McNabb: Owens adds no burden
This article was originally published in the Inquirer on March 30, 2004.
"Take Ricky!" on draft day 1999, that was pressure.
Facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense on one leg, that was pressure.
Being the unwelcome focus of the Rush Limbaugh brouhaha, that was pressure.
Trying to meet Super-Bowl-or-bust expectations with Todd Pinkston, James Thrash and searing pain in the rib cage, that was pressure.
Having Terrell Owens as a teammate? That's the kind of pressure Donovan McNabb is looking forward to dealing with. In a sit-down with reporters yesterday, the Eagles quarterback seemed amused by the idea that having a bona-fide No. 1 receiver will somehow increase his burden.
"I don't feel that way," McNabb said. "There are a lot of quarterbacks out there who have big-name receivers who don't win the big game. Is that ever talked about? Maybe not. I don't have added pressure on my shoulders at all. I always go out with the attitude I'm going to make every play possible. Having two big names on the offensive side should make it easier for all of the other guys to step up. "
McNabb repeatedly mentioned teammates Pinkston and Freddie Mitchell, Brian Westbrook and Correll Buckhalter, L.J. Smith and Chad Lewis. Clearly, he wanted to send the message that Owens' presence will make everyone better.
But will it put pressure on McNabb by eliminating the last possible excuse not to succeed? That's a little like asking Neil Armstrong if he felt more pressure to make it to the moon with a rocket ship.
Try getting there without one.
The idea that McNabb needed or wanted an excuse just doesn't jibe with the player we've all watched develop over the last five years. This is not a man content to earn big money and have a nice career. McNabb is as driven to win as any professional player who has passed through this city in the last 20 years.
He has never avoided the leadership responsibility that comes with being a star player or, more specifically, a quarterback. There is no "I'm just one of 53 [or 20 or 12 or 25] guys" from McNabb.
Now more than ever, that is going to be crucial to the Eagles' success. The departures of Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor and Duce Staley essentially stripped away a layer of veteran leadership. There are just six players on the Eagles roster who have been here longer than McNabb: Brian Dawkins, Jermane Mayberry, Tra Thomas, Ike Reese, Koy Detmer and Hollis Thomas.
So McNabb is not only a leader by virtue of being the quarterback. He's one of the pillars, one of the longest-tenured Eagles.
"It's tough every year," McNabb said of the constant change. "You make friends with guys. You're together so many years, then you turn around and suddenly they're not there anymore. . . . It's nothing we can control. We just have to be better leaders. There is pressure on guys to step up. "
And if Owens is the kind of personality who will require policing, McNabb is willing to be the sheriff. He's already started, making it clear that Owens will adjust to fit the Eagles offense - not the other way around.
"It's not [as if] I am going to drop back and look for him every time," McNabb said. "In this offense, he may not get 100 catches. He wouldn't get 147 catches. He is going to have a great year and the rest of the guys will have great years as well.
"There will be times when you are double-teamed or are not the first guy in the read. I think he understands that. "
It was just as clear that McNabb doesn't think Owens will be anything like the problem that outsiders seem to expect.
"A lot of people who have watched him over the years never really got a chance to get to know him," McNabb said. "When you are playing on a team where you are the focal guy . . . you are going to get upset when you are not winning and you know that you have a good team. We are going to be able to calm him down if situations sort of get heated and make sure everyone is thinking on the same wavelength. "
Besides, Owens is under a little pressure here, too, thanks to his public expressions of frustration with the 49ers coaches and with quarterback Jeff Garcia. Now Owens has a chance to prove that he can thrive on a winning team with the quarterback he publicly chose.
It is, as McNabb put it, an "exciting" collaboration.
"We feel we can be one of the top passing offenses in the league," McNabb said, smiling as he described the difficulty defenses will have in accounting for Owens, Mitchell, Pinkston, Westbrook and a more developed Smith.
Pressure? McNabb made it sound more like an opportunity and, yes, a challenge.
"We've been the Super Bowl champs on paper the last two years and we haven't gotten there," McNabb said. "There's only one thing we play for, and that's the Super Bowl. "
They're going to try again to get there. With a rocket ship, this time.
