Eagles once again McNabb defeat from the jaws of victory

By Lou DiPietro  |   Friday, September 19, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

Philadelphia Eagles
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So much for having big 'D' in Big D.

Last Monday in Dallas, the Eagles' defense looked like a junior high school squad at times. Oddly enough, though, without that defense, the game would have been quite a blowout, as Asante Samuel's interception and Chris Gocong’s fumble recovery in the end zone gave the Birds 14 points in 30 seconds. Of course, the Eagles’ defense needed that goodwill after allowing a 72-yard TD strike to Terrell Owens in the first quarter, and the unit could have used a mulligan when the Cowboys drove down the field in less than a minute and nailed a 51-yard field goal at the end of the first half.

But the blame can’t lie solely with Philly's 'D'. After all, with the score 41-37 and under three minutes left in the game, the defense pressured Tony Romo into floating an incomplete pass to a wide-open Marion Barber -- a pass that would’ve meant the game had it been catchable.

Instead, there’s one other entity that may be to blame. It’s one that’s been successful for the number 10, one that’s stood out when the receiving corps was minimal at best to awful at worst. In fact, it’s another Big D.

Sadly, I’m not talking about DeSean Jackson; rather, I'm referring to Donovan McNabb.

Before all you Birds backers get into a tizzy about this, hear me out. This isn’t going to be a witch hunt. As any Eagles fan will glowingly remember, it was the beginning of the McNabb/Andy Reid era that brought the franchise out of the doldrums and made them one of the most successful teams of the decade. Without McNabb, the Eagles might not have gone to four straight NFC championship games or Super Bowl XXXIX.

But there’s also that spot in the back of everyone's mind that wonders this: Without McNabb, would the Eagles actually have won Super Bowl XXXIX?

Remember when Kevin Kolb was drafted with the Eagles’ first selection last year? Eagles fans booed out of both discontent and confusion. "But we have McNabb, still an elite QB, and A.J. Feeley is a capable backup," they thought. "We don’t need a new franchise QB yet!" Then the experts -- including Reid himself -- pointed out McNabb’s recent horrible injury history and all was seemingly smoothed over somewhat.

Then, of course, McNabb got hurt in 2007 and it looked like a good plan.

But perhaps that “plan” was subterfuge all along. Reid and McNabb have been together for 10 years now -- a lifetime in a modern NFL filled with lower career spans, free agency and a win-or-else mentality. And by now, Reid knows his quarterback’s tendencies.

Is it perhaps that he sees a tendency no fans want to admit? Does he see that McNabb is a quarterback who folds under pressure? Or, in harsher terms, is a choker?

While the Eagles went to four straight conference title games a few years back, they only won one of them. And it wasn’t like they were destroyed in all of them. Bias and popularity aside, facts are facts. In 2002, the Eagles had a chance to defeat the seemingly unstoppable Rams on their home field; with under three minutes left, the Eagles, down by five, had the ball -- but McNabb threw a fourth-down interception after a tentative series that ended the dream.

The next year, Tampa Bay defeated the Eagles in the final game at The Vet, but how the Buccaneers did it is more stinging than the loss itself. Trailing 17-10 near the end of the first half, McNabb fumbled away the Eagles’ chance at points inside Tampa’s 25. In the fourth quarter, the Eagles were only down 10 when a McNabb interception -- returned 92 yards for a TD by Ronde Barber -- salted the game away for the eventual Super Bowl champions. In 2003, while commemorating the 20-year anniversary of the Philadelphia’s last sports title, Sports Illustrated listed the worst losses in the city's sports history after the Sixers’ NBA championship … and that was number one. No Mitch Williams, no Red Wings sweep in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals -- McNabb’s turnoveritis costing the NFC’s best team its first Super Bowl appearance in two decades was king.

McNabb was injured in the 2004 loss to Carolina, but before leaving the game, he was intercepted three times, sacked a few more and held to 100 yards. Sure, he got them over the hump the next year, but that had more to do with Philly’s 'D' smothering Atlanta in the NFC championship game -- and besides, that led to Super Bowl XXXIX. Need I remind you of the moment that McNabb left his momma’s Chunky Soup all over Hank Fraley’s back?

Here’s a guy who had endured three straight tough losses and finally brought his team to the Promised Land. Love or despise Owens (and I only say love for the one Eagles fan who might still hold T.O. dear), McNabb had a wide receiver who was playing like Superman in the biggest game of their lives -- on a broken leg that was barely healed, no less. And to top it off, the big bad Patriots -- the team that did defeat the unstoppable Rams in 2002 to become the benchmark of the NFL -- were ripe for the picking.

Instead, McNabb threw up on the field, forgot how to run a hurry-up offense and then threw -- you guessed it -- a game-clinching interception to Rodney Harrison that gave the Pats another ring.

If all that sounds a little bit like a conspiracy theory to you ... well, all I can say is I’m not alone. My good friend Andy Wheeler, a Philadelphia sports producer who blogs on KYW 3’s Web site, has the same feeling. As he says, Monday night will go down as a footnote, and the Eagles will go down in history as the loser of one of the wildest "Monday Night Football" showdowns ever.

But in some minds, at some point when he’s long gone from Lincoln Financial Field, it may be more than that for McNabb. It may be just one more example of how a case of the yips separates McNabb from greatness.

Kevin Kolb may not necessarily be the answer -- short or long term -- and judging by the way McNabb has played for the other 115 minutes of this season, he might not even be in the question.

But when all is said and done, perhaps the specter of why he’s really there will be just as important to the history of the Philadelphia Eagles as the play of his predecessor.
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About Lou DiPietro

Lou DiPietro is an accomplished freelance writer who is fascinated with all things sports. In addition to his duties at RealFootball365.com, Lou contributes to TheBleacherReport.com and Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine, and has been featured on "The Sports Buffet with Matt West" on 1080-AM ESPN...
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