No second chance as starter for now

by Joseph Birmingham

Monday September 14, 2009 

Donovan McNabb is a trooper.  He has played ten years in Philadelphia since being drafted in the first round, and he has yet to get any real respect.  In the preseason, his team signed Michael Vick and Donovan did the right thing, he claimed to have lobbied to get him here.  Any normal person would realize that to do so simply wouldn’t make sense for you and me.  Do YOU want someone younger than you standing behind you but getting all the spotlight, waiting for you to mess up or get hurt so he can take over YOUR job ?  I think McNabb said what he did to make sure there would be no quarterback controversy.  Just another sign of him being a class act.

With his latest move, Andy Reid shows he has his star quarterback’s back.  In the day after McNabb’s injury, the blogging world has been full of McNabb leaving, retiring, optioning out his contract, demanding to be traded or being replaced by the “better younger” Vick when he comes off his suspension.  The types that relish controversy and drama have been drooling at the news that McNabb will probably miss some time

Reid however, maintains Kolb is the backup, and Vick will never be the starter here.  I believe Eagles management reinforced that assertion by signing Jeff Garcia.

The pundits now proclaim, “Vick simply isn’t ready, so Reid is getting an insurance QB.”  Why is it that prior to the season you were trying to convince us of how well Vick could play, when you knew he would not start, and now you are proclaiming the Garcia pickup is to protect Vick because he is not ready to start ?  These fans, like Michael Vick, seem to want to have it both ways.  I am tired of hearing this felon’s name.  Do a Google search on the Philadelphia Eagles and you get more “Vick” hits, then sports news.  Do we still HAVE a football team ?

Jimmy Johnson posted on Fox Sports that McNabb had a so-so day before getting hurt.  How about, McNabb threw for 2 touchdowns and ran for another, and was injured on the play by an illegal tackle after he was down in the end zone?  He is now one of only 6 QB’s in history to accomplish this feat in over a dozen games.  How come every other QB in the league gets protected, and McNabb is left hanging out there exposed ? How come the Panther who hit McNabb and stirred this pot didn’t get flagged or sanctioned ?  Do you think our defensive tackles or ends could hit an opposing team’s QB when he was down on the ground stretched out with the ball and the TD call had already been made ?   NOT !!  In tonight’s Monday Night Football a legal hit on Brady by the Buffalo defense  drew an immediate flag.   Why ?  They were protecting the QB.  That is what they do in this league, unless the QB happens to be McNabb.  So is he really injury prone ?  Or prone to getting unfairly hit?   Am I the only one who feels this is nuts ?

McNabb has the best career stats of any Philadelphia QB, ever.  I had a “fan” rebuke me by saying McNabb played longer than the other Philly QB’s against lesser teams.  Actually both Jaworski and Cunningham had more starts for the Eagles, but they had fewer yards passing, a lower QB rating, fewer touchdowns, fewer wins, fewer quality wins, appeared in fewer championship games, and had better players surrounding them during their tenure and the Cardinals were in their division giving them 2 games a year of easier division play than Donovan ever had.

I for one am glad Reid picked up Garcia, he is a class act and I don’t believe Kolb is ready to start even for two or three games if that is necessary.  More importantly than that, I don’t think Reid or Lurie or anyone who knows anything about football every seriously considered Vick a starter.  He is a publicity stunt, nothing more.  He is a player who has made bad judgment calls his entire career and never been reprimanded until now and now that he has paid his price, he wants it all back just because he is remorseful.  The question is is he remorseful because he feels bad about what he did, or is he remorseful because he got caught ?

And it is obvious with the Eagles playing two relatively easy games and then having a bye, that McNabb can heal in that time, and if anyone had any faith in Vick, they would not have gone out and gotten Garcia. Garcia is 39 years old, played one season with the Eagles and has not taken a meaningful snap with the team in over two years. Yes he played in Tampa Bay while Vick was in jail, but didn’t all you Vick supporters exclaim he was in football shape upon his release ?  So if it is a matter of conditioning, timing, and knowledge of the play book, shouldn’t Vick have the edge over, 39 year old, hasn’t practiced with the team in two years, Garcia?

For Garcia to be picked up at his age to run this offense in McNabb’s absence is a lot more difficult than it would be for Vick to do the same thing, if these QBs were equal.  Obviously they are not.  Garcia is head and shoulders above Vick, and that is why he is here, and Vick will continue to sit the bench until they want to trot him out to spark the crowd, or the team.

I for one don’t rule out Donovan returning to the field before Vick’s suspension is over.  He already stated he intends to practice Wednesday and see how he feels.  I hope he comes back and shows all you Vick lovers what a real QB is capable of and finally gets some of the respect he deserves.

If he doesn’t or can’t, we have Garcia, a class veteran QB and Kolb, who will one day be a class younger QB and WE DONT NEED VICK.  And Donovan deserves and has earned our respect.  I have been saying this for a month, maybe now somebody will listen.

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Comments

One Response to “No second chance as starter for now”

  1. Elizabeth on September 15th, 2009 3:21 pm

    I’m in COMPLETE agreement with you about Big5. Class act all the way who’s managed to keep his level head and sense of humor while dealing with bozos ranging from Rush Limbaugh to certain cretinous Philly fans to certain even more cretinous Philly sports writers.

    And I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed the TOTALLY illegal hit that took him out and wasn’t called. Hits on Don are NEVER called. Which is BS.

    And I hope he can win a Super Bowl, not just because as an Eagles fan, I desperately want one, but also because he deserves it.

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