Lots of old legs, cool dudes among Eagles and Cardinals
PHILADELPHIA » The Eagles’ kicking team of veteran Donnie Jones and rookie Jake Elliott had just finished a round at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square this week when they bumped into a legend.
Not Tiger Woods or Justin Rose, who have played in events there. No, this was Morten Andersen.
While they congratulated Andersen on his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it occurred to Elliott how remarkable the placekicker’s 25-year career actually was.
“He’s been in the league longer than I’ve been alive,” the 22-yearold Elliott said. “That was so cool. Just a really cool experience.”
Age and history are sentimental storylines this weekend when the Eagles oppose the Cardinals at Lincoln Financial Field.
From Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians, who says he’s “sexier than ever” at age 65, to Eagles coach Doug Pederson, who held for a game-winning field goal by kicker Phil Dawson, now with the Cardinals, age is everywhere — and underrated.
Take Dawson, 42, the second-oldest player in the league to Adam Vinatieri, who has two years on him.
Dawson’s 19-year career began with the Cleveland Browns. During the otherwise forgettable 2000 season, he kicked four field goals and Pederson threw a touchdown pass to lift the Browns to a 19-11 win over Drew Bledsoe and the New England Patriots.
“We didn’t win a lot of games back then so that was quite an experience,” Dawson said. “And Doug was just a tremendous teammate, one of my favorite teammates of all time both on and off the field. He was a great leader. He had tremendous football IQ. And so it’s not a surprise at all that he got into coaching and took advantage of everything he knew about the game of football and now is having success as a head coach in this league. I’m thrilled for Doug and his family.”
Pederson, for his part, conceded he doesn’t “remember a ton about” that game. Told he threw a TD pass, Pederson deadpanned, “that’s the one?”
All kidding aside, Pederson was flattered to be remembered so fondly by Dawson. Pederson’s career was winding down when he saw a piece of his football self in Dawson.
“He’s been doing it for a long time,” Pederson said. “So hats off to him. My career at the time, you start thinking about life after football. The older player is thinking about family and retirement and do I have all my investments set up? And the younger players are just worried about themselves. Being that older player, I was able to just throw a little of those nuggets of advice to him. He was married, the kids were young and he was just picking my brain on just life skills.”
The foundation didn’t hurt Dawson. While he’s focusing on one kick at a time, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be able to play at age 47 as Andersen did.
Jones, 37, figured he was the second-oldest player in the Eagles-Cardinals get-together. Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer has him by seven months, however. Free of injuries, Palmer may join Tom Brady in the 40plus passer club. Arians insists that sports science has changed the old school talk about a team’s so-called window of opportunity.
“Those numbers are kind of out the window with these guys playing until they’re 40,” Arians said. “Carson is probably in the best shape he’s been in for a long time, physically. We’ve just got to quit getting him hit so much.”
To players, Arians is the picture of how to age gracefully in pro football. From the trademark Gatsby hat to the self confidence — on a conference call this week he proudly said he has his Medicaid card — the long-ago Temple University football coach has an almost youthful presence on the sideline.
“BA is the coolest coach I’ve ever had,” said Cards linebacker Haason Reddick, the first-round pick out of Temple. “He has this cool swagger to him. He’s so laid back and then he has this swagger. The way he carries himself is so cool. When you look at him you automatically go, ‘that’s a cool dude right there.’”
Defensive end Chris Long, among other Eagles, was surprised to hear Arians was 65. He would have guessed 50s.
“He’s got that youthful kind of exuberance about him,” Long said. “And the older guys playing in this game, I was sitting here one morning and I thought maybe Dawson was like 40 but he’s 42. And I had the thought, I feel ancient at 32. I’m just trying to imagine playing another decade. It’s crazy. It’s a tribute to those guys who are still playing at a high level.”
Eagles linebacker Najee Goode will say hello to Dawson Sunday and maybe Cards holder-punter Andy Lee, who’s 35. Goode might even tell Dawson he attended some of those Browns games growing up in Cleveland.
“He’s old enough to be some cat’s father,” the 28-year-old Goode said of the Cardinals kicker. “When we played Vinatieri in Indianapolis, I thought that was somebody’s grandpa out there. But they can still get the job done. You respect that. That’s why they’re still in the league.”
After the almost ageless Jones, the next-oldest Eagle is 35-yearold Jason Peters. Teammates say he’s playing like he’s 29.
The Cardinals get production from linebacker Karlos Dansby, who turns 36 next month, defensive tackle Frostee Rucker and cornerback Draymon Williams, both 34. And then there’s Larry Fitzgerald, who also checks in at 34. One day he’ll join Andersen in the Hall of Fame.
For all of these players and more, age is just a number. Certainly not the death sentence it was for older players in years past.
“There will be a lot of balding guys out there Sunday,” Jones said with a grin. “It’s pretty cool. To be honest, I don’t know that I’d want to play 20 years. I’d probably want to do some other stuff in my life at some point. But look, I think the goal for me is I would like to play until I’m 40. I still love what I do. I love being around the guys, and I’ve really loved these last two weeks, especially the Giants game. It was awesome. Moments like that really make you appreciate winning and then being able to celebrate with all these young guys.”