In football, Donovan McNabb seems forever destined to live a complicated life. He was voted by Eagles fans as the best quarterback in the history of the franchise, and he was also viewed as the man most likely to hit a receiver in the heel with a pass. He won more big games than anyone who ever wore the uniform, and he also lost more than anyone, especially as the betting favorite. From the booing on draft day to the Easter Sunday purge – nothing was ever as smooth, or easy, or simple as a person might have hoped. Even now, he is being denied the clean-and-neat morality play that was supposed to be his return to Lincoln Financial Field. It was going to be simple this Sunday: 4:15 p.m.,
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Nothing’s ever simple in McNabb’s universe
The most ironic twist in the soap operatic return of Donovan McNabb to Philadelphia is his role in one of the other leading characters being with the Eagles in 2010. That’s right: Andy Reid. Oh, sure, there has been plenty of talk about McNabb’s relationship with his surprise successor, Michael Vick. McNabb had virtual veto power last year when Reid decided to sign Vick with an eye on using him in a version of the Wildcat offense. “Donovan opened his arms to Michael coming here,” Reid said Wednesday. “He wanted him here. So I think they’ve got a really good relationship, and I think Michael looks up to him.” But McNabb has had a more significant impact on the career of the man who traded
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It’s now Vick’s turn to save Andy Reid
They play for the two most fragile and important units on the team. Neither is quite sure where he stands. One expects to sit Sunday, as he did, unexpectedly, at Jacksonville, the result of poor play the week before. That’s middle linebacker Omar Gaither, whose yo-yo career is at bottom again. The other is likely to play for a second straight week, but he won’t get too excited. That’s Reggie Wells, for whom the Eagles traded last month in case right guard Nick Cole’s knee continued to be an issue. It continues to be an issue – Cole left the game at Jacksonville on Sunday and did not practice yesterday – so Wells might start. The delicate offensive line surrendered just three sacks last
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Gaither, Wells trying to find places with Eagles
Those first 2 weeks, when Darryl Tapp was deactivated, he knew what people were thinking – here’s a guy the Eagles traded for, then signed to a 3-year contract, and he isn’t even in uniform. “A little bit,” Tapp acknowledged, when asked if being labeled a bust so quickly bothered him. “I understand how that is in the NFL, people want results now.” Tapp finally got into the lineup Sunday at Jacksonville, and delivered a result – one of the seven sacks the Birds managed against David Garrard. Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott opined that like many veterans who come to the team, it has taken Tapp time to adjust to the Eagles’ scheme. “There are a lot of differences, and it takes getting
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It took some time but Tapp beginning to make strides in Eagles’ defense
Head down, flip-flops sliding with a noisy reluctance across a concrete path, a Redskins media person striding at his side like a chaplain, Donovan McNabb resembled a death-row inmate on his last walk as he moved slowly toward an outdoor podium Wednesday morning. Swing low, sweet chariot, the NFL schedule was comin’ for to carry him home. No last-minute call from the governor, not even Eagle Ed Rendell, was going to get the Redskins quarterback a reprieve from this sentence. Ever since the Eagles dealt him on Easter, McNabb had to have been haunted by thoughts of Sunday’s return to Philadelphia and, worse, of having to discuss it with the media before and afterward. McNabb was
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McNabb answers questions at Redskins Park
When Michael Vick faces the Redskins on Sunday, he will be a more polished quarterback, thanks, in part, to a competitor on the visiting sideline, Donovan McNabb. “When Michael got here, [McNabb] followed that up with working out with Michael every morning, helping him with the offensive stuff and going over it from a player’s standpoint,” head coach Andy Reid said. Earlier Reid said, “I think Michael had always looked up to Donovan.” The two quarterbacks, longtime friends, are now part of one of the most enticing story lines of the young season as they prepare to face each other Sunday: McNabb returning to the team he led for 11 years, Vick as his potential heir and the NFL’s biggest
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Vick credits ex-Bird for resurgence
