Greatest – No Way

It disturbs me whenever I hear the words “great” or “greatest” applied to athletes, sporting events, or even a host or show on sports radio:

• “Man, your show is great”
• “What a great game”
• “Donovan was the greatest Eagles quarterback”
• “Andy Reid was the greatest Eagles coach”
• “Shady McCoy was the greatest running back in Eagles history.”

My response to all of the above is a big, fat “NO.”

Shady McCoy isn’t the greatest running back in Eagles history. It’s true that Shady McCoy gained the most rushing yards in Eagles history, but that doesn’t make him the greatest – or even the best running back in Eagles history. Big difference – which I’ll tackle several paragraphs down the page. But first let me dispel a few other myths.

Andy Reid

Andy Reid wasn’t the greatest coach in Eagles history. Andy Reid won more games than any other Eagles coach – but he coached for more years and for more games than any other Eagles coach. Logic dictates that he’d win the most games given that set of circumstances.

Both Dick Vermeil and Greasy Neale were better Eagles coaches than Andy Reid.

Neale has the highest winning percentage of the three – plus he won two NFL Championships.

Dick Vermeil won one NFC East with the Eagles and made one Super Bowl appearance, which he lost to the Raiders. Vermeil can boast of one Super Bowl victory as coach of the St. Louis Rams.

Andy Reid won one NFC title and made one Super Bowl appearance, which he lost to the New England Patriots.

Donovan McNabb

Donovan McNabb wasn’t the greatest Eagles quarterback. He won more games than any other Eagles quarterback. I wrote a book entitled 12 Best Eagles QBs that rates Donovan McNabb as the seventh best Eagles QB – which means I’ve got six Eagles quarterbacks rated higher.

Great Games

When it comes to “great” games, Roy Halladay’s perfect game and Jim Bunning’s prefect game were great games.

But there are very few great games. Most games fall into the range between good, average, and bad.

Sports Radio Hosts

Sorry WIP and The Fanatic hosts, but great shows are few and far between.

Most of your shows range between good, average, and not-so-good. Just because someone likes your show doesn’t make it great.

Shady McCoy

Now, getting back to Shady McCoy. I’ve compared Shady with Steve Van Buren, Timmy Brown, Wilbert Montgomery, Ricky Waters, and Brian Westbrook in four categories: (1) Rushing Yards, (2) Receiving Yards, (3) Combined Rushing and Receiving Yards, and (4) Combined Rushing and Receiving TDs.

First we’ll look at Rushing Yards.

Shady McCoy tops the charts in Rushing Yards by 254 yards over Wilbert Montgomery. But please note – Steve Van Buren’s rushing TDs pop right off the chart at 69 – giving him 24 and 25 more rushing TDs than Montgomery and McCoy.

Now let’s take a look at Receiving Yards.

Brian Westbrook leads the list in Receiving Yards – with 1,508 yards more than Shady McCoy. But Timmy Brown’s 14.5 and Steve Van Buren’s 11.6 yards per catch stand out against Shady’s 7.6 yards per catch – as do Brian Westbrook’s 29 TDs and Timmy Brown’s 26 TDs aganist Shady’s 10 TDs. So Shady’s way down the list as a pass receiver out of the backfield.

Now let’s look at Total Rushing and Receiving Yards combined.

Brian Westbrook tops the chart in Total Rushing and Receiving Yards – with 711 yards more than Shady McCoy.

And now the final category – Total Rushing and Receiving TDs.

Steve Van Buren’s 72 TDs are six better than Brian Westbrook; 15 better than Wilbert Montgomery; 17 better than Timmy Brown; 18 better than Shady McCoy; and 40 better than Ricky Watters and Duce Staley.

In regard to Steve Van Buren, you can factor in 2,030 yards and three TDs on kickoff returns and 473 yards and two TDs on punt returns. That brings Van Buren’s total to 77 TDs – that’s a whopping 33 TDs more that Shady McCoy scored. By the way, the NFL played only 12 games per season when Steve Van Buren played – compared to today’s 16-game schedule.

In regard to Brian Westbrook, you can also factor in 487 yards on kickoff returns, and 498 yards and two TDs on punt returns – one of which was Westbrook’s Miracle in the Meadowlands.

In regard to Timmy Brown, you can factor in another 514 yards and one TD on punt returns – and a whopping 4,483 yards and five TDs on kickoff returns – 26.5 yards per kickoff return. In fact, if you added his return yards to his rushing and receiving yards, Timmy Brown’s all-purpose yards add up to an eye-popping 12,406 yards – which is better than 3,000 yards more than Shady’s all-purpose yards.

Wilbert Montgomery logged 814 yards and one TD on kick returns.

Shady McCoy never returned a punt or kickoff with the Eagles.

Ricky Watters didn’t play in Philadelphia long enough to compete with the others, but he was an outstanding NFL running back.

So here’s the way I rank the seven best Eagles running backs –

1. Steve Van Buren
2. Brian Westbrook
3. Wilbert Montgomery
4. Timmy Brown
5. Shady McCoy
6. Duce Staley
7. Ricky Watters

This column was first written as “Five Best Eagles Running Backs” – & then I realized that I’d overlooked Timmy Brown and Duce Staley – so I replaced the original with this one.

Barry Bowe is the author of:

• Born to Be Wild
• 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
• 12 Best Eagles QBs
• Soon-to-be-published Caribbean Queen