Patriots insider compares New England's rookie RB to a Philadelphia sports legend
When the Philadelphia Eagles were toppled by the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 39, it left a sick feeling in all of our stomachs. When we later learned of, shall we say, the Pats' creative winning techniques, we all asked ourselves if some sort of foul play might have been afoot.
That theory was tossed back and forth until Super Bowl 52, when the Birds earned some satisfying revenge. Who would have thought that, more than seven years later, New England would back Philly as an unexpected ally?
The Patriots back the Eagles, and one of New England's rookies is compared to a Philly sports legend.
Everyone has their fingers crossed for a successful title defense. Still, regardless of how things turn out, when the story of this season is told, the proposal to ban the tush push and the Eagles' day in court will be mentioned.
Philadelphia survived said ban by two votes and a 22-10 advantage. That doubles as the final score of their Wild Card Round win over the Green Bay Packers. You can't make that stuff up. Here are the ten teams that sided with them.
Let history show that, when it came down to it and the Birds needed the Pats to come through, they did (and so did some friends down in New Orleans). In New England's case, however, an occasional adversary became an ally for a day, and the legality of the Eagles' controversial play was preserved for at least one more season. Another intriguing parallel came earlier.
A well-known Boston sports beat writer, Greg Bedard, recently spoke with Greg Cosell, and the legend wasted no time comparing Pats rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson to a Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame and 75th Anniversary Team member, Brian Westbrook.
'I came away feeling that they were kind of shades of Brian Westbrook in his game. He's explosive. He's a very good receiver. There's a physicality to the way he plays.'
We can see it, somewhat. We'll see what happens when Henderson suits up for real NFL action because, right now, he has a long way to go before he can lay claim to being in the same class as one of the most significant chess pieces and most versatile players in pro football's history.
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