Take away the miles and miles of fiber-optic cable and the horde of reporters cramped around a speaker phone at the NovaCare Complex auditorium, and it was the same old Wednesday Donovan McNabb news conference. Nearly six months after the Eagles traded him to Washington and four days before the Redskins quarterback was to face his former team at Lincoln Financial Field, McNabb spoke with Philadelphia-area reporters, some who had covered him for all of his 11 years here. For the 10-minute interview, he was at various points contradictory, considerate, confrontational, and contemplative as he downplayed his return to Philadelphia. Beforehand, local reporters hypothesized as to which of his
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McNabb: Too soon to gauge feelings about return
For his unexpected success in the month of September, Michael Vick was named Wednesday the NFC offensive player of the month by the NFL. The Eagles quarterback, who replaced Kevin Kolb in the second half of the opener after he suffered a concussion, nearly guided his team past Green Bay and then went on to win the next two games as the starter. In three games, Vick has completed 54 of 89 passes for 750 yards, and has thrown six touchdowns against zero interceptions. He also has run 23 times for 170 yards and one score. Vick’s 110.2 passer rating is second in the NFL behind only Peyton Manning of Indianapolis. “It was hard work,” Vick said. “I’m grateful and thankful that I got honored with
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Vick named NFC offensive player of the month
Donovan McNabb, who for 11 seasons prided himself on keeping blinders to public criticism and rarely showcasing an emotional side, felt heartbroken when the team traded him. McNabb told reporters Wednesday via conference call that he needed time to stomach coach Andy Reid’s decision to send him packing for the nation’s capital to play for the division-rival Redskins on Easter Sunday. “We’re good friends,” McNabb said. “He stuck his snout out and drafted me in 1999 and we had a lot of success together. Obviously, we have been through some ups and downs together. Things happen. It’s unfortunate. “Was I upset at the time? Absolutely. I’ve moved on, learned to move on and focus on the job at
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‘I’ve moved on’
Two Sundays ago, Omar Gaither arrived in Detroit knowing he’d start at middle linebacker in place of injured Stewart Bradley. Last Sunday, in Jacksonville, Fla., Gaither was stunned to find out he wouldn’t even dress. “I’ve never not dressed, so of course I was surprised,” Gaither said Wednesday before practice. Gaither, who has yo-yoed around the linebacking corps — from backup to starter, from middle to weak side, from base to nickel — frequently during his five years, interpreted last week’s demotion as performance-based and likely to be the trend for the rest of the season. Jamar Chaney, a rookie taken in the seventh round, was the team’s backup at middle against the Jaguars and even
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Gaither deals with new role
EVERYBODY’S GOT an opinion as to why, of all the football joints in all the NFL world, Andy Reid decided to send Donovan McNabb to one that the Eagles have to play twice a year. Stupidity has been a popular explanation among the anti-Reid crowd, followed closely by arrogance. A few bleeding hearts like myself thought it might have had a little bit to do with Reid wanting to find a good home for the guy who helped his team get to the playoffs 8 of the last 10 years. Then again, I’m a sentimental sap who still tears up every time I watch Ollie McClellan sink those two underhanded free throws in “Hoosiers.” Tom Heckert worked for Reid for 9 years. He knows his former boss is anything but
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Redskins QB McNabb may have edge over Eagles’ defense
I KNOW HOW Kevin Kolb must have felt last week. A national news story; going from starter to backup. I have been there before. And at the time, although it seemed difficult, it made me challenge myself even more diligently to achieve success. The great part of life is there is always potential for a second chance, if you work deliberately enough for the opportunity. This Sunday seems made for second chances. Michael Vick coming back. Donovan McNabb at Lincoln Financial Field, this time for the other team. And I know Kolb will work even harder at getting back on the field. Some still define me by that Giants game back in 2007 (when New York got 12 sacks), just as they define Vick by his
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A Sunday made for second chances
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