The song and the dance

Just like in the movies, sports require the participants to be good actors. We like the drama, thrills and the comedy—both unintentional and intended. Otherwise, what’s the point? We watch and engage it to be entertained.

Brian Dawkins gets that. Why else would he exert so much energy to come up with such an elaborate routine before every game? Sure, it looks like he’s doing it for his teammates to help get them fired up before the game, but really why does a pro athlete need someone else to motivate them? With all the money and competition riding on every play, the last thing a football player (or any other athlete for that matter) needs is some guy dancing the hootchie-coo in order to make other play harder.

I mean really.

Nope, Dawkins does all that stuff for you. He wants you to react and to be entertained. His pro wrestling-like entrance is just his way, not unlike Peyton Manning acting all goofy in a TV commercial, Derek Jeter serial dating, or Tiger Woods doing whatever it is he does.

It’s all part of the show.

But don’t write it off as insignificant. Oh no sir! Ballplayers hate the notion that they might be asked to “dance,” but when the music starts up and the lights start flashing, it takes Barry Sanders-like focus to maintain that austere façade.

Everyone has an act in sports. In fact, even Barry Sanders had an act. As they say, sometimes no style is considered to be a style. Hell, even they digitalized pixels on video games come with personalities programmed into the code. Better yet, the computer geeks set it up so even the folks playing the game at home can design any type of player they wish.

That’s kind of the way it works in pro sports, too. Do you think Terrell Owens was an obnoxious, delusional malcontent from day one? Or was Dennis Rodman such a quirky dude when he joined the Pistons with Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, and Rick Mahorn in the mid-1980s?

Answer: No. Those guys would have gotten their rears kicked if they tried it.

Just like any of their other skills, the persona is something that needs to be honed. However, it has to come in conjunction with some bona fide playing skills. For instance, no one has a problem when Brian Dawkins does a somersault into a handstand during the pregame introductions in his first game back in Philadelphia as a member of the Denver Broncos. After all, Dawkins didn’t just show up doing that whole X-Men bit. It took a lot of work both on and off the field.

Meanwhile, Freddie Mitchell was a player whose skills skewed the wrong way. The former wide receiver and first-round bust had the song and dance down, but had no idea of which key it was supposed to be sung.

In other words, Mitchell wasn’t good enough to strut the way he did.

Of course there is a slippery slope one treads, too, and Dawkins very well might be in that territory at this point of his career. Before Sunday’s home finale the talk was more about the way Dawkins might enter the ball field as opposed to how well he would perform on it. Sure, everyone wanted to see Dawkins dance, but no one really paid much attention to the way he covered receivers or made tackles.

All anyone wanted to see was the show and to hear about how Dawkins was up in the tunnel in his old ballpark screaming "Hallelujah!" and various other sweet nothings meant to get everyone all ornery and loud.

And you can’t have one without the other.

Brian Dawkins loved Philly back

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Not here. Not with Brian Dawkins. Not with the very image of what diehard Eagles’ fans believed to be the embodiment of their passion.

For the rank-and-file, Dawkins wasn’t something as trite as the “heart and soul” of the team. He was bigger than that. Instead, Dawkins was the player fathers pointed out to their sons:

“You see No. 20… That’s how you play the game.”

Yeah, Brian Dawkins was much more important to the Eagles than they could ever imagine. Quite simply, he represented us. The best part was that Dawkins knew it and yet never took it for granted. He saw those No. 20 jerseys out there and realized that it wasn’t just mere fodder for his ego, but a responsibility to give the people as much love as they gave him. As the X-Men’s pal Spider-Man was always reminded: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

That sentence wasn’t cartoonish or just a mantra for comic book heroes. It was a call to arms for Dawkins. It was a code to live by and the result of it was a 13-year love affair with the people of Philadelphia.

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Banner and Reid on Dawkins

Eagles Chairman/CEO Jeffrey Lurie: “Brian Dawkins has been one of the pillars of this franchise for 13 years. He helped lead us to five NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl. Brian embodies everything you look for in a professional athlete and human being. I have been fortunate to witness his impeccable character, his passion for the game of football and his commitment to being the best player he could be. I look forward to continuing a close relationship with him once his playing days are over. His legacy as an Eagle will last forever and will ultimately land him in Canton as a Hall of Famer.”

Eagles head coach Andy Reid: “Brian is one of the best players in franchise history and one of the most popular players to ever play in the city of Philadelphia. The Eagles organization, as well as the entire fan base, will miss him not only as a player but as a tremendous person. This is the toughest part of my job, no question. He gave this city 13 years of emotional, energetic football. We wish Brian and his family nothing but the best as he continues his career in Denver.”

