TRUSTS CHOOCH IN A PINCH
Amid all the talk about Donovan McNabb’s future with the Eagles, McNabb also discounted the suggestion that Brian Westbrook is planning to retire.
“All the talk people are saying on retirement or whatever it may be, it’s all false,” said McNabb, adding that Westbrook is looking to bounce back from last season.
Westbrook’s season was marred by a pair of concussions. A report after the season indicated that Westbrook’s left knee could lead him to retire and that he had a number of doctor’s visits lined up.
McNabb also seems undaunted by all the speculation about his future as he began practice with the NFC for the Pro Bowl today at a high school in Fort Lauderdale.
“I don’t even get into that, until if that was to happen," McNabb told reporters, including Daily News correspondent Andy Kent. "But you know what? I love being in Philly. I’ve been there 11 years, we’ve had a lot of success over the years and I don’t believe in starting somewhere and going somewhere else to finish your career. I believe in starting somewhere and finishing what you started and my goal is to win a Super Bowl, bring it back to Philadelphia because I think they deserve it. We’ve given them some great years but we just haven’t been able to finish and I think good things are to happen pretty soon.”
Meanwhile, McNabb's status remains a part of the discussion at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala, A key official of a team often linked to McNabb trade speculation told the Daily News that his team would be interested, but he does not think the Eagles are going to deal McNabb.
McNabb was asked if he ever wondered what it would be like if he were to be traded and play for a team other than the Eagles after 11 seasons in Philly.
“No. I let other people think about that," McNabb said. "For me, the grass being greener is really what field we’re playing on and when you’re in Philadelphia obviously there are ups and there are downs and I’ve been a part of it for 11 years so it doesn’t affect me at all.”
McNabb enters the final year of his contract with the Eagles, as does backup Kevin Kolb.
“I think we shouldn’t really focus on that," he said. "I love playing the game and that’s what it comes down to and I am under contract for a year. So we don’t know what’s going to happen in 2011. We just don’t know and if I have to come back and play, hey that’s great. I would love to because I love this team. I love being around these guys and competing and I think that things can happen for us.”
Eagles coach Andy Reid has said McNabb will be his quarterback next season.
"Why wouldn’t I be? We’ve been going through this the last two or three years and I’ve been in one spot," McNabb said. "I don’t want to be anywhere else but Philly and Andy came out to say it and the guys want me back and that’s the most important thing.”
More from McNabb in tomorrow's Daily News, plus a report from the Senior Bowl.
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The Eagles have promoted Barry Rubin to head strength and conditioning coach and added Ken Croner as assistant strength and conditioning coach.
Rubin spent the last two seasons as the Eagles strength and conditioning assistant and has 13 years of NFL experience on his resume. Rubin served as the head strength and conditioning coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1999-2005.
Croner joins the Eagles from Athletes Performance based in Phoenix, where he worked primarily with NFL athletes during their offseason training regimen. He also trained players preparing for the NFL Combine.
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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