Posted on 02/02/2007 6:13:48 PM PST by randita
Posted on Thu, Feb. 01, 2007
Phil Sheridan
QB pressure: McNabb has always faced unfair criticism.
By Phil Sheridan Inquirer Columnist
MIAMI - Now that Donovan McNabb has cleared things up, it will be nothing but smooth sailing for the Eagles, their quarterback, their fans and the media.
It was actually impossible to type the previous sentence without laughing out loud. It is far more likely that next January, in Phoenix, McNabb's annual Chunky Soup news conference will be a forum for clearing up a whole new crop of issues, rumors, gossip and misunderstandings. There is the preseason, the season, the postseason, and then mopping up at the Super Bowl.
What McNabb and the city of Philadelphia need is a good marriage counselor. This relationship has been dysfunctional from the beginning, and that is, unfortunately, not likely to change. Too much has been said, too many wounds have healed improperly, for McNabb and the city ever to truly embrace one another.
And that's a shame. It really is. It didn't have to be this way, but it is.
"He's a tremendous football player and a tremendous person," said Fletcher Smith, McNabb's agent and longtime family friend. "For me and his family as well, it's difficult to hear the amount of criticism he receives on a pretty regular basis."
Smith is paid to advocate for his client, but that's a pretty fair read on the way the McNabb camp sees things. We're not talking here about criticism or analysis of McNabb's on-field performance. We're talking about the often nasty and very personal stuff that swirls around this particular athlete for some inexplicable reason.
People complain about athletes who are selfish, who are thugs, who get into legal trouble, who are bad role models. McNabb is a perfect example of the kind of person fans say they want an athlete to be, yet he has been the target of some of the strangest criticism, and critics, in memory.
Every time the Eagles lose a game, I still get e-mail that starts, "Rush was right." No matter what numbers McNabb puts up, no matter how many games he wins, there remains this seething resentment from some quarters.
Oh, and by the way, Rush Limbaugh was dead wrong. So were the geniuses who stirred up Ricky Williams mania before the 1999 draft and who clamored for A.J. Feeley when McNabb went through a slump during the 2003 season. McNabb is not perfect, but he just happens to be one of the five best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Whatever agenda prevents some people from seeing that - whether it's race or the need to drive up the Arbitron ratings or something else - is their problem. Unfortunately, it becomes McNabb's problem and therefore the Eagles' problem.
"That's why Andy [Reid] brought him here," Smith said. "When Andy looked at Donovan and Tim Couch and Akili Smith and Daunte Culpepper, what he saw in Donovan was the kind of person that could persevere through situations like this."
Yesterday, McNabb did a good job of addressing the various issues, real and imagined, that were swirling around. Some people will choose not to believe him. Having watched him closely for the last eight years, I thought he was being about as honest as he felt comfortable being while also trying not to start another controversy.
After his official news conference, McNabb made an interesting remark about his mother's controversial blog entry. Wilma McNabb, you'll recall, wrote that it was "bittersweet" to see the team win with her son injured and worried that he would be "crucified" by the fans and media if Jeff Garcia took the team to the Super Bowl.
"I'm sure everything else she said is happening," McNabb said. "When she said it, everybody had a problem with it, but now that it's happening, I guess people understand where it was coming from."
It's true. Trade rumors. Speculation that McNabb was jealous of Garcia and wanted him gone. A belief by some that the Eagles would be better with Garcia, who turns 37 this month, than with McNabb. It's all out there.
Are the McNabbs too sensitive to all this? Maybe. But they're human, and the amount and the intensity and the sheer irrationality of much of this would get to anybody.
It would be pretty to think we can get to a point where McNabb's successes are appreciated, his failures are fairly criticized, and this cycle of mistrust and suspicion can be broken. Call off the game of Gotcha. Start over with a fresh slate.
"I'm a Philadelphia Eagle, and I will continue to be a Philadelphia Eagle, hopefully, for years and years to come," McNabb said. "Hopefully, I'll retire as an Eagle."
That ought to be good enough. In a lot of cities, it would be. In Philadelphia? With this quarterback? Try saying yes with a straight face. Post a question or comment for Phil Sheridan at http://go.philly.com/asksheridan. Or by e-mail: psheridan@phillynews.com.
I also wonder if his best years are behind him.
He has had 3 major injuries in 6 seasons. He pretty much choked against the Buccs (2003) and Panthers (2004).
I think his problem is that he has never adapted to the pro game. He needs to stay in the pocket, and not get impatient, and be a PRO QB.
FTR, I am a Dallas fan. Sometimes fans of opposing teams can provide unique prospective.
the constant bleating about McNabb being one of the top QBs actually proves Rush was right, but don't expect the media to ever admit that.
Yep. Rush wasn't critical of McNabb, he was critical of the sports media and the way they Obamad him.
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