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That joke took longer to get out than a McNabb pass on 3rd and long.

And the hits keep coming in the form of this latest (tired and repetitive) entry from Sal Pal (I'll post a copy in the McNabb blog thread too).

LEHIGH, Pa. -- On the first morning of training camp on the dewy South Mountain of Lehigh University, Donovan McNabb came out early, ahead of many of the rookies required to be there. He was by himself, walking deliberately with a shiny new black brace on his surgically repaired right knee.

Then, on the good knee, McNabb knelt and bowed his head, pressing his helmet against the moist dark green grass. He stayed there, pausing perhaps to contemplate his fate, perhaps to thank his God for helping him find his way through a crippling injury and into another NFL season.

It was a moment soaked with unmistakable symbolism. In the ninth year of his career, McNabb is entering his first training camp with his potential replacement on the roster, and for the first time, his fate is not entirely in his own hands.

He has been booed by his own fans on draft day. Survived Rush Limbaugh's misguided rant. Been on the losing end of three straight NFC championship games, been accused of losing steam in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. And had a national catfight with Terrell Owens.

But this is different. The organization that has stood by him, even as McNabb has played in just 19 of the team's last 32 games, decided to create enough doubt about their future together that it drafted quarterback Kevin Kolb of Houston with its first pick in the draft, calling him a franchise-type quarterback.

Thus, from Manayunk to Margate, there is equivocation about McNabb. He no longer is viewed as Theseus, a savior capable of great feats in a pinch. Indeed, McNabb has become a poster child for Philly sports angst. And that is beginning to sink in.

"It's the NFL -- 'Not For Long,'" McNabb said. "Everybody wants to get young, but I'm just older. I'm not old. I'm just older. Thirty is still young. I'm still dancing with the young kids. I don't look at it as though he's taking my job. So, it's not really a motivational factor for me to look over my shoulder. I prepare to go out so that we can win a Super Bowl. Now, whatever happens after this year, next year or whenever it is, it's really out of my control."

That last sentence is telling. No reporter asked McNabb about "next year." He brought it up on his own. This year, McNabb makes $5.5 million. Next year, his pay shoots up to $6.3 million. If he has a down season or gets injured again, that will be a daunting amount for the Eagles to invest in an over-30 quarterback who can't stay on the field, especially now that Kolb is waiting in the wings.

When asked to clarify that comment, McNabb joked that he's "not moving to receiver" and that he plans to play quarterback in Philadelphia "for years to come."

McNabb has had three months to absorb the shock of the team's drafting his replacement. And although he vehemently denies it, all evidence to the contrary suggests that this episode has motivated him like no other. This weekend, his actions and words gave away his emotions -- and what they might mean for one of the league's top performers, and a team that was just three points shy of the NFC Championship Game last season.

After practice, coach Andy Reid was pulled aside and asked how he and his quarterback are getting along after the initial strain of the surprise Kolb pick.

"Oh, we're fine," Reid insisted. "Donovan understands it's not about him. You do that with any position."

Both McNabb and Reid understand the business -- any signs of friction or uncertainty would reduce McNabb's ability to move elsewhere if it came to that. But look carefully and you can find subtle signs that the organization and the franchise quarterback don't have identical agendas.

A month ago, it was McNabb -- not Reid -- who pushed to get on the field about a month early, taking reps during minicamp. It is McNabb's idea to wear the brace.

"Just trying to be protective of the injury," McNabb said. "I can go on without it. But if I feel the best thing is to move on with this thing, then I'll continue to wear it."

That was Saturday. The day before, Reid had this to say about the brace: "I think once the season kicks off, he'll probably get rid of that and move on."

Reid knows this offense is built on the quarterback's ability to move. (See Jeff Garcia, Steve Young, Brett Favre, et al.)

By the way, for the first time in anybody's memory at Eagles training camp, McNabb is taking snaps from the shotgun. A way to relieve him of constantly dropping back and planting on his rehabbing knee? Or a way to usher in Kolb, who took more than half his snaps in college from the shotgun?

