8 REASONS TO TRADE DONOVAN MCNABB NOW
For all the McNabb lovers, listen I get it. Before him
we sucked something terrible, and with him we've had a whole lot of
success. And you guys are afraid that we will fall off if he goes. But you
need to look at the truth of the matter:
1) For the first chunk of the winning years (a.k.a. all those NFC
Championship losses in a row) we were winning games because of our
dominate defense. McNabb would usually make 1 or 2 plays a game and then
the defense would do the rest and we'd pound the rock with my former
favorite player Deuce Staley.
2) McNabb has ALWAYS been a mediocre passer. His skills that made him
elite were always his ability to move around in the pocket and scramble
for big yardage and first downs. But after Vick started shining in
Atlanta, McNabb went to this stupid "I'm not going to be the typical black
running QB, I will prove to them I can be a pocket passer" attitude and
pretty much stopped running for a good 2-3 year period. During that time,
he was even less effective because our crappy WR's (Stinkston, Trash,
Fred-Ex) didn't have the extra time to get open McNabb's feet would allow.
Until that is, we got our first LEGIT #1 WR in T.O., and then what do you
know: McNabb has a CAREER year and we go to the Superbowl.
3) Something the Eagles never seemed to get and all McNabb fans have
always argued against. Years with Mediocre receivers, and McNabb has
decent seasons; 1 year with a stud WR and McNabb has an AMAZING SEASON!!!
Why/how??? Well it must be because McNabb "Figured it out" right? NO, it's
because with somebody as dominate as T.O., you just put the ball in his
vicinity and he will go and get it. So McNabb's Achilles heel, inaccuracy,
was semi-washed away. And being the streaky QB that he is, T.O. gave
McNabb confidence which raised his overall play.
NOTE: THE EAGLES SHOULD HAVE PAID THE MAN!!! HE CAME BACK FROM A BROKE
ANKLE IN 2 WEEKS TO PLAY AND HAVE ALMOST 150 YARDS RECEIVING IN THE
SUPERBOWL DAMNIT!!!!!
4) If anything, our team going on to make the playoffs under A.J. Feeley
(how'd his career work out elsewhere?) and an old and brittle Jeff Garcia
(coming off TERRIBLE stints with the Lions and Browns) when McNabb was
hurt absolutely 110% PROVED that our TEAM is built for success, we just
need a stable QB to guide the ship.
5) KEVIN KOLB is a stable QB. He's a ton more accurate than McNabb, and we
run (or at least we did until this year when it became a "big play
offense") a west coast Offense based on short passing, where the QB MUST
be accurate. I've been arguing and complaining all year about McNabb
missing wide open guys on slants and crosses....well I think Kolb would
hit them. For everyone who thinks Kolb is just a product of a wide open
Houston offense, THINK AGAIN!!! They were discussing him on Eagles live
the other day, and Kolb actually went through 5 different offenses in 5
years between High School, College, and the NFL. So the Eagles are
impressed with him and feel he can operate ANY offense, not just out of
the Shotgun!!!
6) It is TIME for a change. McNabb has done great things for our team, but
he's never led us over the hump. If you are an Eagles fan and are happy
with just being competitive every year, then you are a fake fan and a
sucker. The Phillies winning the World Series was the LAST STRAW, and
after almost a decade of making the playoffs year in and year out, we need
a RING to solidly what Andy Reid has built here. Since fat Andy got his
extension, then the only thing else we can do is move McNabb....
7) ....and there's no better time to move him then NOW!!! After a few
years marred with injury, McNabb has played virtually injury free for the
last 2 seasons (give or take the rib injury in Week 1 this year, which was
a freak play), and led us to the playoffs both years. He's still young by
QB standards, and there's never been so many teams in need of a Franchise
QB as there are right now. We can get a 1st round pick AND something else
for Donovan today. And the fact that we HAVE Kolb and Vick on the team
already, it's not like trading McNabb would be starting over. We have ALL
the pieces in place to move forward for the next 5 years and dominate, so
we need to see what we have in Kolb.
8 ) Look at the offense. McCoy & Maclin were rookies (so is TE Ingram who
will be back next season and has crazy upside), DeSean was in his 2nd
year, Celek was in his 3rd year. Our prospective O-line if everyone is
healthy for next year would be LT Peters (6th year), LG Herremans (5th
year), C Jackson (6th year), RG Shawn Andrews (6th year), RT Justice (4th
year). Our ENTIRE O-line is under 29 years old and EVERYONE is under
contract for at least the next 2 years, most longer than that. So
basically, our offense is like a used Lamborghini with very low
mileage....and it's time to find the next young star Driver to whip it,
instead of the old and steady driver who has been driving it well for the
last few years but never pushing it to MAXIMUM Speed!!!!
And that's about it. All 3 of our QB's are heading into the last year of
their contract. There's no way we can let Kolb walk without seeing what he
can do, and he's not going to take a cheap contract extension to remain as
McNabb's backup. Vick is expendable, so if we can get a 2nd round pick for
him, send him packing tomorrow; otherwise keep him to run the Wild Eagles
another season. But for the Starting QB gig, move McNabb for extra pieces
for the defense and give Kolb his time to shine. I'd rather have him start
next year and we have ONE SEASON of growing pains (9-7 would be struggling
with the team we have, 8-8 worst case scenario) if it means that we would
dominate for the next 5-7 years with Kolb at the helm.
The Matt Ryans, Joe Flaccos, and at least right now the Mark Sanchez's of
the world have suddenly made everyone forget that QB's don't come in as
rookies and just kill it. But guess what, KOLB is NOT a rookie. If
anything, I envision a similar scenario where the Chargers sent Brees to
the Saints and have been just as good to go with Philip Rivers at QB. Sure
the Saints are now good too (and headed to the Superbowl), but that's
worth the risk. The Chargers were good with Brees, but they are better
with Rivers. I think we will be GREAT with Kolb, he just needs the
chance.....