Dawkins on McNabb/T.O. spat: I tried
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Dawkins on McNabb/T.O. spat: I tried
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
With the start of the 2012 season about three months away, Donovan McNabb is still without a team. And with each passing day, at 35 years old, retirement seems like it might be the only option.
Terrell Owens, meanwhile, last caught a pass in the NFL in 2010. Last week, he managed to get himself kicked off of an IFL roster.
It was eight years ago that the pair teamed up to deliver the most memorable Eagles season of the Andy Reid era. McNabb completed 64 percent of his passes, while tossing 31 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. Owens caught 77 balls for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns, returning from injury and delivering a nine-catch, 122-yard performance in the Super Bowl.
But we all know what happened after that: One of the most famous break-ups in Philadelphia sports history. And Eagles great Brian Dawkins had a front-row seat.
Talking to Rich Eisen on his NFL Network podcast, Dawkins opened up about the McNabb-Owens spat. One of the greatest leaders in franchise history, he confirmed that he tried to play the role of mediator, but could never get through to both guys.
"I was in a place at that time that it didn't matter what it was," Dawkins said. "If it was something that was detrimental to the team, I wanted to be involved in it. If my hand was needed in it, I was going to be in it.
"What I tried to do was pull guys to the side, away from everybody, and just have conversations with them. 'What's going on? What's the deal? What can I do to help? This is what we need to do to get back on the winning track, and if I can assist in any way, let me know. Even if you don't let me know, this is what I'm willing to do. This is what we need to do in order for us to get this thing going in the right direction.'"
But apparently, Dawkins' words fell on deaf ears.
"The thing that you always want to do is get everybody in the room at the same time," he said. "That was never able to be done."
While Dawkins said he's at peace with his decision to retire, he admitted that his biggest disappointment was not winning a title for Philadelphia.
"At the end of the day, I knew what we needed to win football games, and we needed those two dudes to be on the same page," he said. "It was never able to get back there."
Asked if the spat tore the team apart, Dawkins said yes, to a degree.
"It's just division. Once you start having people questioning the direction of the team period, if everybody's not going in the same direction for whatever reason, there's going to be division, and you don't want division because you already got things going on with other teams."
Looking ahead, Dawkins did not sound surprised with the direction Owens' career has headed.
"I really hate the fact that it's continuing to go down this path because of other things that have come out previously about T.O.," he said. "One of the things that I always said is that when his talent was no longer of use to people, that the way that he treated some individuals could come back to haunt him. And hopefully it's not 100 percent going down that path, but it really is looking that way."
As for McNabb, Dawkins gave his former teammate a strong vote of support, recommending that a team take a chance on him one more time as a starting quarterback.
"With what he's doing this offseason, I believe it'll pay dividends," Dawkins said, adding that he was surprised by reports criticizing McNabb's work ethic with the Redskins and the Vikings.
"I've worked out with him," Dawkins said. "I would go down to Arizona and we would work out. Even during the season, when we were in Philadelphia, there would be a couple times a week when he was not doing his quarterback duties... that he would come in there and work out with myself, Trot. We would go in there and really get some good work in. And so, for anybody to question his work ethic, that surprised the heck out of me."
Discussing McNabb's weight gain, Dawkins said, "Donovan was always a guy whose weight was going to fluctuate from time to time. He's one of those individuals who can pick up weight like that, so he has to stay on top of things. I would see his weight fluctuate during the season from time to time, but it was no big deal."
Dawkins added that he understands the criticism of McNabb, but said now is the time to take a chance on him.
"For him to go into those two situations and come out the way that it came out, I see why everybody would question that. I see that," he said. "If there is a year that he's going to be able to show what he can truly do on the football field with a chip on his shoulder, it'll be this year. If a team was going to take a chance, it would be this year because of what he's doing off the field. If not, then, it is what it is."
