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Bye Felicia!
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McNabb is acting too much like T.O.
I said weeks ago that the Philthy situation would get interesting. Well, it has officially gotten interesting. McFlabb has started opening his trap. This should be fun.
It’s OK for Eagles quarterback to be upset, but don't do it in public
Donovan McNabb is upset? That is not a good sign for the Eagles, according to columnist Mike Celizic.
Mike Celizic
It’s too bad Terrell Owens isn’t still an Eagle. If he were, at least we’d have someone to blame for the storm clouds once again gathering over that city and that franchise. But unless Donovan McCrabb — I mean McNabb — is channeling T.O., this one is all on the team’s injured quarterback.
It’s hard to go from hero to jerk in one news cycle, but McNabb may have pulled it off. Word is that he’s upset about a number of things, including not being allowed to accompany the team to New Orleans for its playoff loss to the Saints and rumors that some of his teammates may think that they’d be better off next year with Jeff Garcia, who went 6-1 as his replacement, as the quarterback.
Being upset is okay; I’d be disappointed if McNabb weren’t upset at some of what’s being said. But talking about it isn’t. That’s what causes T.O.’s problems — talking about his feelings. In sports, you use disappointment and slights — real or imagined — as psychic fuel to drive yourself to prove the s.o.b.’s wrong. But you don’t make them public issues, because when you do, you put yourself ahead of the team.
You also kick-start the talk shows and the columnists, who are going to take what you said and run with it. You’re the team’s leader, the franchise. If you start whining like an insecure child, it’s like throwing chum in a school of sharks. When people see weakness, they go for it.
And quarterbacks aren’t supposed to show insecurity or weakness. Like every other player, they’re supposed to know that any time a team does better for an extended period without a player than they did with him, someone’s going to wonder if he really is the man. They’re also supposed to understand that the only way to keep their jobs is to prove in practice and training camp and games that they deserve them.
The one thing you don’t do is complain about what people are saying. I thought that McNabb knew that from the classy way he stayed above the fray when T.O. was taking potshots at him in 2005. I guess he forgot.
The reports and rumors — including speculation that the Bucs and Vikings might be trying to either trade for McNabb or sign Garcia as a free agent — were outlined Tuesday in a column by Mark Eckel in The Trenton Times. Eckel gave as his sources people close to McNabb and sources “around the NFL.”
Eagles coach Andy Reid, who could be forgiven for thinking he was through with such nonsense when T.O. left, was in full denial mode before the day was over, telling reporters in a conference call: “I think that people are making a lot of things up here that aren’t true. That’s how it works. I just hate to see people making things up that aren’t really true.”
Good try, Andy, but you know as well as anyone that rumors don’t make themselves up, and journalists don’t simply make things up. That’s a handy dodge that some of the public might swallow, but go ahead and look back on all similar rumors about locker room rumblings. You’ll find very few cases when there was no truth to what was reported. If you eliminate the New York Post from the discussion, you’ll have a hard time finding any.
Besides, what Eckel wrote is actually rather reasonable. The Eagles were 4-5 in games McNabb started and 6-1 in games Garcia started. You’d expect some players to think that Garcia might be a better choice to start next year — especially if McNabb is still rehabilitating his knee. All they have to do is look at Miami, which never recovered from a horrible start that can be laid directly to Daunte Culpepper trying to come back too soon from his knee injury, and say it’s better to be safe than sorry.
It’s also reasonable that McNabb was ticked off because the team didn’t let him travel to New Orleans for the playoff game. The Eagles’ position is that players on injured reserve don’t travel with the team, but this is McNabb, the franchise. Surely, an exception can be made.
Then there are the reports that McNabb is also annoyed because some commentators objected to his mother reporting on her blog that it was “bittersweet” watching the Eagles in the playoffs without her son running the team. If I were him, I’d be annoyed, too, so I’m hardly surprised to hear he might be.
But, again, he can’t accomplish anything by complaining. People form opinions and there’s nothing to be done about it but prove them wrong by your behavior and performance. If they’re launching low blows at your mother,rise above it and don’t say anything, the same as you do if you think they’re out of line in what they’re saying about you.
To do anything else is to be seen as a malcontent and disruptive presence. McNabb’s one of the last people I ever thought would be accused of being either. But that’s where he’s headed, and for Philadelphia, that’s not a good place to be.
Mike Celizic is a contributor to MSNBC.com and a freelance writer based in New York.
I said weeks ago that the Philthy situation would get interesting. Well, it has officially gotten interesting. McFlabb has started opening his trap. This should be fun.
