Do Eagles fans owe McNabb an apology?
One national columnist thinks Donovan McNabb had no reason to apologize to the city of Philadelphia. Instead, it should have been Eagles fans apologizing to him.
Do Eagles fans owe McNabb an apology?
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
I had Sportscenter on in the backgrond this morning when I noticed Donovan McNabb's name get mentioned.
Naturally, I turned the volume up just in time to hear ESPN's Rick Reilly criticize Eagles fans for their treatment of the former Birds' quarterback.
I looked for a video clip online, but couldn't find it. If anyone's got a link, please pass it along.
Reilly's piece was on sports apologies. He gave McNabb credit for offering a sincere apology to Philadelphia for not winning a Super Bowl during a recent radio interview, but went on to explain that it should have been the city doing the apologizing:
"That's like Conan apologizing to Jay. Does the salmon apologize to the bear? Ehlo apologizing to Jordan. If anything, Philadelphia oughta apologize to him. This is the city that booed him when he came, never thought he was good enough, never gave him a go-to receiver, until they gave him one he couldn't get away from and then traded him within the division for a little-known quarterback named Kevin Kolb, who in three years has a real chance to be the little-known quarterback Kevin Kolb. This is the way you treat a guy whose been nothing but nice, classy, maybe too classy."
I mentioned previously in this space that I was in D.C. last weekend for a family gathering and fielded many questions from friends and relatives about McNabb. Here are the major points I tried to get across to Redskins fans:
* For the Eagles, the decision to trade McNabb was more about Kolb than anything else. I'm not in the You can't win a Super Bowl with McNabb camp. If the Eagles didn't have Kolb, I truly believe they would have been fine pushing forward with McNabb. I think if you hooked Andy Reid up to a lie detector and asked him if he believed he could win a Super Bowl with McNabb, he'd say yes.
But they do have Kolb, and they've been grooming him for this moment. That's why the Eagles pulled the trigger on the trade.
* And then there's the topic I'm completely bored with, which relates to Reilly's rant: Was McNabb underappreciated here? By some - of course he was. But the notion that the group of fans who booed him when he was drafted represents the attitude of the entire fan base during his 11-year career here is absurd and tired.
And the notion that the fans had anything to do with McNabb not having a go-to receiver until Terrell Owens arrived is equally absurd.
The McNabb discussion is never going to die, but I'm not sure we're going to hear many new angles on the topic until both his and Kolb's careers are over.
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mcnabb was a top three q.b from 2001 thru 2004. the next five years he was mostly injuried. he and the team somehow got to the championship game two years ago which i still find unbeliveable. what's more unbeliveable curt wargner was the winning q.b in that game. mcnabbs first championship game and last the same q.b. won. nine years inbetween each game. one guy wins the other continues to lose. then at the press conference afterwards as always 'i played a great game'. it wasn't all mcnabbs fault, most fans know that but a little humbleness would be acceptable. he's gotten old and worn out and a very good business decision dictacted he go. no need for any apologies.— JACK V- i refuse to apologize to a very good, not great, quarterback that gave a strong effort, was compensated well for it, and ultimately fell short. his passive/aggressive approach towards fans, teammates, management, and media never played well in a town that wants you to say what you mean and mean what you say. the fact that he came up small consistently in the biggest of moments overshadowed the great games he gave us at other times. can you win a super bowl with donovan? in my opinion, not if you depend on him to win it for you. if you put enough pieces around him (something reid did not do enough of during his prime), and allow them to be the focal points and him to manage the game i think it's possible. that being said, someone that clowns as much as he does and takes losing as well as he does is probably never going to go the extra yard to win at all cost. did he ever really work as hard as he needed to in order to improve his accuracy? why did he have trouble staying in shape during the season, didn't he work out? everything i've ever read says he didn't do either as well as he should have. instead he used criticism of his accuracy as a way of saying that his critics were mean and unfair to him. sorry donovan koolaid drinkers, that's not the behavior of a winner. the air guitar/idiot dance before his last game as an eagle displayed someone desperately trying to seem cool and in control. ultimately, it showed that he was neither. he was never a leader despite his protestations to the contrary, and his "apology" to eagles fans was disingenuous and insincere, vintage donovan. i do not wish him ill with the redskins except when he plays the eagles, but i do not owe him an apology. ps - i enjoy seeing strahan pancake him in the commercial...and i'm not sorry about that either.
- It's not like everyone only complained about mcnabb year after year of disappointment. reid, even JJ, akers, o-line, d-line, receivers, etc. were blamed. Why should mcnabb alone get an apology? Because he's the only one who complained? Everyone has been blamed.— liberty_bell
- Another McNabb article, obviously this is the only way you can get readers to pay attention to your paper!— Eaglesfan804
- Uh, no!— Tom Man
- Oh please, if anything McNabb owes Eagles fans an apology for wasting our time by being a choke job for 10 years. And he was paid VERY WELL for choking all those years too. I wish I could make that kind of money for being all bark and no bite.— Kanayd
- Ok Donovan, I'm sorry for calling you Low Throw McBlow and McChoke. I'm sorry for all the puke jokes. I'm sorry for bashing you when you stood in the pocket for 10 seconds on passing plays and got sacked when obviously I should have blamed the offensive line for not being able to hold their blocks for 20 seconds. I'm sorry for bashing you for all the worm burners thrown at the receivers feet when obviously they should have dove 20 feet and caught every one.— power808
- OMG who friggin cares?— lukebonbon
- I really need someone to explain to me excatly when and how all this apology BS in sports started. Why would I owe a player, say a Donovan McNabb, an apology when he made in excess of $115 million during his career with the Eagles? And why should he make an apologhy to me, when he doesn't even know me from the man in the moon. Players play ball, they make good money doing it, and when it is over, it is over, period. Why all the nonsense and drama? Someone please enlighten me— billro33
- some do - not me though. I thought he was a good pick from the beginning, and have zero regrets— chollie
Bleep you McNabb, bleep you anyone who thinks WE owe HIM an apology. Losers, all of you. Go straight to where the sun don't shine.— Justicek- gimme a break...can we please just move on......— DON17
- If anyone owes us an apology it's Andy Reid. Only Andy could lose all those big games (many of which were at home) and keep his job. Before anyone compares us to Buffalo, the Bills got to the Super bowl 4 times. Even with Donovan's flaws, he was plenty good enough to win titles if we had a coach with a clue. Reid came in and did well and then plateaued showing us he cannot manage a clock, cannot find a way to score in the red zone and is a lousy game day coach. Andy you have way outkicked your coverage. Should have been fired after he punted in the playoff game in New Orleans 3 years ago.— salurb
- I'll feel sorry if Kolb doesn't pan out and Donovan is the second coming of John Elway. That's what I'll feel sorry about.— Dawks4Prez
- For everyone jumping on the Donovan never had any weapons, name one weapon Tom Brady had for the Pats 3 Superbowls. Face it, Donovan was a choker and crybaby. Add on a terrible leader. Half the locker room always disliked him.— romanT
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