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As usual, the cop in the middle of the intersection, the one who will decide more than the others which direction the team takes, is Donovan McNabb. Perhaps it is too dramatic to say that this season, certainly this season, marks the get-it-done-or-move-on moment in the quarterback's tenure here. Then again, maybe it is merely stating the obvious.
If McNabb has not worn out his welcome with the fans and ultimately the front office, he has definitely worn out his body in the last several years. Approaching 32, he appears to be one more injury, or one more disappointing season, from being allowed to get on with his life's work elsewhere, to borrow Buddy Ryan's deadpan phrase.
For his part, McNabb has done what he always does to prepare for the season. He worked hard to finish off the rehabilitation process from his most recent injury, got himself in optimal physical shape and made it to another starting line while apparently ignoring the swirling doubt around him.
During training camp and the exhibition season, McNabb looked sharp. He is trimmer than he was a few years ago when he went through his bodybuilding phase and appears to have regained the mobility that would allow him to be a "running" quarterback again, if he so chooses, but, failing that, gives him the ability to elude trouble and buy time for his receivers.
Buying more time is what the remainder of McNabb's career is all about. Somehow the years have rushed past, nine of them, and the quarterback will be fortunate if he gets one additional chance to win a Super Bowl. Asking more than that - two injury-free, productive seasons and two successful playoff runs - is pushing what the odds might allow.
McNabb is comfortable with that pragmatism and, whatever his faults have been, he is personally not afraid to fail. Where he has let down, and been let down, involves his confidence in those around him. If McNabb holds on to the football too long and takes a bad sack, it isn't generally because he thinks he will throw an interception but because he often has receivers who only catch perfect passes or can't separate themselves from defenders.
By this time, McNabb has just about seen it all with this team, and he knows better than to make predictions based on the excitement of training camp or the watered-down environment of the exhibitions. His response last week when asked if the team was better now than at the end of 2007 - hardly a toughie - reflected his practical viewpoint.
"That's hard to say," McNabb said, before launching a circular analysis of how the team is now more experienced, but might take a while to make the pieces fit together.
"It's kind of hard . . . to make that assumption right now," he said, not willing to mouth the easy platitude about the bright new season and the team that will grab it by the throat.
He's right, because there are things that cannot be known now, and many of them involve McNabb himself. If Andy Reid and the front office were correct last season - that the team's problems from the start were largely because McNabb had not recovered from 2006 knee surgery - then it's fair to be optimistic. Reid and, to a lesser extent, McNabb maintain that the quarterback who led the Eagles to a narrow loss against the Giants and then three straight wins at the end of the season was the real McNabb, although the passer ratings were nothing special in any of those games. The guy under center as the team limped out to a 3-5 start, well, that was a quarterback playing on one leg.
Perhaps that's true, but it is also possible that McNabb, who hasn't played a complete season since the 2004 Super Bowl campaign, has seen his skills eroded by the injuries and the passage of time. This season is for answering which is which, and the answer may well be the final one.
There are other uncertainties concerning the team, of course. The Lito-Sheldon-Asante triangle at the cornerback position could become either a strength or an ongoing soap opera with agent Drew Rosenhaus at the pump organ. The receiving corps is very thin and, at the moment, dependant on DeSean Jackson for production beyond what a rookie can normally provide. The linebackers are interesting, but either inexperienced or untested at their positions. The lines have to stay healthy, the kicking and punting games have to be better than last season, and on and on.
All of this makes the Eagles no different from any other team, of course, but a lot has to go right.
And it has to go right from the very first game with McNabb. He knows that and, just like you, he knows what is possible, but has no idea what to expect.
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