Rich Hofmann: For Eagles, biggest change is an assertive McNabb
IF THE TOPIC this season is change, nobody on the Eagles seems more changed than Donovan McNabb. No one knows if it will matter, of course - such is the beauty of the mystery of a National Football League season. How an alteration in public personality might affect a person's play on the field is debatable, at best. A personal guess is that it will b
IF THE TOPIC this season is change, nobody on the Eagles seems more changed than Donovan McNabb.
No one knows if it will matter, of course - such is the beauty of the mystery of a National Football League season. How an alteration in public personality might affect a person's play on the field is debatable, at best. A personal guess is that it will be the kind of evidence that might be employed in hindsight, that this change will be a convenient method of explaining either the ability of McNabb to take the final step in his career ("He finally took charge!") or the ultimate collapse of this whole fragile enterprise ("The bond between coach and quarterback was broken!"). Either way, it'll work as shorthand for intellectual gymnasts.
Which means that we really don't know what it means. All we can know for sure is that McNabb is different now - more direct, more willing to travel out of lockstep with his coach and his bosses. That part is very real. Using the most recent example, from 2 weeks back, there is no way on earth that McNabb would have been seen on the sidelines 5 years ago arguing with and gesturing at offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg about how the Michael Vick experiment needed to be toned down.
We all know when it began - in the aftermath of being benched by Andy Reid at halftime of a dismal performance last November against Baltimore. It remains one of the seminal moments in the public life of this quarterback: the booing on draft day, Rush Limbaugh, Terrell Owens, the benching. McNabb remains the best quarterback in the modern history of the franchise yet his career has been marked by these crises.
In every one of them, he has been the victim. His critics say that he revels in victimhood, which is his problem. You would need an advanced degree in psychology and a few hours with No. 5 on the couch to make that determination, which we don't have. And what any of this has to do with how McNabb plays on the final Sunday of the season is beyond me.
That said, it is different this time.
The benching did change everything.
In the aftermath of the benching, he took open offense at the notion that it was necessary, given his shoddy play, and that it somehow turned his season around (which it did). In the past, he would have talked his way around the question, but not this time.
As last season wound down, he said publicly that he was going to have a talk with his bosses to get a few things straight, and that he thought it was time for a contract extension. Again, it had never happened before.
During the offseason, he used a media surrogate - Michael Smith from ESPN - to lay out the kind of or-else that he had never laid out before: that the Eagles had better bring in some more offensive weapons or I might not be interested in an extension after all.
When club president Joe Banner said at the beginning of training camp that, barring injuries, the Eagles had the most talented roster in the NFL, McNabb said whoa, whoa, whoa.
When Reid said it was his idea to acquire Michael Vick, McNabb went out of his way to say that, no, it was his idea first.
And in that third exhibition game, with Vick being force-fed into the offense for the first time, it was McNabb who demonstrably approached Mornhinweg to tell him it was too much, too soon, and that the rest of the offense needed the work. And then, after the game, after Reid said that offensive rhythm wasn't a problem and that he had no idea about McNabb's cut-it-out gestures to Mornhinweg, McNabb said flatly that rhythm was a problem.
All of this is different, to say the least. As a public person, McNabb clearly does not fear being separated from his bosses anymore. Some of this is subtle, true, but he seems more willing than ever to walk alone.
Of course, how this might translate to the football field is the question. Is this all just conversation or is it meaningful for this player and this franchise? Only two things are certain: We don't know, and we can't wait to find out. Because even as Donovan McNabb evolves, some things never change.
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