Posted on 02/08/2005 11:49:37 AM PST by West Coast Conservative
PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was so ill in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl that a teammate had to call a play in the huddle, center Hank Fraley said.
"He fought to the end," Fraley told Comcast SportsNet on Monday. "He gave it his all. He was almost puking in the huddle. One play had to be called by (wideout) Freddie Mitchell because Donovan was mumbling because he was almost puking."
Offensive lineman Jon Runyan also echoed Fraley's comments in the same interview aired on two local radio stations on Tuesday after the Comcast report.
McNabb was shaky in Philadelphia's 24-21 loss to the England Patriots on Sunday, throwing for 357 yards and three touchdowns, was also getting picked off three times.
McNabb misfired on several passes early, held the ball too long in other instances and made several poor decisions. One of the best scramblers in the NFL, McNabb had zero yards rushing on just one carry and was sacked four times.
An Eagles spokesman did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday.
Rush was wrong about McNabb. The man is not a sportscaster.
Yes, I am an Eagles fan, and proud of it.
Hey newcommer, are you a sportscaster yourself, and what does it take of knowledge to become one???
Got that right. Sometimes players choke. Sometimes the other team they play is just better.
"He was the first Black quarterback to LOSE a Super Bowl"
Well, the Titans did lose under the leadership of Steve McNair, but that was a "team" loss. McNair was able to execute the 2 minute drill without choking
Well...
The game was in the Patriots control from the first drive in the second half, and only become moreso. The last Philly TD was a blown prevent defense in garbage time. Only a like fluke - which wasn't going to happen - would have put the Eagles in position to have a shot...and then the Pats would have turned their offense back on and scored.
There were players out there waiting for him. The times he ran, it ended up not working.
Of course one of the LBs is a downlineman...
Pats won. Move on. 3 out of 4 years Pats won and 3 out of 4 years I have had to listen to excuses!
I disagree. McNabb dug down and made the improvements he needed to make in the weeks after the controversy. He went from being a below average QB (who couldn't accurately throw short passes and ran too much), to a good one (who passes first, and runs when he needs to).
The whole team was sucking wind. Kindof hard to do hurry-up when you can't breathe.
One foot short. I remember watching that game and everyone around me thought the game was over when the Rams went ahead late. McNair is awesome when he's healthy.
Dillon made some amazing diving blocks.
Brady also often made a couple of quick sidesteps and let the blitz get channeled right past him, then calmly, but quickly threw the ball. McNabb made more long-legged movements, and ended up with guys chasing him...which works if there's room to run outside, and not if there's a guy out there waiting for him.
Once the Patriots started using the screen passes it really took a lot out of the Philly blitz.
Part of the problem there was that Brady was picking them apart when they didn't push it.
As I thought, you really didn't understand my post. I never speculated on the motivation behind the double standard. Owens didn't speculate on it either. It is telling, however, that race is the first thing you thought of.
Can anyone honestly say that Favre would not have been hailed BY THE MEDIA as a warrior if he had played injured like TO or vomiting on the field like McNabb?
For the record, Jerry Rice also benefits from this double standard as did Cal Ripken, Jr. When Ripken played in games he shouldn't have (just to keep his streak alive), he was a hero, when Randy Moss played hurt, he was accused of being selfish and of hurting his team.
When Jerry Rice came back too early from an injury he was hailed as a player you just couldn't keep off the field. When TO worked his butt off to play in the superbowl and try to help his team, he was accused of being selfish.
The commentators are second guessing idiots. If the Eagles had rushed, they would have thrown an interception. That is what happened to the Colts and the Steelers.
The Eagles were relaxed and methodical on that drive. The odds were better to be calm and under control, score and then hope for an onside kick. What good would it have done to save a couple minutes if you throw an interception and its returned for a touchdown?
Reid rightly understands that McNabb is not John Elway or Joe Montana. Even Manning couldn't drive down the field without getting picked off when they were rushing things. Reid had his team play within their abilities - their hurry up offense on their last drive demonstrated that Reid made the right choice.
Since McNabb was having a bad game, the defense was pressing. Look, I think McNabb is a nice guy. People are making him out as top, top quarterback or a flop. He is neither. He is an average to good quarterback at this point of his career. He does have the potential to improve. That was IMHO Rush’s view. Finally, Elway did not win his Super Bowls until the final 2 years of his career.
When did either McNabb or Owens whine? But were upbeat as could be during and before the super bowl. I haven't heard McNabb whine about one thing so maybe you could point out where he has. None of the Eagles have made an excuse about anything - they played hard and came up short against a better team.
Owens made a point and moved on. His point is shared by many.
You've made a habit in this thread of putting words in others' mouth. No one on the Eagles has whined or made and excuse yet you say they did and even said that they shouldn't use it as an excuse next time.
It's probably someone in the media who brought this whole topic up. It's out there now and it sounds like sour grapes.
I'm not minimizing what McNabb accomplished during the game. He did great.
But, just like Martinez was left in the game for 1 hitter too long a year ago costing them the championship...because he's "the star" aka "the ace"...so did the coach leave McNabb in essentially hurting the team.
Goes to show just how much power the players have over the coaching staff.
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