By Gordie Jones
Philadelphia Eagles Examiner
Conventional wisdom says that Giants-Eagles III will be decided at the line of scrimmage. That like the teams’ first two meetings, the club that runs the ball better Sunday afternoon in the Meadowlands will win.
The focus in particular will be on the New Yorkers and their bruising running back, 6-4, 264-pound Brandon Jacobs, and an Eagles rush defense that has improved to the point that safety Brian Dawkins believes it is the best he has been part of, in his 13 NFL seasons – “by far,” he said.
It is football at its most elemental: Run the ball. Stop the run. And the Birds can only hope that Stewart Bradley, their gifted young middle linebacker, will once again be in his element, come game time.
“You have to get a lot of bodies around the ball,” Bradley was saying the other day of the Giants, and Jacobs in particular.
The Eagles must counter the aggression of the Gothamites’ fine offensive line – “They create a lot of push,” Bradley said – something that will fall in particular on the Birds’ immovable defensive tackles, Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson. They were the first two players Dawkins mentioned when asked about the Birds’ rush defense, fourth-best in the league during the regular season (and No. 3 overall).
But it stands to reason that holes will be opened; Jacobs, after all, ran for 1,089 yards during the regular season, while his backup, Derrick Ward, gained 1,025. And it will be up to Bradley, as much as anyone else, to close them.
The 6-4, 255-pound Bradley is in his second year in the league, his first as a starter. He has grown as it has gone on, established himself – and then some. No less an observer than Peter King, Sports Illustrated’s respected NFL writer, selected him as the middle ‘backer on SI's All-Pro team, and Bradley’s own teammates have been singularly impressed while watching him record 151 tackles during the regular season (second-most on the team) and eight more in last week’s first-round playoff victory over Minnesota.
“There was a point in the season that you can see that he really began to take off with that position,” Dawkins said. “He really began to own (the spot) and play with a different aggression and different temperament at that position.”
And now, his future would appear to be limitless.
“I think in a couple years Stewart will be one of the best middle linebackers in the league, if he isn’t already,” said Dan Klecko, who in his first season with the Eagles has shuttled from fullback to defensive tackle and back to fullback. “I think he’ll be up there, almost like an Urlacher.”
As in Brian, of course, Chicago’s perennial Pro Bowler.
Bradley no doubt welcomes such expectations, just as he welcomed those surrounding him as this season began. He had started a single game as a rookie in 2007 – a 10-tackle effort the next-to-last week of the regular season, in which he also recorded a sack and an interception – but defensive coordinator Jim Johnson saw enough to shuffle his lineup in minicamp, to move Omar Gaither from the middle to the weak side (and later, to the bench) and install Bradley in the middle.
“That’s a tough position,” Klecko said. “I played it up in New England (his first NFL stop). First of all, you’re the captain of the defense, basically. You’ve got to make all the calls and get everybody lined up, while focusing on your reads. It’s hard. It’s hard to get all that done.”
But Bradley has done all that, and more.
“There was a point in this season that you looked at him and, when he called attention to the huddle, ‘You know what? Let me be quiet and listen to Stew because he has something to say,’ ” Dawkins said. “That's a big thing, to finally get that type of respect.”
“Yeah, there were expectations,” Bradley said, looking back, “but that’s the nature of the game. If you didn’t have expectations, or if you don’t have them for (yourself), I think you would be offended, almost. You want people to expect good things from you, and I think I’ve adjusted to that role pretty well.”
There are more expectations now, heading into Sunday’s game. The Eagles allowed 219 rushing yards (126 by Jacobs) in a 36-31 loss to the Giants on Nov. 9, then limited the Giants to 88 yards on the ground (while knocking Jacobs out of the game with a knee injury) in the rematch, a 20-14 Philadelphia victory on Dec. 7.
On Sunday, it will again be football at its most elemental. And, the Eagles hope, a middle ’backer in his element.