Reid is not trying to indelicately prod McNabb to take more risks. Just the opposite. Case in point was when the rains came Sunday in Lehigh, forcing the Eagles to practice indoors. McNabb was left behind in the training room to rehab and work on conditioning. The reason: "This [indoor] surface here has a tendency to get a little slick, and I didn't want to take any chances," Reid said.

Wow. That tells you just how cautious Reid wants to be, and just how far McNabb must go before the coach has enough confidence in that right knee. McNabb says his knee is 75 percent, but who knows?

That's why when McNabb said he will be ready to start the second preseason game Aug. 17, there is organizational grumbling. That's the head coach's call. And Reid has put out the word: No risks. McNabb must be healthy for the opener in Green Bay on Sept. 9.

But the Eagles have a backup plan, and a good one. McNabb is fully cognizant of that. He remembers that his current backup, A.J. Feeley, who is 30, did a more-than-adequate job filling in when McNabb went down with an ankle injury in 2002. Feeley was 4-1 as a starter and guided the team into the playoffs. McNabb returned, only to lose in the NFC Championship Game. Feeley was signed to an extension before Kolb was drafted and is a fan favorite in Philadelphia. And there is still a hangover in town about the Eagles' decision not to re-sign Garcia, who salvaged the 2006 season.

"A.J. will get a lot of reps in this camp, but I'm not coming into it thinking that Donovan is going to get hurt this season," Reid said. "That's not what I'm looking at. I'm looking at Donovan having a great season. Like I said before, he was on an MVP pace last year. I expect him to pick that up and go right through the season that way and stay healthy the whole season."

That oft-repeated, seldom analyzed conventional wisdom about McNabb's being on an "MVP pace" last season needs a reality check. Yes, before he was injured on Nov. 19, he had 18 touchdown passes and just six interceptions with a quarterback rating of 95.5.

But the Eagles lost four of his last five starts, beating only the lowly Redskins in Philadelphia (and in that game, McNabb completed just 46 percent of his passes). He lost in New Orleans, threw three picks in a loss to the awful Bucs in Tampa, couldn't get in the end zone at home against the Jaguars and exited the game against Tennessee with a quarterback rating of 33.5.

It's no wonder much of the town is ready to move beyond McNabb. That feeling even permeated McNabb Inc. late last fall when McNabb's mother, Wilma, blogged that the team's success without her son was "bittersweet."

It got worse when Reid asked injured McNabb to stay behind in Philadelphia when the team traveled to New Orleans for a divisional round playoff game. Then, the head coach canceled a McNabb news conference, perhaps worried about what his quarterback would say.

Making matters more sticky, the team fired Rich Burg, McNabb's personal handler in the Eagles' public relations office. What did McNabb do? He hired Burg to handle his personal P.R., which got off to a rough start in May when McNabb held media availability for invited reporters only at a hockey rink in South Jersey.

So, with that complicated backstory in mind, the team and its lame-duck franchise quarterback are trying to get back to the Super Bowl in a season that might be McNabb's last to prove he can get there and win it in an Eagles uniform.

When he was asked whether time is running out, McNabb responded, "So, it's my turn to step to the window now, huh?"

Of course it is. Now that Peyton Manning has done it, McNabb is next in line.


Sal Paolantonio, who wrote about the Eagles for The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1993-94, covers the NFL for ESPN.

A reader ripped Peter King (in a nice way) and he printed it, and offered a pretty weak, half-hearted mea culpa. Enjoy

KEEPING IT REAL. From David Floyd of North Carolina. "You are a great writer and I enjoy your columns on a regular basis. But I just have to ask you something. When the average American struggles on a daily basis to get by and faces real challenges daily, how is it one should look upon some of your musings? I mean, you've spoken of what a wonderful daughter or two you have, and you probably have just as wonderful of a wife. You live the life probably any man would dream of, covering the NFL and getting paid for it all the while. So when we see you complain about whichever Starbucks is nearby and the price of working out at a hotel gym center, and the cost of parking in Manhattan or hear any of the other rumblings which seem awfully miniscule to the average person trying to get by, what is one to think? Poor, poor pitiful Peter. How about this Peter? Every day you awake and look in the mirror, tell us how you hit your knees and thank your maker for gracing you with such a rich life."

