Eagles legend Brian Dawkins admits 'there's room for worry' for Philadelphia heading into playoffs
Philadelphia Eagles fans will see their team in the playoffs this weekend, but the team's regular-season finish likely has some fans worried heading into Monday night's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Hall of Famer and Eagles legend Brian Dawkins watched as his former team fell from 10-1 to 11-6 to finish the season.
He thinks Eagles fans are justifiably worried.
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"If you’re an Eagles fan — I won’t say all of them — but I would say a great majority of them probably has some panic pushed in there," he told Fox News Digital while discussing the benefits of Nirvana Super on his retirement fitness journey.
"But, as a former player, there’s no room for panic. If you panic, then you’re done. So, yes, you’re worried. You’ve been worried for about five weeks now if you’re being honest with yourself."
The Eagles lost five of their final six regular-season contests, including back-to-back losses to the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants, two teams that will be making selections in the 2024 NFL Draft's top 10.
Dawkins spoke with Fox News Digital before the shocking 27-10 loss to the Giants when the NFC East title was on the line. The Eagles needed the Dallas Cowboys to lose to the Washington Commanders to win the division, but home-field advantage in the playoffs for two games was at stake.
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No team wants to lose when the playoffs roll around, but Dawkins, who has plenty of playoff experience in 16 NFL seasons (13 in Philadelphia), hopes the Eagles can get things fixed.
"The thing that I hope that is happening is they finally had the honest conversation that they need to have," he said.
What exactly is that conversation?
Dawkins admitted that, despite the loss to the Seattle Seahawks, he saw a better effort from the Eagles. But he also said he had "no idea what that was on the field" against the Cardinals.
The offense was stagnant again facing the Giants in Week 18, while the defense surrendered a number of big plays that led to points for New York.
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"There’s room for worry, there’s room for absolute concern," Dawkins said. "You’re just hoping they do what they need to do from a mentality standpoint. It’s a mental thing, it’s not a physical thing. So mentality-wise, [they need to] fix the things in their mental spaces to go out and play impassioned ball to help potentially drive them to a long postseason run."
Eagles fans may be looking to quarterback Jalen Hurts to provide the spark in the locker room.
"It’s not just Jalen’s job as a leader to lead this football team, and that’s the thing I want to absolutely make clear," he explained. "Yes, he is a true, tremendous cog in that. But when we’re in meetings, guess who I’m not talking to all the time as a defensive player? The quarterback. I have no idea what they’re talking about in meetings when I’m on the defensive side of the ball.
"So, if we don’t have leadership in the room I’m in, and we’re depending on Jalen to lead us on game day and practice, no. That’s not going to help us win. Guess what voice you don’t hear also in the special teams meetings. They won’t hear my voice. … They won’t hear the defensive leadership. They won’t hear the offensive leadership and what’s going on there.
"What I’m saying is that it’s not a one-person thing. It’s absolutely him going a long way in it, but it’s absolutely not a one-person thing."
What Hurts can't be doing in Dawkins' eyes is turning the ball over.
He's thrown five interceptions and four touchdowns in the last four games, which is uncharacteristic for him.
But it's going to take more than Hurts to get the Eagles back to the Super Bowl, Dawkins said.