr.'s high school team in Colorado.

"I feel like I'm living somebody else's dream, I really do, because I didn't dream this. I didn't dream playing in the league 16 years and meeting the people that I've met, having the influence, having the name that the lord has blessed me to have with people," Dawkins said. "I didn't dream those things . . . It's a humbling feeling."

Dawkins said he has no significant physical ailments - amazing, when you think about how he played - and he is managing to keep busy. One thing helping the transition is that it wasn't as abrupt, emotionally and mentally, as it is for some players.

"When I decided to retire . . . it wasn't that I decided one year it was time. I'd been praying about that for many years," Dawkins said. "During that time, things began to come up, as far as me being passionate about them - coaching was one of them. Speaking engagements was one of them, I could share my faith with people . . . the other thing was doing a little broadcast work . . . There were things that began to line up, the more I prayed about it.

"It's not like I'm just sitting around the house and I want to play golf every day for the next 2 years. I can't do that. I can't sit around the house, I'd drive myself crazy. I would drive my wife crazy, but it'd drive me crazy, too. I'm doing the things that now I can pour my passion into. For 16 years - more than that - I poured it into football."

Dawkins was asked to envision what Sunday night will be like. He said that he couldn't, that he couldn't say what it will be like when he steps onto the field for the halftime ceremony. He said he didn't know whether he would be in his fierce, howling "game" mode, or whether he would be "all mushy."

For whom the Bell toils

Demetress Bell knows he will be in the spotlight Sunday night, his performance perhaps the key to getting Eagles quarterback Michael Vick into a comfortable rhythm. That has proved elusive over the first three games, and Bell's shaky work Sunday at Arizona in place of King Dunlap was a big part of the loss.

Eagles coach Andy Reid said Friday that Dunlap will miss the Giants game, as well.

"I'm sure it is [what people will be watching]," Bell said Friday. "It's out of my hands; I just go out and do what I do."

Bell said he feels "a whole lot better getting a second week of practice" as the starter.

"I feel real good. I don't feel like I have to go out and prove anything, I just gotta go out and do what I do, within the scheme."

Also filling in Sunday night will be weakside linebacker Jamar Chaney, taking the place of Akeem Jordan, another hamstring victim. Chaney has played more on the strongside and in the middle, but he said he's comfortable.

Chaney said in the Eagles' current system, "the SAM, he's outside, his reads mostly come off the tight end. The other two linebackers, you're in the box, you're reading the running backs and stuff like that."

He noted that the Giants put the tight end in motion a lot in their victory over Tampa Bay, which means the WIL becomes the SAM, and vice versa.

"It's good to know both linebacker spots," Chaney said.

Birdseed

Andy Reid said Jon Dorenbos (high ankle) practiced Friday and is "50-50" for Sunday night. The Eagles need to make a roster move by 4 p.m. Saturday to get Kyle Nelson in place if Dorenbos is going to miss the game. Doubt that happens . . . Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks is out with a knee injury . . . Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper might or might not return Sunday. Reid was being cagey about that. Apparently, there is no medical issue now with Cooper's collarbone, but Reid wants to make sure he is up to regular-season speed, having been out since early in training camp . . . Safety/special-teams ace Colt Anderson (knee) is questionable, but he practiced Friday . . . Jason Babin was fined $15,750 for what the league decreed was a horse collar tackle of LaRod Stephens-Howling at Arizona.

Contact Les Bowen at bowenl@phillynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @LesBowen. Read the Daily News' blog at eagletarian.com.