So is McNabb to blame for the Eagles' problems?
Well... he's not NOT to blame, if that makes sense. McNabb's play has been patchy at best this season, and he is on course for his worst statistical year since at least 2003. On the other hand, the team as a whole has underperformed, with the most noticeable problem being the lack of a running game to help McNabb on offence. Brian Westbrook is being shut down on the ground, but unlike previous years, Andy Reid seems reluctant to force the run on defences. Instead, a deranged habit is forming of calling passing plays at poor times, such as this week's game against Baltimore, when Philly decided to throw on 3rd and 1 during the first half, resulting in McNabb being intercepted while trying to throw a deep strike.
Of course, that's another problem - McNabb's decision making. Despite the poor play call, McNabb probably made a rash call going for the long ball to DeSean Jackson, when Westbrook was open for a quick pass that would have netted the first and prolonged the drive. Of course, it's easy to say that with hindsight, but how often do we laud a QB or coordinator for having the balls to go long at those moments, only to castigate them when it all goes wrong?
I asked for Philly fans to give their opinion yesterday, and the majority seem to think that the system itself needs changing, rather than this simply being about how well one player is doing. Despite promising to get Westbrook more involved last week, the coaching staff must take some of the blame for his - and in turn, the team's - lack of production.
How does McNabb's benching affect the team in 2008?
Reid named McNabb starter for the game against Arizona on Thursday night, but would he have done so if the team had a full week to prepare? As we pointed out on Saturday, a short week leaves very little time to prepare both mentally and physically for your next opponent. Kevin Kolb's performance was equally unimpressive, and it would have been an odd decision to essentially give up on the Eagles' 2008 season in week 12 - which is what going with Kolb would signify to many people both inside and outside the organisation.
But being benched could have repercussions for McNabb. Will he come back stronger and prove Reid wrong on Thursday? That must be the hope, but he is now on the shortest of leashes, knowing that his coach has broken one of the barriers that stood between McNabb and his eventual successor. Now, if McNabb struggles for a half, we can expect to see Kolb again, purely because Reid needs to associate himself with the new guy if he wants to continue coaching in Philly. Remember that Reid and McNabb's legacies are intertwined, and since 1999, this has been the case. If McNabb leaves in the off season, it may also seem like a perfect time to cut Reid loose for the Eagles and firmly establish a 'new era'.
The one thing that struck me about the benching on Sunday was this: The team was down three points. If they'd been down 0-17, perhaps you could have understood the 'all or nothing' approach that Reid took, but down 3? What a huge statement to make, because whatever we all say about this ridiculous situation, it comes down to this:
Andy Reid didn't trust Donovan McNabb to overturn a 3 point deficit
There, I even bolded it for you. Did he think Kolb had a better shot? Probably not, but my theory is this: Reid knows that benching McNabb and shoehorning Kolb under center may be his only chance to stay on for a few more years, and what better chance to win than in a low scoring game? I can guarantee that this morning's headlines would have looked a hell of a lot different if Kolb had managed to throw adequately and the Eagles had churned out a scrappy victory.
One place where McNabb does have support is in the locker room. He is a personable, intelligent guy who has many friends both in Philadelphia and beyond. Despite what Terrell Owens may think, many players sympathise with McNabb, who has rarely been given a supporting cast to help him in his quest to bring a Superbowl to the city of brotherly love. If you want to know why he's so highly thought of, just watch McNabb show encouragement to Kolb and his teammates despite his own public humiliation yesterday.
So will McNabb still be in Philadelphia next year?
No.
To summarise, the last few years have seen countless off season trade rumours fly around, but McNabb was always the unquestioned starter for this team, and there was not a particularly good option to replace him on the roster until Kolb was drafted. Even now, the second year player has shown little that suggests he is a legitamate threat to McNabb in a training camp competition, so it's likely that the Eagles will opt to dump the veteran and give Kolb the chance to assert himself as an unquestioned starter next season.
As I've already pointed out, this also likely means Reid will follow him out of the door, unless Kolb makes enough progress in the next few weeks to suggest that ditching the head coach would be detrimental to his progression as a player.
In conclusion, both McNabb and Reid will likely be out by the time the 2009 season begins. You have to feel sorry for McNabb, who has been vilified by people within Philadelphia for years now, and as I mentioned, sorely deprived of help on offence. As someone with no bias either for or against the Eagles, I'd probably point to the one season that McNabb had a genuine playmaker (Owens) on his team, and ask why statistically, it was far and away the best season of his career, even with no running back getting over 1000yds.
2 comments:
Andy Reid isn't really concerned about helping Donovan put up big numbers, and as long as the team was winning, I suspect McNabb wasn't bothered either. The fact that the Eagles had their best recent season (2003) the same year that McNabb had his best season suggests that the two were correlated, but Reid has seemed reluctant (indifferent?) to heed calls for him to recreate the formula that worked in 03. But it should be stressed that the Eagles system worked well enough before 03, even though McNabb had few real weapons to throw to.
Reid likes to say that he tries to put players in a position to succeed, but this has broken down at critical times throughout the last three seasons. The Eagles have moments of brilliance, like last season's demolition of the Lions, and then games like the one last year against the Giants, when their defense destroyed the Eagles, and Usi Umenyiora treated first time starter Winston Justice like a traffic cone on his way to six (6!) sacks. In that game, the Eagles made no discernible adjustments, and never provided Justice with any help. It's times like these that the Eagles make it very easy for opponents to beat them, and none of that is McNabb's fault. Reid's extreme preference for the pass also makes them very predictable, which makes life harder for everyone on the offense, particularly against a defense that can dominate if it knows what's coming.
As for how McNabb will react Thursday, the home town crowd is likely to be in a surly mood, to put it mildly, so McNabb in particular will be in for abuse. But he is playing for his post-Eagles career, so he has every incentive to show that he is still a good QB, and that he's mentally tough enough to lead another team next year. He may not owe the Eagles much, but he needs to demonstrate his value to other teams that might be interested in bringing him on. So I expect that he'll be as good as he can be on Thursday.
I always feel a bit sorry for Donovan when this every season merry-go-round starts. He really has been doomed in Philly since his relationship with TO went sour, with the majority of fans seeming to side with Mr.Owens. How much of this is his fault, he personally went on a limb to get the Eagles to sign him iirc, is debatable. Any poor game he has is jumped on mercilessly even if their are other outside factors contributing to the loss. I know this is a facet of Philly's support toward all it's sports teams but it seem's a bit like the Geordie Nation at times, over eager to lambast the current team and focus in on a particular hate figure to direct most of their vitriol toward.
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