Brian Dawkins will receive his Hall of Fame ring Sunday at halftime

Philadelphia Eagles fans are in for a treat on Sunday when team legend Brian Dawkins gets his Pro Football Hall of Fame ring at halftime of the Carolina Panthers game.

Thinking about Brian Dawkins makes Philadelphia Eagles fans smile. It’s hard not to flash back to memories of him running out of the smoke (or crawling out of the smoke or doing that little fireman’s roll he did).

Most of us will never know what it’s like to be a part of an NFL huddle. Fewer of us know what it’s like to be a nine-time Pro Bowl selection and five-time first team All-Pro. Fewer still will experience the elation of being placed in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but to ‘Dawk’, all of those accomplishments are chapters in his own autobiography.

On Sunday, he’ll write another.

When the time runs out on the second quarter of the Eagles Week 7 contest versus the Carolina Panthers, ‘Weapon X’, as he’s affectionately called will receive another honor. He’ll receive his Hall of Fame ring in front of the fans he gave everything for during his 13 seasons in Philadelphia.

We won’t even mention those last few seasons with the Denver Broncos because, truthfully, it really makes us sick to talk about it.

We’ll, instead, focus on other things.

We’ll remember ‘Dawk’ for his knockout shots on Michael Vick and Alge Crumpler. We’ll remember ‘Dawk’ for pointing to the heavens after making big plays.

We’ll remember him for returning home as an executive and, finally, winning a Super Bowl with a suit on after doing everything he could as a player to help deliver the first-ever Lombardi Trophy to the ‘City of Brotherly Love’.

We’ll never see the number 20 worn by any other member of the Eagles, and we’ll never see our ‘Number 20’ take the field with that black visor on again.

That’s cool. Time forces us to move on, but it sure will be fun to see ‘Weapon X’ at ‘The Linc’ on Sunday. Expect a rather warm welcome when that happens.