National Football League

Dunlap looks strong in first start for Eagles

Published Oct. 18, 2010 10:13 a.m. ET

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It could have been disaster repeated.

It was the last night of September 2007 in the old Meadowlands when Winston Justice contributed to the Pro Bowl credentials of Osi Umenyiora.

Justice, then in his second season, replaced injured Pro Bowl left tackle Tra Thomas in the starting lineup. The Eagles feared that Giants left defensive end Michael Strahan would continue his biannual abuse of right tackle Jon Runyan, so Runyan got the help.

Umenyiora logged six sacks, half of the Giants' obscene total.

Yesterday, third-year backup King Dunlap replaced injured Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters in the starting lineup. Yesterday, Dunlap mainly faced Falcons pass rusher John Abraham, a double-digit sack machine who entered with four in five games.

Abraham exited the Eagles' 31-17 win with four in six games.

"He did a good job," Abraham said. "They had play-action, they left the tight end in a couple of times, they chipped. They had a good game plan, and it worked."

It made sense to support Dunlap, who had surrendered three sacks when he stepped in for Peters last week in San Francisco.

"I'm very proud of him," said Justice, in his second season as a respectable starter at right tackle. "Him performing today says a lot about him. They ran a lot of games [position-changing plays] over there, and he picked up the games. They ran a lot of blitzes; he picked up the blitzes.

"It shows a lot about his character, coming back from the San Fran game and doing better."

Justice said he and Dunlap talk about the game more than any other linemen. On Saturday, they spoke of Justice's horrific debut, and why it was so bad: Justice let linemen get too close too quickly instead of making contact early after the snap.

"I told him, 'Just tape your hands and let 'em go,' " Justice said. "I think a lot of linemen are afraid to shoot their hands. I struggled with it. I struggled with it for a long time."

Dunlap might not have been dominant, and he made a mistake or two, but he was anything but overwhelmed.

"I thought big King did a pretty good job," said big head coach Andy Reid, who has a soft spot for the grunts. "I thought he bent well. I thought he delivered his hands well. I thought he kept his hands in tight. When he extends those, I don't think there's anybody in the league who can get into his chest. He battled all the way through."

"Just wanted to throw my hands. Move my feet. Keep my big butt low," Dunlap said.

Generally, he did.

On the Eagles' first touchdown, Dunlap laid a soft block on a defensive back as Abraham and Curtis Lofton bit on a play-action fake and DeSean Jackson sped past them on an 31-yard end-around.

LeSean McCoy helped Dunlap by chipping, or partially impeding, Abraham on Kevin Kolb's 34-yard touchdown pass to Jackson that made it 14-0 in the first quarter. A little later, Dunlap stood Abraham up on McCoy's 8-yard run, but McCoy stayed in and double-teamed Abraham on a 17-yard completion to Jeremy Maclin near the quarter's end.

Dunlap didn't always get help - less than half the time, Reid said. Dunlap didn't always need it.

By the end of the second quarter, he had Abraham's number, first stoning him on a straight pass rush, then pushing Abraham inside and sealing him on a stunt. By the time Brent Celek caught a 24-yard pass with just over 5 minutes to play, a catch that set up the Eagles' final score, Dunlap was flying solo against Abraham with no problem.

Dunlap wasn't perfect. Early in the second quarter, Dunlap snared the facemask of end Kroy Biermann and helped short-circuit an Eagles drive.

Unlike Peters, out indefinitely with minor knee surgery, there were no false starts and no holding penalties. Entering yesterday, Peters had three of the Eagles' eight holding penalties and a false start, the latter infraction his signature for 2009.

And, unlike Justice, there were no half-dozen sacks.

It was the sort of game a father would be proud to see his son play. Therein lay the only damper on Dunlap's day.

King's father, King IV (King the Younger is King V, and he has a son, King VI) could not attend. A former defensive tackle drafted by the Baltimore Colts, King the Father, 63, spent the weekend in a Tennessee hospital undergoing routine dialysis for a kidney problem.

His wife, Robin, attended the game. She got to see King V jog through the fake smoke of the tunnel, his name called in a stadium for the first time since he left Auburn more than 3 years ago. It was a thrill denied her husband.

Her husband was watching, though - critically, to be sure.

Dunlap pointed to the cell phone in his locker, its message light blinking:

"I'm sure I've got a couple of text messages telling me what I did wrong."

Not as many as Winston Justice had.