I remember the Eagles 2006 team which was carried by Brian Westbrook and their offensive line.  It was Shawn Andrews at his best and the Birds followed him to the playoffs.
They ran the ball any time they wanted to.  It was the old Pittsburgh Steelers style of football after Donovan McNabb got hurt that year.  They enforced their will on the opponent.  I loved it.
During that year, Andrews was not only one of the best offensive lineman on the team but also one of the best offensive lineman in the league.¬† He may have been the best that year.¬† There was nothing he couldn’t do.
He was Brian Westbrook’s body guard.¬† If you saw Westbrook, you saw Andrews out in front of him.
Big Shawn could flatten a defensive tackle by driving him off the ball and putting him on his back.  He could explode out of his stance to get out in front of a running linebacker and cut him off from pursuing to a play.
The Big Kid had the combination of a thug like attitude to be a bully and the athleticism to play the finesse game.
He would be the guy out in front of Westbrook twenty-yards downfield on a screen.  He would lead the way while pulling on sweeps and punish linebackers if they tried to stop them.
Everybody was yelling about Jeff Garcia during the Eagles run to the playoffs, when I could see it was Big Shawn and that offensive line leading the way for Westbrook’s weekly 130 yards on the ground.
They didn’t have a problem getting the yard or two on third down because they ran behind number 73 and Jon Runyan on that right side.
The ability to dominate was what the offensive line showed that made me always wonder why the Eagles didn’t rely more on them when McNabb was healthy.
Nobody thinks about that time now because people are rightfully tired of the Big Kid and his depression and his back problems.
He hasn’t played in over a year and there was no assurance that he was going to play any time soon.
With him gone though, there’s not much of a chance we will see that dominating type of offensive line play again, so it will be live and die with the passing game.
