Favorite all time Eagles bracket: Elite 8

Well, we’ve reached the Elite 8!

Take a look at the @BleedingGreen Twitter account thread for all of our polling history for the Favorite Eagle Ever bracket.

Things have mostly gone chalk so far, as 3-seed Brian Westbrook is the lone Eagle to advance to this round who isn’t a top-two seed, as he upset Donovan McNabb in the Sweet 16 with 68.4 percent of the vote. Reggie White and Brian Dawkins continue on their path towards total domination, as 96.5 percent of voters chose White over Seth Joyner and Dawkins topped DeSean Jackson with 92.2 percent of the vote. That matchup was particularly tough for me, as Dawkins and DeSean are likely my two favorite Birds players ever, but I had to vote for Weapon X himself. Given their steamrolling paths, I’d bank on Reggie vs. Dawkins in the Finals.

The Classic Birds region had two relatively close contests, as Chuck Bednarik beat Eagles mainstay Ron Jaworski with 65.1 percent of the vote and newly announced Pro Football Hall of Famer Harold Carmichael garnered 68.6 percent of the vote against Mike Quick. I wasn’t quite sure how that region would go, as Jaworski has been an omnipresent figure in Philadelphia for decades and Quick has only added to his legacy as Merrill Reese’s color commentator during Eagles radio broadcasts, but the top-two seeds pulled through.

I want to pour one out for Jerome Brown, who only managed 20.7 percent of the vote in the Buddy Era against Randall Cunningham. He would’ve been my championship pick against Dawkins. A true Eagles legend.

For those players in the Super Bowl Champs region, it was always going to be hotly contested, as these players are so fresh in Birds fans’ mind and they appeal to all generations of fans. I’m not exactly sure who would knock off Nick Foles, but I thought it’d be a tad closer against the now departed Malcolm Jenkins, as Malc only picked up 34.5 percent of the vote. I can’t help but wonder what his vote count would look like if he was still wearing midnight green. The race between Carson Wentz and Jason Kelce was even tighter, as Wentz finished at 57.3 percent, the slimmest margin of victory of any of the Sweet 16 matchups.

Anyway, here are today’s contests:

Classic Birds

1. Chuck Bednarik, LB/C, 1949-1962

vs.

2. Harold Carmichael, WR, 1971-1983

Buddy Era

1. Reggie White, DE, 1985-1992

vs.

2. Randall Cunningham, QB, 1985-1995

Andy Era

1. Brian Dawkins, S, 1996-2008

vs.

3. Brian Westbrook, RB, 2002-2009

Super Bowl Champs

1. Nick Foles, QB, 2012-2014, 2017-2018

vs.

Carson Wentz, QB, 2016-present

Okay, so this is where things get really intriguing. I’d expect Bednarik to beat Carmichael and Dawkins to win against Westbrook, but the other two matchups could go either way. Randall and Reggie are both so beloved and have been putting up huge numbers. The Super Bowl Champs region is just relitigating the entire Foles vs. Wentz debate, but I guess that’s what random days in April during the offseason are for. I’m a Wentz guy and was 100 percent okay with letting Foles go, but I think I’m actually going to vote for Foles. My rationale is simple: in the most important sporting event in the history of Philadelphia, he played the best game any Philly athlete has ever played given the magnitude of the moment. We shall see how it plays out, but I’m leaning towards Foles making it to the Final Four.

Thanks for voting and following along all week, everyone. This has been a blast for me and I hope I can do some similar projects with BGN in the coming weeks and months as we cope with offseason boredom and social distancing.

Go Birds!