Brian Westbrook Is Not So Great: I Mean, This Is Philly, Right?

(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Philly fans—and their media—love to trash their top players.

They've booed future Hall of Famers such as third baseman Mike Schmidt because he seemed too laid back. He wasn't a "spark-plug." How's a string of Gold Gloves and 548 home runs—14th most all-time—for spark?

This blue-collar, cheap-seats town resented flashy Ricky Watters running his mouth more than it respected his thousands of rushing yards, which helped the Eagles reach the playoffs in '95 and '96. Watters is 29th on the list of rushing and receiving touchdown leaders. Isn't that hard work? He had an attitude (nowhere near as corrosive as Terrell Owens,' but like Owens, he came to play every week).

Today, fans doubt the durability, longevity, and greatness of two longtime offensive standouts—Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook. Under-appreciated in their own city, both can be all-time greats if they can put up good numbers for another year or two.

Today, I'll talk about Westbrook's prolific touchdown scoring (he has 67 ahead of today's Tampa game)—where it rates in comparison to Hall of Famers and other legends of the past, and where it could rate with a decent season this year. I'll even go way out there (I'm not smoking anything, we swear) and see what could happen if Westbrook can notch an eight- or nine-year career (perhaps on life support, fans might snort).

In Iggles fans' defense, they have endured decades of futility without giving up on their teams. The losing years are etched in their psyche—they constantly fear the team will manage to lose the easy games as well as the clutch games. Like Woody Allen, who didn't want to belong to any club that would have him, Philly fans often act as though any athlete who ends up in Philadelphia or doesn't find a way to escape can't be that good.

Through decades of poor trades, Philly fans in any sport have seen good players come to town and seem to lose their skills. They've seen other players go on to greatness after leaving the team, some even winning Super Bowls and becoming Hall of Famers, such as Reggie White and "touchdown maker" Cris Carter, fourth all-time among wide receivers in total touchdowns with 131. Watters could become a Hall of Famer, but his famous "For who, for what?" comment could hurt him in the balloting as much as it did with the fans in Philly.

Even beloved Coach Dick Vermeil, prior to Andy Reid the only coach to lead the Birds to the Super Bowl, had far better success later, leading the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl championship with a glamorous, high-scoring offense. Vermeil's phenomenal cast included: Marshall Faulk, the fourth top-scorer among running backs with 136, and wide receivers Isaac Bruce (91), and Torry Holt (74). Both receivers are still playing.

Philadelphia hasn't seen the like in at least four decades, except for its brief glimpse of Carter (of whom coach Buddy Ryan said, "He doesn't do anything except catch touchdowns.").

Other than a handful of top offensive players, Eagles fans reserve their ultimate respect for rampaging defenders. White. Jerome Brown, with his tragically shortened, good naturedly destructive career. Bill Bergey. The ferocious Brian Dawkins. And the back-from-the-dead Jeremiah Trotter, in his prime.

They want to see opponents lying lifeless on the turf—as Frank Gifford did after a hit by Chuck Bednarik—rather than see a flashy player such as Watters high-step out of bounds instead of lowering the boom (which he did when necessary).

Perhaps resenting the glamorous skill players who always seem to beat them, Iggles fans prefer destructive defense over creative offense. They want to see blood, mud, and grass stains. Sod on the facemasks of golden-boy quarterbacks. Cleats in the teeth of pirouetting wide receivers. Legendary running backs limping off the field.

Maybe it's partly because sack artist White, cornerstone of the bounty-hunting Ryan defense, is the only longtime Eagle of the past 40 years to be enshrined in Canton. And hard-hitting Hall of Famer Chuck Bednarik, the last of the 60 minute men, who played linebacker and center, may be the most revered Eagle ever. His 1960 squad is the last Eagle team to have won it all—50 years ago, before the first Super Bowl.

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