"There's not a player on this team who is 100 percent," Dawkins said quietly, having finally emerged from the trainer's room and a long shower. By December, that is always true. The game hurts the same whether you win or lose, whether your season is going somewhere or merely going.
"I got little things here and there," Dawkins said. "The back, a little bit. And I got a finger that won't straighten all the way out because it's swollen up so much."
He held up his right hand and a distended middle finger remained at an angle. "Little things," he said.
It hasn't been an easy year for Dawkins, and it hasn't been little things. He suffered a stinger in the second game of the season, basically compressing the nerves in his neck when taking a blow to the helmet, and missed five games. Dawkins came back from that, then fell hard on his back two weeks ago practicing for the Giants game and suffered spasms. He played through that, and the finger, and the aching knees, and all the accumulated pain that comes from being 34 years old in this league and suffering through a 12th season.
Yesterday, as the Eagles began their desperate final three weeks, perhaps some of the anguish paid off, for Dawkins and for the team. Dawkins got his first interception of the season, the 33d of his career, in the fourth quarter, taking the ball from the Cowboys for the final time in the game. After the offense was able to move downfield, it turned out that the interception sealed the unlikely and wholly surprising 10-6 win over division champion Dallas.
"I was locked on the ball," Dawkins said. "I recognized the route from film study. Saw the ball coming and just had to make sure I caught it and kept my feet in bounds."