First Adam Eaton and now this...

Dawkins making age just a number

It’s never easy getting old. The good part is that one only has to do it once if they are lucky. Still, the worst part about getting old is when other people tell a guy he is getting old.

So when Brian Dawkins, all of 35, was told he was getting old, well, he didn’t like it very much. You see, when they call a player old that means they already have bypassed such terms as “experienced,” “savvy,” and “veteran leader.” Those things are almost as bad as hearing how a player just climbed up on the all-time franchise lists in categories that require longevity as much as talent.

No one ever wants to hear that.

That's especially the case on a team like the Eagles in which a player's age is sometimes a determining factor for whether they get to hang around or not.

Nevertheless, Dawkins even took the time to address his… ahem… elder statesmanhood.

“There have always been plays I didn’t make for whatever reason, which I knew the reason, [but] people are going to pull out every negative thing,” Dawkins said a few weeks ago. “But the thing about me as a player … those one or two plays are not the telling signs of a player. You have to look at the whole scope of what he brings to the table. I feel I’m still playing the game at a high level, and as long as I’m able to do it, I’m going to continue to do it.”

But Dawkins is getting old. Actually, maybe Dawkins is just getting older. In terms of “continuing to do it,” the old man was truly the catalyst for the Eagles defense in Sunday’s 44-6 romp over the hated Dallas Cowboys at the Linc. Actually, catalyst might not be strong enough. Dawkins wasn’t just the proverbial straw that stirred the drink as another Philadelphia native once said, but he was more like a food processor. He put everything together.

It was Dawkins, after all, who forced fumbles on consecutive drives by the Cowboys. Both of those fumbles were returned for touchdowns that put an early exclamation point on the game. Better yet, they were historical plays, too. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time in NFL history that a team had two fumble return touchdowns of 70-or-more yards in the same quarter.

The only other time a team returned two fumbles for a touchdown on 70-plus yard plays in the same game was when the Eagles did it against the Giants on Sept. 25, 1938.

“Old Man” Dawkins was nowhere to be found on that day, either.

Dynamic might be a better description because Dawkins certainly isn’t crafty like Phillies’ old-timer pitcher Jamie Moyer. Dawkins is dynamic in that he still brings the heat. His game hasn’t changed much over time. Oh sure, he probably is more savvy than in years past, but even 13 years into this career (and with a few more on the way), Dawkins is far from a junk baller.

Just look at those two big plays in the second quarter. The first one Dawkins came around the far end, zeroed in on quarterback Tony Romo and leapt like a wild cat at the ball. With one hand he swatted it toward Chris Clemons who scooped it up and rumbled 73 yards to pay dirt.

“I know Tony is a guy that is trying to extend the play with his legs, so I was just trying to get to him as quick as possible and hopefully get the ball out,” Dawkins said. “I was happy that stopped that drive. It kind of deflated their excitement.”

The next forced fumble wasn’t as emphatic as the first one, but it took more skill. That one came when running back Marion Barber slipped away from Dawkins inside the 5-yard line. Somehow Dawkins not only punched the ball loose, but also batted it inbounds so that Joselio Hanson could pick it up and dash 96 yards for the touchdown.

“The second fumble, I was just laying out and trying to make the tackle, to be honest with you,” Dawkins said. “I swiped at the ball, but you just tell me how that ball stayed inbounds and I was able to punch it back on the field. I have no idea.”

Not bad for an old guy, right?

“He looks like he gets younger every day,” Clemons said.

That’s the part that everyone in the locker room sees. Though Dawkins barely practiced in the days leading up to Sunday’s game, there was never a doubt that he was going to be out there. Had he simply dashed onto the field for the last game, tipped his cap and ran around the field a bunch of times, it might have been enough for his teammates.

But not for Dawkins.

“It’s about game time,” Dawkins said. “I give what I got. Whatever I had I gave.”

That part was noticed, too.

“He could barely practice all week. He was banged up, sick and he came out and played great for us,” safety Quintin Mikell said. “If nothing else, I played my heart out for that guy because he deserved that from us.”

At the very least, Dawkins has two more games as an Eagle. One will come next Sunday in the playoffs against the Vikings and the other will be in Hawaii for his team-record seventh Pro Bowl.

For Dawkins it’s about nothing more than answering the call. When the game starts, nothing matters – especially not a player’s age.

“They say pressure busts pipes, and it can, but it really reveals who you are,” he said. “In those pressure situations, we came together. … We didn’t allow those troubled situations or those troubled times to get us down and keep us down. We rallied together.”