Fullback follies come back to bite Birds

November 12, 6:37 PMPhiladelphia Eagles ExaminerGordie Jones

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Marion Motley: Love the Chucks.

Interesting story in Wednesday’s editions of the Philadelphia Daily News by Paul Domowitch, who took Andy Reid to task for winging it at fullback this year, and then noted that while that position has diminished in significance in today’s NFL – particularly in the West Coast Offense favored by coaches like Reid – those who play it can often provide the critical difference between victory and defeat.

Makes sense, particularly when viewed in the context of the Eagles’ season. Their failure in a short-yardage situation cost them a victory in Chicago, and went a long way toward sealing their fate in losses to the Redskins and Giants.

Ex-Cowboys fullback Daryl “Moose” Johnston, now a fine game analyst for Fox, told Domowitch that playing the position is not merely a matter of running into linebackers, that only through experience can a fullback develop a feel for who must be blocked on any given play. The example Johnston offered was the failed fourth-and-one play by the Eagles in the closing minutes of Sunday’s 36-31 loss to the Giants – the one on which right guard Max Jean-Gilles mistakenly joined center Jamaal Jackson in a double-team block of defensive tackle Fred Robbins, allowing linebacker Chase Blackburn to shoot the gap and tackle Brian Westbrook short of the first down.

Johnston said a more experienced fullback than Dan Klecko, the converted defensive lineman, would have known to pick up Blackburn.

The other thing Johnston told Domowitch (as did Kevin Turner, the former Eagles fullback) is that it takes time for a fullback to develop a feel for his running back – Emmitt Smith, in Johnston’s case, and Ricky Watters, in the case of Turner.

So there’s a lot to learn. And Klecko is, well, still learning.

“It’s not like I’m going to come over here and be Marion Motley,” he said, laughing.

Whoa – somebody’s been watching NFL Films.

Motley, who spent most of his Hall of Fame career (1946-55) with the Browns, is regarded as pro football’s first supersized running back of note; he went 6-1, 232. Klecko, by contrast, goes 5-11, 275 and like most fullbacks in this day and age, will seldom be asked to handle the ball (though it should be noted that he showed decent speed while turning a short pass into a sizable gain against Atlanta, only to see the play negated by a penalty).

Mostly, though, he is a battering ram, plain and simple.

“I’m learning how to get it done,” said Klecko, son of former Jets defensive lineman Joe Klecko. “It all comes together on Sunday. Sometimes it doesn’t come together, and I hear about it. All I can do is keep working.”

The length of his learning curve may be excused, considering he was signed in March as a free agent with the idea that he would be the successor to the departed Thomas Tapeh at fullback, a position Klecko had played on occasion (mostly in goal-line situations) during his first five seasons, with New England and Indianapolis. Two months later, he was moved back to the defensive line, as the Eagles took a look at Jed Collins, Jason Davis and Luke Lawton at fullback.

All were eventually found wanting, and the Eagles switched Tony Hunt from running back to fullback early in the season. But Hunt, who is too slow to be an effective runner, had never been much of a blocker, either. And after rediscovering something they already should have known, the Birds unceremoniously cut Hunt on Oct. 14.

So Klecko moved back to fullback, with mixed results.

“I’m always learning,” he said.

This is not to say that he is the primary reason for the overall failure of the Birds’ running game, which has produced 98.3 yards a game this year (4.0 per carry) after generating 123.4 (and 4.7) last year. As Westbrook noted during his media confab Wednesday, he has been injured, and is still not 100 percent. Moreover, the Eagles haven’t run it as much as last year, when Donovan McNabb was nicked up. And while Westbrook didn’t mention it, the absence of guard Shawn Andrews must be taken into account.

But the lack of a viable fullback surely doesn’t help.

Klecko said he watches Giants fullback Madison Hedgecock a lot, since Hedgecock (6-3, 266) is also a big guy. And he said he had no problem with his repeated position changes, that there’s no way to tell if he would have settled in at fullback if he had stayed put.

“Hindsight is 20-20,” he said. “Who really knows? Who knows if I would have picked it up in camp? You never know.”

But the Eagles appear to have a problem here. One of many.