Freddie Mitchell is still talking
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Freddie Mitchell is still talking
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
I started this blog back in July, and this will be my third post about Freddie Mitchell.Kind of embarrassing. I know.
That being said, when I saw FredEx granting yet another interview -- this time on Comcast SportsNet -- I had to grab my laptop.
Mitchell talked about the usual topics -- the Super Bowl, Donovan McNabb and 4th-and-26. He also took a little shot (by my interpretation) at his boy T.O. for being "hurt every two weeks." If someone could please get Ed Werder on the phone to get reaction from Owens, I'd appreciate it.
But before we get to the quotes, rest assured that this week will be all about Eagles-Giants and the divisional round of the playoffs. Here are my 10 observations from the win over the Vikings in case you missed them.
And now excerpts from Mitchell's interview:
On 4th and 26: "The media and the Eagles try to downplay that play. They don’t really want to put it in as one of their greatest plays that ever happened. The play really pissed me off though. The play really got me mad because if you look at the whole game, that was the first time they ever threw me the ball. For it to be 20 degrees, and working as hard as I worked the whole game, that was the first time I even got thrown to the whole game, so it really got me mad. And I just want to thank Donovan McNabb for giving me the opportunity on 4th-and-26 to catch a ball that game."
On [OK, I have no idea what the question was here]: "Sometimes the Eagles have a lot of control over the media, especially Comcast. And they understand what to say and what to talk about. You can go ahead and belittle Freddie Mitchell all you want because we control the situation and we control the success so I think that has a lot to do with it."
On his performance in the Super Bowl: "If you go and look at the film, I did a lot of work to free T.O. I did a lot of work to free him up. You can go and look, go and see, I remember vividly, I was picking players so he could get wide open and run 40-yard first downs."
"I had all that tension with me and all that hype brought up and it really was bitter because I didn’t feel like I was being utilized my whole time in Philly the way I should have been so I couldn’t really shut the Patriots up like I wanted to."
On the Eagles' fourth-quarter drive against the Patriots: "That last drive, when I had to call out the plays, as Jon Runyan and Hank Fraley discussed earlier, and really let the cat out the bag that I called a couple plays for the whole team, so it was interesting."
On his time in Philadelphia: "It was annoying because I’d go through the same practices and everything else. Four years with the Eagles with no injury, playing every game. Little things like that don’t get noticed. You can go and have the big No. 1 receiver and everything else but he’s hurt every two weeks. So it’s good though. I enjoyed my time with the Eagles. I loved everything about Philadelphia and I definitely wouldn’t take nothing back if I had to do it all over again."
Food at Freddie Michell BBQ place in Lakeland is GREAT !— BloggerDad- How about reporting about the REAL Freddie Mitchell ? Read his blog and ask YOUR question http://freddie-mitchell.blogspot.com/ The postings here are BORING trash !— BloggerDad
- I just found out Freddie is back in his hometown of Lakeland, FL and took over what's known as a local landmark BBQ joint in the town. I use to work in that area and know live 120 miles away from there, but next time I go thru the area I'm stopping in, getting a pulled pork sandwich and a sweet tea, and when Freddie asks how everything was, I'm gonna thank his hands for being so great! (but only if the BBQ is good). I think I'll take my DVD recapping that season for him to sign. I'll report back on the quality of the food after I do.— Florida4Eagles
- Knighn, you beat me to it. If he's all that then he'd still be playing somewhere, right? I mean, his argument is that the EAGLES didn't use him right. There are a lot of smart coaches and scouts out there looking for talent. What is his argument for why one of those geniuses hasn't been blinded by his awesomeness?— dviljoen
Comment removed.- Sheil, next time you write about him, you should post a clip of that catch.— MFPhils
- anyone who loves Philly is down in my book. Simple as that, because you have to have a lot of heart to love Philly...— MFPhils
- Let's take this discussion one step further, still. The team's "General Manager" decided to choose Freddie Mitchell Number One when he could have taken any number of players instead, many who've turned out to be real playmakers for extended periods of time, (see the list of players, above). Now, ask this question: "Do the Eagles need to hire a real GM?"
