When I think of memorable Eagles players from years gone by, I see plays in my head that define them for me. Some plays are very specific.

Wilbert Montgomery - I know it is everyone’s play for Wilbert - is winning the NFC Championship game.  Off right tackle, through the Dallas line, bursting into the secondary and accelerating down the right side to the end zone. This to me is the defining play of my Eagles fan-book. The best highlight…

Keith Byars laying the all time block on Pepper Johnson, his college roommate.

Randall Cunningham, hit in the knees by a Giants linebacker which blasts his feet out from under him, extending his left-hand to the turf, balancing with a one handed push up pose, popping up to complete a pass.

Isn’t NFC East football terrific?

Others are not so specific, but more a defining methodology.

Ron Jaworski and Harold Carmichael - Eagles inside the opposition 15 yard line. In this vision, the opposition jersey is indistinct, blurred. It is any team and every team. Carmichael is split right, then comes in motion behind Jaworski. The ball is snapped and Jaws back pedals. He goes back 5 steps, plants his right foot and in one easy motion lofts a high arcing pass to the left hand rear corner of the end zone. The camera widens out and you see Carmichael with the D back on his inside hip, as he breaks to the corner and shields the defender away from the sideline with his body. The ball drops down from the apex of the throw toward the sideline. It is still high in the air as Harold stutter steps and holds his feet in bounds while stretching up, extending his arms over his 6′8″ height to pull in the pass. No defender could reach this throw, in all of the hundreds of times that it was made.

Jeremiah Trotter is one of the players that fans will always remember. It is not a specific play for me, but one I saw him make many times, in many games, many big games. The opposition lines up in a short yardage formation on third down, looking to get a first down and pull themselves back into a game that Andy’s Eagles are already controlling. The opponent doesn’t matter, as this occurred so many times.

The ball is snapped, the QB pivots and tosses to the back who is sweeping to the left, a lineman is pulling. As he comes down the line to lay a block on the backer, the guard is too late, Trotter is by him, bursting into the backfield. He careens into the runner, wraps and lifts him off of his feet and slams him on his back 3 yards behind the line. Trot lands on the back’s chest, rolls off of him in one motion and comes up on his feet while pulling out his axe and swinging it, over his shoulder and straight down into the heart of the opposition.

Rock on Axeman