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Phil Sheridan: No. 5 is ready for a fresh start

ASHBURN, Va. - For Donovan McNabb, Tuesday was more about his new beginning than about the past. It was more about hello than about goodbye.

"I thought that I was treated fairly," Donovan McNabb said of Philadelphia fans. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
"I thought that I was treated fairly," Donovan McNabb said of Philadelphia fans. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more

ASHBURN, Va. - For Donovan McNabb, Tuesday was more about his new beginning than about the past. It was more about hello than about goodbye.

It had to be. If he learned nothing else from his 11 years in Philadelphia, McNabb learned there is no point in trying to change minds or correct perceptions. Keep moving forward, it makes for a harder target to hit.

"I thought that I was treated fairly," McNabb said. "Never have you heard me complain about what the fans are doing, or the media. That's not my concern. I block that out. If you allow it to affect what you do, what your team relies on you to do, you're never going to accomplish anything."

It took Mike Shanahan, a man he'd met less than 24 hours earlier, to strip away all the layers of emotion and frustration, reality and distortion, spin and agenda. It took the head coach of his new team to sum up McNabb's contributions to his old team.

In introducing McNabb to the Washington media, Shanahan said his wife had asked him about McNabb.

"He's won 65 percent of his games," Shanahan said. "He's been to five NFC championships in the last 11 years. She said, 'Well, when was the team there last, before Donovan?' She had me. I didn't know. Twenty years. So all of a sudden a guy comes in, Donovan McNabb, and takes a franchise to the NFC championship game in five out of his 11 years."

The rest is noise.

"That's the nature of this profession," Shanahan said. "If you don't get it done, there's going to be critics out there that are constantly questioning, can you get it done? That's just the nature of this game."

Andy Reid and Jim Johnson coached those teams. Dozens of other players contributed to the success and disappointment over those seasons. There was turmoil. There were great memories. There were injuries and controversies. There was no Super Bowl championship.

"We didn't win it [all]," McNabb said. "But it was a great ride. Every time we stepped out on the field, the fans felt confident we could win that game. That's the most important thing. Every time the Eagles stepped on the field, everyone felt confident we would win."

It is not a bad legacy for a quarterback to leave behind. That fans came to take that sense of confidence for granted is undeniable. So is the fact that McNabb has now been denied the chance to clear that final hurdle, at least in Philadelphia.

"Through my 11 years, you can't say I haven't accomplished a lot," McNabb said. "There's one thing I didn't accomplish, and I hope to accomplish it here, in Washington. That's winning a Super Bowl. If that happens, that's outstanding, but I'll be looking to win another one."

McNabb was a little bit sad it had come to this, a little bit excited about the chance to try his hand with a new coach and new teammates. There was not a trace of bitterness. He called Reid "a future Hall of Fame coach" and gave his successor, Kevin Kolb, a vote of confidence.

"He'll be fine," McNabb said. "Andy's a great coach."

He took a playful shot at Reid's mania for passing the ball, but it was very clear that McNabb would have preferred to play his entire career with the Eagles. It is impossible, given some of the history, for most observers to understand that, but it is true.

Asked for his parting words to Eagles fans, McNabb started with, "Thank you." As someone who has covered him since the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., in January 1999, I am certain those words were sincere.

Does he have a chance to rewrite his legacy? Washington has not exactly been a model franchise under Dan Snyder, and it doesn't look like a championship-caliber team. But Shanahan has been in a similar spot.

"When I got to Denver, the defense was ranked 28th," Shanahan said. "The offense was ranked 10th. John Elway was in his 12th year. We didn't have a first-, second- or third-round draft choice. The first year, we were 8-8. Then 13-3. Then people were saying John Elway should retire until we won a Super Bowl and he was MVP."

McNabb brought up Elway's late-career renaissance under Shanahan, too. He'd love to write a similar ending to his own story.

"He finished John's career with two Super Bowls," McNabb said. "Hopefully, I can continue to follow behind that. Everything I've been a part of, we've won. We may not have won a Super Bowl, but we won."

That is harder to do than McNabb and the Eagles made it look, but that's the past now. McNabb's future is here, in the second-best situation he could have hoped for.

"Fresh start," Shanahan said. "That sounds better than being fired, doesn't it?"