Music Bands   Eagles  

delawareonline The News Journal Westbrook ranks with Eagles' best runners

delawareonline The News Journal Westbrook ranks with Eagles' best runners
Will Smith  |  by www.delawareonline.com. All rights reserved. 28.12 | 19:44

PHILADELPHIA -- Plenty of great players have worn an Eagles uniform over the years, including several Hall of Famers, men who made an everlasting mark on the game and the city.

But hardly any of them have been running backs. For a franchise that dates to the beginning of the NFL in the 1930s, when it seems like Jeff Garcia still was in grade school, the Eagles have had a surprising shortage of standout runners.


In fact, just four are worthy of having their likeness carved on the Mount Rushmore of Eagles running backs, including the latest addition, Brian Westbrook.
What Westbrook has done this season didn't earn him a spot on the NFC Pro Bowl team, but it has earned him a spot next to Steve Van Buren, Timmy Brown and Wilbert Montgomery as the best runners in Eagles history.
Now, that must be kept in perspective.

Those four Eagles have combined to rush for 19,428 yards, which isn't much more than former Dallas great Emmitt Smith gained by himself (18,355).

But if you're an Eagles fan, these four are the best you've got.
One played in the 1940s, one in the 1960s, another in the 1970s, and now the best of the 21st Century joins them.


This has been a breakout year for Westbrook, who just became the first player in Eagles history with 1,000 yards rushing and 600 yards receiving in the same season. And he has jumped from 16th place to eighth on the franchise's all-time rushing list in the past 13 games.
And that's why he joins Van Buren, Brown and Montgomery as the best of the best.


Like Westbrook, those three were terrific players who captured the imagination of Eagles fans. And each represents a special era of Eagles football.
There were a couple of other candidates for that final spot on the mountain, and Ricky Watters would have qualified if there was room for a fifth head.

He might be the best runner to play for the Eagles, but he was here for just three years. And he was a selfish jerk, the T.O.

of his time. There are no chest-thumpers on the face of this mountain.

Duce Staley also earned consideration.

Statistically, he had a good case, with the third-highest rushing total in team history, but Staley just wasn't as dynamic as the others.

There have been a lot of other good runners, like Tom Woodeshick and Herschel Walker and Clarence Peaks, but the Eagles mostly have handed the ball off to guys like Po James and Tom Sullivan and Mike Hogan and Michael Williams and Michael Haddix and Earnest Jackson and James Joseph and Heath Sherman.
Some were decent players and some were good guys, but all had one thing in common: They were journeymen, and their journey usually was taken two yards at a time.


But the Eagles have had four special runners in their history, and it starts with Van Buren. He is the only Eagles running back in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (not counting Ollie Matson, who played his final two seasons here), and Van Buren was the best player on the NFL's best team in the late 1940s. Plus, he's a rarity, a 1940s player who could play in 2006.

Van Buren had speed and power and instincts.

The next runner who made people stand up and take notice was Brown, who doesn't always get the credit he deserves. He was one of the most exciting players of the 1960s, a triple threat who beat you running, catching passes or returning kicks.

Brown still is the Eagles career leader in kickoff return yardage (4,483) and touchdowns (five). Not bad for a 27th-round draft pick.

The Eagles' most prolific runner was Montgomery, the heart and soul of their first Super Bowl team.

He's the career leader in rushing attempts (1,465) and yards (6,538), and his 42-yard TD run in the 1980 NFC Championship game against Dallas recently was selected as the top play in Eagles history.

And now there's Westbrook, who, if he stays healthy, could break Montgomery's records. But even though Westbrook hasn't climbed to the top of the mountain, his face deserves to be carved on it.

Read more on by www.delawareonline.com. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Van Buren
Related news
Post comments
Name
Place
1 + 7 =
Comments