By Chris Sherman
By now, I am quite sure each person reading this article is aware of the trade of long-time Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb. He now goes to the Washington Redskins for the 37th pick of the 2010 draft and a conditional 3rd or 4th round pick in the 2011 draft. He was the helmsman of a team which has had enormous amounts of success in the past decade (3rd winning-ist team in that span) and yet has continually left unfinished business. His departure, thus, has brought up a wide range of emotions from fans ranging from disgust at the Eagles for letting him go to disgust at the Eagles for letting him stay so long (interestingly enough, as I live in the greater D.C. area right now, the emotions from Redskins fans are nearly identical to Eagles fans in the split between excitement and despair towards the trade).
Let us address the latter fans first. I know that despite the drunken fools who shout things that they don’t understand, there are plenty of knowledgeable and devoted Eagles fans who shared the opinion that the sooner Donovan left the better. But frankly, this opinion baffles me. I can’t comprehend the minds of people who have watched this team for just about any subset of this past decade and are, without any shred of uncertainty, sure of the team’s greater future without McNabb. I am well aware of his sub-par completion percentage. I likewise groaned loudly every time I’d see one of his missed passes missing by a wide margin. But I also know that I jumped up out of my chair cheering every time he threw one of his 216 touchdown passes for strikes (or ran in one of his 28 rushing touchdowns). I likewise didn’t have to suffer from momentum-crushing interceptions, which plagued so many other quarterbacks in this league, with anywhere near their frequency. Players all have flaws but that doesn’t necessarily keep them from being great. Look at Ryan Howard. The man strikes out a lot. He strikes out so often that his total number of strikeouts for two of his seasons both rank amongst the top four of all time. That’s a pretty major flaw but one that does not restrict his greatness nor his popularity in Philadelphia. If the Phillies had failed to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, would the fans to whom this paragraph addresses be clamoring for his release/trade as well?
The Eagles averaged over ten wins per season while Donovan was the main quarterback in a league where it is generally accepted that anything can happen in the playoffs and in a league where ten wins will usually get you a spot in the playoffs. Yes, I know, the Eagles never got that Superbowl win (btw, if you were thinking that, good job sounding like a Pittsburgh, Dallas, and New York fan). I wanted it every bit as bad as you but I don’t subscribe to the theory that, in a game with 22 starting players for each team, the fate of the game rests in the hands of the two quarterbacks. Most of his career here, he had anything but star wide receivers to aim at. Look at who McNabb has had to throw the ball to since he began ‘failing’ to bring Philadelphia a Superbowl victory. Reggie Brown, Kevin Curtis, Greg Lewis, Todd Pinkston, James Thrash, Donte Stallworth (who was a dodged bullet given his future production and DUI manslaughter charges). Terrell Owens’ talent allowed McNabb to have an enormously successful season before his mouth opened. Is there any one of those players whose departure, or at least relegation from 1&2 WR rank, wasn’t met with cheers and sighs of relief? And yet playoff losses are ultimately blamed solely on him?
To the fans that are angry that McNabb was shipped off (particularly to a division rival), I feel your pain even though I don’t draw your conclusion. Thank you. I was honestly surprised at how many Eagles’ fans were upset about Donovan’s departure and I found it very encouraging. Perhaps there really is a silent majority of fans who look at the big picture. Nonetheless, it was a good move by Eagles’ management. No matter what nonsense Joe Banner and Howie Roseman tell the public, this team is undeniably rebuilding. Cutting 83 years of experience from your roster without using their salary for anything else isn’t exactly my definition of going for the win. So the Eagles instead chose to stock up on draft picks to add our future stars without the expense of free agency. More important than that, in my opinion, is that the Eagles need fresh young leadership to lead their young team. Kevin Kolb is never going to take a leadership role while Donovan takes most of the snaps. The Eagles’ organization is building a brand-new team and Kolb is the guy who needs to take the reins, not next year, but right away.
I can’t exactly wish McNabb good luck next season seeing as he is a division rival now. I’m happy to wish him good luck in his games against Dallas and New York, and I’ll hope that he doesn’t get injured considering the sad state of the Redskins’ offensive line. That much I’ll do. See you in the Hall of Fame Donovan.
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