Elmer Smith: Eagles' Kolb should huddle with image expert
IF KEVIN KOLB learns nothing else from the Donovan McNabb era, he should learn that his first task is to gather his team around him. Donovan McNabb's legacy is about how we played his story in the media and, especially, on talk radio.
IF KEVIN KOLB learns nothing else from the Donovan McNabb era, he should learn that his first task is to gather his team around him.
No, not that team. The Eagles have already embraced the new starter. But if he wants to succeed in this town, he'd better gather a team of media-savvy image consultants to start constructing his narrative.
He could throw more touchdowns, gain more yards, win more regular-season and postseason games than any quarterback in franchise history and still end up getting bum-rushed out of town.
He can be an exemplary role model, raise his family here, donate millions of dollars and hundreds of hours to noble causes, and still not be seen as "our kind of guy," whatever that is.
He could play on a broken ankle or with a cracked sternum, come back four weeks after breaking a rib to throw for 264 yards and three touchdowns and still have his toughness questioned.
Because in the final analysis, he will be who we say he is.
Donovan McNabb's legacy is not about how he played. It's about how we played his story in the media and, especially, on talk radio.
Football is mostly off-day stories. In this town, there is an Eagles story almost every day of the season. But only one is a game-day story.
The rest of the week, the media and the talk-show wags speculate about who a player really is. It's about body language and nonverbal cues.
So, Kolb would be wise to work on his swagger. Former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon talked a much better game than he ever played here. But he was often favorably compared to Randall Cunningham, a far better quarterback, because McMahon had swagger.
In 1991, McMahon's best season here, he threw 12 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. But he won the crowd. That was about dark glasses and headbands.
Never a team player, he once wore a Bears jersey to the White House as a member of the Super Bowl-winning Green Bay Packers. That worked for him.
Because a winning image can sometimes trump a losing record. The reverse can also be true, as McNabb's history clearly shows.
Kolb should know by now that the most-enduring narrative may have little to do with how he plays.
In Super Bowl XXXIX, McNabb threw for three touchdowns and came within four points of beating the Patriots, the most dominant team of the decade. But somebody said he threw up in a huddle.
Whether it happened or not, it has become the most talked about moment in the team's first Super Bowl appearance since the 1980 season. This apocryphal tale seems to say more about McNabb's heart than all those times we saw him anchor himself in the pocket to throw a pass even as he was being slammed to the turf.
But even great players come and go. Wilt Chamberlain closed out of town. Maurice Cheeks learned that his playing days here had ended when he came home to find reporters camped out at his front door.
McNabb had a good run here and he was well-paid for his efforts. To his credit, he left town without whining about it.
It's time Kevin Kolb got his chance. He has been waiting in the wings long enough. His skill set seems well-matched to the task. He can do this.
He may never be the athlete that McNabb still is. But I'd be willing to bet that Kolb is good enough to get them a Super Bowl win.
So was McNabb. But he didn't do it and his failure may overshadow everything he did.
He was the greatest quarterback to ever take a snap for the Eagles. But, to a lot of fans, he will always be remembered as a loser.
McNabb's mistake was to think his story would be told in statistical terms.
Kolb should learn from McNabb's mistake while there is still time to shape his own image.
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