I'm really glad you wrote that and knocked me down a peg or two. I need to hear stuff like that sometimes. Thanks for the wakeup call. The reason I told the story about the airfare and parking fare is that I found the comparison insane and I thought that you might too.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=halloffame/nflbubble

Although McNabb is one of the elite quarterback talents of his generation, injuries and big-game shortcomings hurt his reputation. Three consecutive NFC Championship Game losses and a Super Bowl defeat -- in which his star receiver accused him of running out of gas -- might prove difficult for Hall of Fame voters to overlook. If McNabb can build substantially on his statistical résumé, which already includes 152 touchdown passes, his chances improve greatly. However, if his injury woes continue, he likely will need at least one Super Bowl ring to secure a spot in Canton.

That sounds like a pretty fair assessment . . . nothing most of the level haven't said. If he continues on this current pace, sans serious injury, for 3-5 years and gets one ring he's pretty much a hall lock.

Anyway, another Peter King nugget of "analysis" from Monday:

"I plan to win games every year I'm playing, and I plan on doing it here in Philadelphia. I'll be here in Philadelphia for years to come."

-- Donovan McNabb, with the hot breath of second-round quarterback Kevin Kolb breathing down his neck as the Eagles opened training-camp practice on Saturday.

Good grief, man. Did McNabb not sign an autograph for Mary Beth?

Let's see how he feels if Strahan retires and takes his spot on NBC (not likely, but still).

Anyway, was browsing through the stations this morning and WIP (for entertainment purposes only) was saying how McNabb and Westbrook aren't on the best of terms or some crap like that. I only heard about 30 seconds of it, but what kind of crap is this?

could be that McFabulous feels a tad threatened as teammates cited Westy's leadership role last yr?

From Philly.com:

"McNabb, back from the torn anterior cruciate ligament that cut short his 2006 season, gave a blunt answer yesterday when asked whether he sensed a difference in the leadership as the Eagles entered the 2007 season.

"No," the quarterback said. "I'm the leader of this team. It's great that everybody assumed the role after I went out, because somebody has to do it. In a lot of ways, I handle the leadership role a little differently than others. I'm not going to be rah-rah or slap you across the helmet or push you or anything."

Those were methods used by Garcia, but they never have fit into McNabb's personality.

"I'm going to talk to you," he said. "I think that's the way I've handled it. If something's not going right, you have to be held accountable for the mistakes that you make. Don't rely on somebody else to apologize for your mistakes. You've got to step up to the plate and say, 'You know what, I messed up. I've got to take care of it.' "

McNabb, who had a giant ice pack on his surgically repaired right knee, has been consistent with that approach. For example, after the Eagles' Super Bowl loss to New England, he pinned the blame on himself, saying that if he had not thrown first-half interceptions, the game would have had a different outcome.

"I've done it and many other players have done it," he said. "As far as being the quarterback, if you're not the rah-rah kind of guy and always yelling or slamming your helmet, then people think you're not in that role. There are other ways of handling it. We're all professionals. We're all men. You don't really need anybody to sit there and get in your head and tell you what to do...
"

FWIW i saw the comments on the news this am and he was VERY direct and blunt with his "NO- IM THE LEADER OF THIS TEAM".

Pause.

Continued conversation...

Ugh.

Why don't you give the guy a break? Can't you see he's hurting insde?

inside?

Nowhere else to put it, but here's TMQ's thoughts on the Eagles (specifically 5):

Don't all teams need young quarterbacks? That's what I thought when the Eagles drafted Kevin Kolb. That Donovan McNabb took standard reinforcement of the roster as a huge personal affront does not speak well of McNabb. The confident quarterback declares of the new guy, "Competition? Bring it on." By acting hurt and dazed and petulant and forlorn and threatening to hold his breath 'til he turns blue, McNabb only made himself appear weak. The real reason for Donovan's woe-is-me routine may be money. He is due about $11 million over the next two seasons, hefty but not stratospheric, and perhaps had been planning to ask for a richer deal. McNabb may feel a high-drafted alternative reduces his leverage. But making himself look feeble and frightened over the mere arrival of competition surely had the effect of causing McNabb to seem less valuable to Philadelphia management, reducing his odds of a megapayday. And Donovan -- no one expects an NFL player's mom and dad to be media-savvy, but could you please ask your parents to stop complaining in public about Eagles coaches and management! All that Eagles coaches and management have done is help make McNabb into a wealthy national celebrity. Moms and dads are not supposed to call news conferences to complain when this happens to their children!