No matter what you want to say, that play will live in Eagle's folklore forever. Freddie made a tough catch, in an unbelievably impossible situation. Nobody dreamed the Birds would play another game that post-season. I love Freddie. He can talk all he wants. He's the only reason I read this.— shotime- Hey Fred? Do something already. Try holding the mic on some d-star reality show, or man up and put the peoples "champ" belt on and fight another loser like Conseco. Maybe we'll watch...pffft— Teps
- I think the reason you don't see 4th-and-26 on a lot of highlight reels is that the play only went 25 yards. It was the most generous spot of the season. Don't get me wrong...I'm grateful, but I had no idea Tim Donaghy was an NFL zebra.— Scorekeeper
- Hey, as embarrassing as it is, it is nice (for a change) to see an author of a Philly.com blog actually replying to user comments (user: skapadia, for those who didn't realize such).— tokar
- TBEAR, IT'S JONES WHO OWNS THE ZOO IN DALLAS. MITCHELL WOULD FIT IN FINE.— JACK V
- What suprises me, is the fact that the people who have granted this, "fountain of useless dribble" interviews, still have jobs!!! There isn't a person outside of Philly that even knows this guy ever played in the NFL and most of us in Philly have been trying our hardest to forget!!! Just a side note...I have a picture of Freddie and his "fro-hawk" in my basement and it has done a wonderful job of keeping the rodents away! :)— extremebeat
- The reason that catch is forgotten is because they did not win the Superbowl— Lemur
- The Eagles decided to go with Greg Lewis instead of Fred Mitchell. Dude, if you can't beat our Greg Lewis for a roster spot....never mind. Don't we have a divisional playoff game against the Giants to talk about?— p-diddy
- First time post and I'm going to quote a decent Coach here regarding Mr. Mitchell "He's terrible and you can print that" -Bill Belichick— bobf123
- OK... let me take this further before someone responds. Did he have some NFL-level talent? Yes. Was it enough? Well, let's just put it this way. James Thrash is still in the NFL and Freddie Mitchell isn't.— knighn
- OK... let me take this further before someone responds. Did he have some NFL-level talent? Yes. Was it enough? Well, let's just put it this way. James Thrash is still in the NFL and Freddie Mitchell isn't.— knighn
- Let's play devil's advocate for a second. Let's pretend that Freddie Mitchell was an extremely talented, hard-working, NFL-caliber wide receiver that was simply underutilized by Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid. With all of this talent, he couldn't get a job somewhere else to prove himself? Heck, even Arena Football and the Canadian Football League didn't take a chance on him? Or "hard-working" Freddie didn't make the effort to prove himself elsewhere? OK, even if he was "black-listed" (or something like that) by the Philadelphia Eagles, wouldn't he have caught on somewhere else? Talent and hard work has a way of shining through (even if people talk bad about you, or you act like a jerk). Let's just face it already, Freddie: you weren't that good.— knighn
- Comment removed.
- Honest to heaven, I love the guy! I honestly don't think there is a mean bone in his whole head....just a lot of little things scurrying for the light of day. You can say what you want about his mouth, but that guy DID possess a great set of hands. That 4th&26 was a masterpiece (by Donavan too!) and should be on all the highlight reels.....but it seems like most people just shrug it off these days. They don't make that play, Green Bay goes on to the Conference Championship game, and they don't fire their coach! Really, the only thing missing from Fred X's game is a small piece of duct tape. I wish him the very best and wish that I could have seen him playing for someone else....like Dallas today maybe....How about it Mr. Johnson, any room left at the zoo?— TBear
- The term 'ONE CATCH WONDER' comes to mind.— Rob
- Thanks for the grab on 4th & 26, now shut up and go away.— jonnyb0916
- can you believe the players that the Eagles could have drafted instead of Freddie Mitchell...here's a partial list: Reggie Wayne, Todd Heap, Drew Brees, Chris Chambers, Steve Smith, TJ Houshmandzadeh, oh my, what could have been...— sedale
- Comment removed.
- It's really funny that anyone even wants to interview him. How long has Freddy been out of football now?— rwright611
- Ah the peoples champ. I can't believe a receiver of his talent wasn't playing in the Arena League after NO NFL team wanted him.— cusoraider
lol— MPatt24- Comment removed.
- Dierte, I know. That's what I meant. I'm an embarrassment. I guess it's some kind of blogging disease. I'll work on it.— skapadia
- Comment removed.
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