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I wxpected Dawk to be totally honest and tell us the reason T.O. gave up on McNabb. His awful plaay in the laszt minute and 30 seconds of ther suoerbowl, which continued in 2005. Reid knew this but hped McNabb would get better. He didn't and he was force to trade McNabb after the 24-0 pasting in Dallas. But Dawk just played the party line, protecting McNabb.— mario1239- the team played well. the coaches gameplan was stupid. it was a winnable game, Reid almost could have beaten bellichek maybe the only time of his career because he had the strongest team he had ever fielded that season, and he STILLS SCREWED IT UP. 55 passhes to 12 rushes. 55 to 12. Bellichek was around 50/50. probably 25-30 rushes. to Andys 55/12 80/20 predictable all-pass garbage that has never won a single superbowl in the history of PLANET EARTH. NEVER. HE SHOULD BE FIRED WITHIN 3 DAYS OF THE 2012 SEASON ENDING AFTER HE BLOWS ANOTHER PLAYOFF GAME OR ENTIRE SEASON. EITHER WAY HE WILL BE A LOSER AT THE END, LIKE ALWAYS. NEVER.— CharlieGarner25
- Your comment should have been, "How I want to take the blame off of Vick for his poor play and blame Jackson." Look kid, when I was in college Journalism majors were the second dumbest students, barely ahead of the jocks, so how do you plan on fooling us. All great receivers have dropped balls, Even Jerry Rice. I still have the videos. The biggest impact on the 2011 Eagles was the 36 turnover by the offense, the 18 interception by Vick and the giving the other team six extra drives a game, whicxh no defense can overcome.. The killing part was when Reid sat Vick down for the hardest part of the schedule when Vick only had bruised rib. Roma played with broken ribs that punctured lungs and so did Brady. Reid knew if Vick had played and lost to the Giants, Pats amnd Seahawks both he and Vick would be done in philly. But with Vick on the bench, he could blame Young as if to say Vick could have beaten either of these teams. Everyone but Lurie knows that's a lie. We need a new owner.— mario1239
- The real reason the Eagles made it to the SUPERBOWL was not because of T.O. It was because the opposing QB was Mike Vick.— Geno D
- I'll take BDawk's word on all of it!— JBinPA
- I hate to say I agree but I do...McNabb would be worth a look as our backup...— soalivetoday
- Why don't we just bring Rich Kotite back too, heck lets bring back fredEX while we are at it. I DON'T WANT TO SEE AN EAGLE THROW UP ON ANY FIELD ON LIVE TV ANY MORE!
— chilenos - What's discussed in the locker room should remain in the locker room.— Dexter
- if the Eagles need anything to go right,it is to leave past ghosts,in the past.somewhat,i don't feel this team going backwards,but maybe..maybe McNabb,can be a second to Vick...didn't they try that??lol...T.O,i think his time is up.but he might a young team,trying to get a wideout,he could backup for a team.he just has too much baggage for the eagles to chance. would the front office even think of bringing these two back?....hmmm..lol..think about that one fans!— t_darb_56
- As usual, Charlie Garner is an "expert." What an idiot. Rather than post basically the same thing again and again, why not go take a class in basic English grammar? It's brutal to watch you butcher the English language every time you post. There is never a positive word, either. You are a sad and pathetic person.— phillyinsd
- T.O.: he's te best WR if he walked on the eagles now. Imagine if he played with Vick.— Tyrone Biggums
- I have to hand it to the fans who hate McNabb: it is pure, passionate hatred. So pure and passionate, in fact, that they can put McNabb a few rungs below an utter, cancerous tool like TO.— terp
- It is not hatred, just a reaction from the overhype of his skills. WHen he was young and ran the ball, he was like the 11th and 12th player on the field. Opposing defenses had to stay in man and McNabb reacted to whomever got open. WHen he stopped running and defenses could mix it up, McNabb's weaknesses were readilly visible. He had trouble reading zone coverages, throwing slant and timing routes and had poor touch on the ball. He was great when he was a running threat, below average in the pocket. Take away the screen passes, and his completion percentage probably would have been around 40%-50%. I for one got tired of hearing how great he was, especially later in his career when anyone watching the games knew otherwise. — chris_r
- If by "mediate" he means telling TO to STFU and play, then yes, he should've mediated that conflict. But I remember Trotter, for example, siding with T.O. and Dawkins acting as if McNabb and TO were equally to blame for the situation, which clearly wasn't the case. That entire situation was created by TO.— p-diddy
- McSlob is finished...get over it people...too fat, too slow, too inaccurate, too dumb, has been wanna be hanger on— SkipinWV
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