I can't read one more national media article. I just can't do it.

They are all just so fucking dumb.

GCobb reporting on WIP this morning that this is McNabbs last year as an Eagle.

He won't be back next year.

It's a done deal.

Hmph.

Did he cite why? (As if any of us didn't know)

If it's true, I'm not sure how I feel about this - on one hand, I always thought he was a little flaky and that he needed to grow up in certain aspects. OTOH, he's still (when healthy) a tremendous player, and it annoys me that the Birds didn't load up for him for one last championship run, a la the Pats. Instead, they hide behind giving the guy Kevin Curtis and acting as if that's enough.

Would have liked to have seen him retire as an Eagle and fall on his sword.

Instead, they hide behind giving the guy Kevin Curtis and acting as if that's enough.

The problem is they got away with it for years until people screamed loud enough and even the media took notice of it. Then they concede and get T.O. and you saw what happened to their offense. They just figure that they'll go back to SOP from the pre-T.O. days and hope everyone falls for the smoke and mirrors... again.

That's ridiculous. McNabb one year removed from this injury will be back to form. Right now he's clearly less than 100%. He might start to turn the corner by the end of this season but who knows how far this "controversy" will go this season and how the team will be playing.

McNabb deserves a shot with this team at 100%. Kolb can continue to learn. I for one, am not ready to see Kolb take over next season.

The Eagles are retarded.

My ridiculous comment was in response to:

"He won't be back next year."

Not FB's post.

We know it's foolish Johnny, but considering how
1) The Eagles drafted Kolb and he's impressed them
2) McNabb's not 100% now
#) McNabb is older than Kolb
4) The relationship between McNabb and the Birds is already strained (due to rumors of McNabb wanted an extension and the Eagles not going for it)
5) The calculated assassination of 5's character by Spuds
6) McNabb's own ingrained sensitivity
7) The fact that he's due to make more money next year

Is it that far of a notion to think he won't be back next year? I'd like for him to be back - even with all his personal issues, McNabb is still one of the best QBs today - but things are chaging in this direction for a reason, and right now the focus is all being put on McNabb (whether fair or not) to make up for this team not doing as well as expected.

To hear Spuds talk about it, you'd think McNabb's career was done. I mean, that's just some NASTY stuff to say to your fanbase about your franchise player, not only questioning his health and ability, but questioning is mental state of mind.

The Eagles are retarded.

seconded

I also agree, but the writing is on the wall. McNabb is gone next year.

You know what's the worst part about all this?

Lucha Latte sitting there saying "I told you so".

"I also agree, but the writing is on the wall. McNabb is gone next year."

Well then I guess the next question is... do the Eagles get something for him or does he get released and the Eagles get nothing... ala T.O., Simon, and Trotter?

And if they do get something for him... what the hell is he gonna be worth after this season?

They'll never get value for him, because they'll keep trashing his character and putting him in situations where he won't succeed.

I can't remember the last QB that was traded that was still considered in his prime (though in the twilight years of it). To the right team, he would probably net a 1st rounder, maybe a so-so player and a late round pick.

What are the financial ramifications of trading vs. cutting?

To hear Spuds talk about it, you'd think McNabb's career was done. I mean, that's just some NASTY stuff to say to your fanbase about your franchise player, not only questioning his health and ability, but questioning is mental state of mind.

They might as well finish the job and plant some crack, a dead body and the murder weapon inside of McNabb's locker

I would really like to know what they players as a whole feel about McNabb and the whole QB situation. Does this team really like McNabb or do they respect him because of his past play. I know we think the "FO" has a plan, but do they really. It is only two games into this season.

I like Kolb, but NO WAY is the boy ready for prime time.

Lastly, and most importantly is, does McNabb really want to be in Philly any longer? Does he want out?

"They might as well finish the job and plant some crack, a dead body and the murder weapon inside of McNabb's locker"

Nice....that's pretty funny Fred. Though you may have to pay some copyright fee to Chappelle.

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