A True Champion's Highlight

Philadelphia had the momentum and the football inside the Dallas 30-yard-line with a little more than two minutes to go in a game where the Eagles were leading the Cowboys 10-6. Brian Westbrook received a first-down handoff from Donovan McNabb and broke through the line, staring at nothing but the Cowboy blue end-zone for a certain touchdown. The score would have put an exclamation point on a hard-fought game that saw the Eagles frustrating the Cowboys at every turn. Westbrook was at the 10, then the five, and then he slid to a stop at the one-yard-line! As the clock ticked down to the two-minute warning it took a few seconds for me to realize what he had done. Why in the world did he slide? Did he lose his mind? Did he catch a cramp? Westbrook had 81 rushing yards and 63 receiving yards in that victory and the TD would have added to his stats. He chose, however, a rare and extremely unselfish act of sliding to a stop to maintain possession of the football. His run had given his team a first down. Now all they had to do was run out the final two minutes since the Cowboys did not have enough timeouts left to stop the clock. Had Brian gone in for the score, the Cowboys had an ever-so-slight chance of finding a way to get the two scores they would have needed to earn a victory (think quick touchdown, onside kick recovery and another quick touchdown). Westbrook’s surprising and selfless thinking gave his team a certain victory at his own personal expense – one less TD for his record book and probably one less appearance in a highlight film. In my opinion, this was the play of the year, and it was one that should be aired over and over again on the highlights. It probably won’t though because there was no hidden Sharpie, no dancing and no grand acts to taunt the other team. It was just a smart, heads up play that guaranteed a victory for his team and left everyone in the stadium in amazement.