| | By John Clayton
ESPN.com
CLEVELAND -- Lou Piniella had baseball's Nasty Boys when he sent Rob Dibble and
Norm Charlton from the bullpen to the mound to attack batters with tight
fastballs. Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid wants to create the football equivalent.
|  | | Philadelphia coach Andy Reid doesn't care about style when it comes to his linemen, he wants them to be aggressive, tough and mean. |
These Nasty Boys don't hang out in bullpens until summoned. Reid,
hired for his positive ways of dealing with quarterbacks, uses a split
personality when it comes to finding offensive linemen. Nice guys finish
last on his lines. Reid loves to unleash the nasty side of his
line.
"I want aggressive, mean, tough guys up front because that's where
you win football games," Reid said. "I like those types of players on both
sides of the ball. I'll guarantee you, if you watch our seven-on-seven
drills, we will complete every ball. Give me an offensive line that can hold
people out for three seconds and I'll complete every ball. That's an
attitude."
The endorsement to the philosophy came during the offseason when the
Eagles made former Titans right tackle Jon Runyan one of the highest paid
maulers in football. Runyan has an attitude. Take practice the other day.
Runyan was having trouble with the quickness of defensive end Mike
Mamula. After being beaten for a couple of rushes, Runyan had enough. He
threw Mamula to the ground. Unfortunately, he injured his back in the
process, but Reid loved the thought.
Over the past two seasons, Reid used the nasty meter when reshaping
the Eagles line. He drafted guard Doug Brzezinski a year ago because of
a perceived mean streak on the field.
"Doug doesn't look pretty at all on the field, but he'll fight
you," Reid said. "He started concentrating on
technique this offseason and it took a little bit of the fight out of him in
minicamps. After a couple of plays in camp, he said the heck with that and
started mauling people again."
Said Brzezinski, "You don't have to worry about screwing up because
you just look forward to the next time you get to hit somebody."
Bubba Miller beat out former Eagle Steve Everitt because of his
nasty nature. Not that he's trying, but he is usually counted on for one
fight a practice, according to Reid. In games, Miller isn't satisfied with
hand-to-hand contact. He loves to fly into unattended opponents.
"You try to get to the point where it's an attitude if you see a
guy on a pile, then you just go clean the pile out for them," Miller said.
The attitude has become so infectious that Tra Thomas, once the
pacifist in the crowd, is getting nasty. Before he let his mouth do the
intimidating, shouting out a few sayings to irritate defenders.
"We have to go out and just dominate a guy you are playing
against," Thomas said. "I'm one of those players who chooses to talk on
the field. That's part of my game. Now, I'm into it physically and
mentally."
To think, these are the blockers from the City of Brotherly Love. No
wonder the Liberty Bell is cracked.
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