Favorite all time Eagles bracket: Championship

Happy Saturday! We’ve finally reached the championship of BGN’s Favorite Eagle Ever Bracket. Take a look at the @BleedingGreen Twitter poll thread for all of our results so far.

As many people could’ve likely guessed before this entire bracket even started, the championship comes down to two Eagles legends: Reggie White and Brian Dawkins.

Despite a surge for Carson Wentz that allowed him to beat Jason Kelce and Nick Foles on his way to winning the Super Bowl Champs region, he was no match for Dawkins, as only 16.4 percent votes selected the Birds’ current franchise quarterback. On the opposite of the bracket, Chuck Bednarik’s 1960 Championship win and his reputation as The Last 60-Minute Man weren’t enough to beat the Minister of Defense himself, as Reggie received 80.5 percent of the vote.

I’m voting Dawkins today, as I’m sure a lot of you will on the way to certain victory. One thing that did come into my mind this morning is how each of these two players’ respective departures from Philly influences their perception among fans. Eagles fans can no doubt agree that White is the finest defensive end the sport has ever seen, but his decision to leave in free agency because “God told him to Green Bay” (money talks) leaves a bad taste in some fans’ mouths. This is not to say that Norman Braman, a complete jackal in his own right, is blameless in the White free agency saga, but I know it sucks to see White leave and hoist the Lombardi Trophy with the Packers.

Dawkins, on the other hand, was infamously allowed to walk away from the Eagles following the 2008 season, ultimately landing in Denver with the Broncos. The Eagles franchise has spent the last decade scared of making similar mistakes with veteran players.

Things are obviously not as black and white as I’m making them out to be. I didn’t even exist when White left for Green Bay in 1993 (born on the day Jeffrey Lurie bought the team on May 6, 1994), so my take here is just speculation mixed with apocryphal tales from old head family friends. I hold no ill will towards White. He made that move before the era of player empowerment in professional sports. He’d likely be praised for maximizing his earnings and escaping a poor ownership group in today’s sports landscape. I own two separate Reggie jerseys. I believe he’s the best defensive player in the history of the NFL (get lost, LT).

Anyway, both of these dudes are deserving of winning, though I expect Dawkins to come out on top. Here is our final matchup:

Championship

(1) Reggie White, DE, 1985-1992

vs.

(1) Brian Dawkins, S, 1996-2008

Stay tuned to the @BleedingGreen Twitter account for today’s poll. I’ll be back tomorrow with a recap about our champion. Thanks for following along all week.

Go Birds!