FredEx rips McNabb; Barkley chimes in
Opinion continues to trickle in from different sources about Donovan McNabb and his return to Philadelphia. Surprise: Freddie Mitchell rips him. And Charles Barkley supports him.
FredEx rips McNabb; Barkley chimes in
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Opinions continue to trickle in from different sources about Donovan McNabb and his return to Philadelphia.
Charles Barkley, a long-time McNabb supporter, thanks owner Daniel Snyder for sending him a Redskins No. 5 jersey, which he plans on wearing to Sunday's game.
"I've always said that Donovan's never gotten the respect he deserves in Philadelphia, and before Michael Vick got in the game, I didn't know that," Barkley said during an interview with Howard Eskin and Ike Reese on 610 WIP. "But I'm wearing my Donovan McNabb Jersey and I can't wait until Sunday at 4:15 Eastern."
Barkley hopes McNabb gets cheered by Eagles fans. He said when he returned to Philadelphia as a member of the Phoenix Suns, he received a huge ovation, and it was one of the greatest moments of his career.
He added that he's not worried about getting abused by Eagles fans for wearing Redskins colors and said he'll get the last laugh when the Redskins win. Barkley agreed to wear a Michael Vick jersey on TNT if the Birds win, and said he is pulling for Vick too.
"I'm really pulling for Michael Vick and I'm glad he's doing well, but he's just in the wrong place at the wrong time this weekend," Barkley said.
FRED-EX RIPS MCNABB
It's been awhile since Freddie Mitchell ripped McNabb, but he sounded off this week in an interview with Eskin and Reese, explaining why he has always had a problem with the former Eagles quarterback.
"I really didn't like him because he wasn't going down the progressions. He wasn't going one, two, three and then four," Mitchell said. "I was the third progression off the offensive playbook so it was like I'm running my routes as hard as possible and he's not looking at that. He's going from one to the safety valve, which was Brian Westbrook, which isn't a bad safety valve, but a lot of the great quarterbacks, they'll read down the progression and that's how the west-coast offense is supposed to be ran."
However, Mitchell said McNabb is now going through progressions better than he ever has, and the Eagles shouldn't have gotten rid of him.
Mitchell added that McNabb never made his teammates better, wasn't accurate and really did not want Vick here in the first place, despite what he said publicly.
"No, I don't believe he wanted him there at all because Donovan wants all the attention on him," he said. "When Terrell came, there was no attention to Donovan McNabb. Nobody cared about Donovan. It was the T.O. show. Now when Vick came, it's just more pressure on Donovan because he knows how Philly fans are. As soon as he throws that one ball in the dirt, they're going to be like 'Let's go to Michael Vick. What is he doing? We're paying him this money. Get rid of him.' From Day 1, they wanted to get rid of Donovan McNabb."
ROOTING FOR VICK
ESPN.com's Bill Simmons focused his Friday picks column on Vick and said he's rooting for the new Eagles quarterback:
If Vick didn't pay a reasonable price for his sins, it would be one thing. But he torched his career, blew a lucrative contract, went bankrupt, spent 19 months in prison and became a public pariah. That wasn't a reasonable price? Every prison sentence has four goals: remove a lawbreaking person from society; assess an appropriate penalty; incarcerate the individual as a deterrence from ever breaking the law again; and hopefully, rehabilitate him or her to become a contributing and upstanding member of society. With Vick, the first three goals were accomplished. The fourth goal seems to have been accomplished. What more do you want? Deny him a chance to make a living? Under what constitutional umbrella? The man paid his price.
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Charles thinkd he is going to wear a #5 Skins' jersey at the Linc and not get booed....Uhh....OK.— ericg610- Freddie Mitchell couldn't get open. That's why he didn't get the ball.— p-diddy
- Hopefully Freddie won't be inducted into Canton on the same day as McNabb. That would be awkward.— s
- If McNabb didn't make the receivers better, then can Freddie show us the great production he had on his next team after the Eagles? Freddie has some valid points, but he exaggerates them. McNabb seemed to check down to Westbrook too much, but that beats a sack and it does put the ball in the hands of a lethal weapon. Mitchell was incredibly lucky that the Eagles made him a high draft pick. He got way more money than he ever earned.— tacklinjoe
- I don't think our prison system is really supposed to rehabilitate anyone. It's more about retribution and also keeping dangerous people off the streets.— p-diddy
It's funny that Donovan didn't hold back T.O., Jackson, or Maclin. (the only good receivers he ever had)He only held back Fredex (a bona fide nobody)!- hmmmmmmm, and the beat goes on... can't wait until Monday...— M60tanker
- Only a self-promoting loser like Eskin would be interested in what another self promoting loser like Mitchell would have to say.— jimmyj
Freddie you blow as a player...that's why you never got the ball. You were lazy and ran terrible routes...why would you get the ball?- I am one of the (VERY!) few that liked Fred-X. Fourth-and-26 anybody?? He, believe it or not, made several valid points about Mc5, particularly about his defensive "reads". Also, I don't think there was a mean bone in his body...most of the stuff he spouted, while self aggrandizing, was innocuous, funny and entertaining. And let's be fair here....he didn't draft himself....Andy did. The fact that he could never be the "slot" guy Andy wanted him to be is just one of Andy's " I don't care if he THINKS he's a safety...we're gonna make him into a Tackle!" type projects. Maybe he WASN'T one of the good ones....but I liked him.— TBear
- Has "FredEx" ever even made a play in the NFL when McNabb wasn't throwing the ball??? Some people just don't appreciate— Joyner80
- The Fans who don't drink the Koolaid and that have a few cognitive brain functions and who believe that winning doesn't make everything all right shouldn't have been put in a position to have this guy play the most important position on the team they love. Going to jail and losing (yeah right) money, might square you with the Gov't, it might square you with God, but it doesn't square you with me. McNabb ruined football around here for a decade and now this isht! I hope I live long enough for the team to become one I can be proud to support again.Tomorrow is going to be a good day, relax, enjoy my family and not have to waste my time on what passes for football around here.
Chuck B and Simmons are morons— Mike721 - This is true story. When Freddie Mac played for the birds my buddy delivered a pizza to him at fox chase in maple shade. Not only did he not give my friend a tip, when he asked him for an autograph, he said only for a free pizza. being the delivery guy, obviously my friend couldnt do that, so he got stiffed and no autograph. needless to say, we were never freddie fans after that. cheapskate and a jerk to a true fan who actually recognized him off the field. classless. sounds like he hasnt changed a bit.— arcadegm
- The player I have a question about is Jabaar Gaffney. Led Houston in receiving, comes here, gets cut, goes to New England, has an outstanding couple of years there (of course Brady was throwing to him), goes to Denver, does well there. How can this be? A question is always brought up , that any receiver the Eagles cut, other than TO, was no good. Gaffney is real good. Personally, I think McNabb has issues with receivers. Name one that he got along with? Not Fred Ex, Not TO, not Reggie Brown, not Desean or Maclin. Maybe Kevin Curtis? But the Gaffney thing has always intrigued me because I think McNabb had something to do with him not be successful here, because he was successful everywhere he has been.— watsonmr
- Freedie is an idiot and he thinks McNabbis not a great QB. So what does it say abut fans like wolf braindawkins20, and nutron and of course the talk-show hosts.
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