Since exiled Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens boasted in an interview earlier this year that he wasn’t the one that was tired in the Super Bowl, Donovan McNabb has been the focal point of his lashings against the team and the organization.McNabb, however, has been nothing but a true professional throughout the ordeal. He epitomizes what a leader of a football team should be when there is such turmoil, even if it’s all due to one player’s idiotic, self-seeking stance on life.
Sure, critics of McNabb have recently questioned his courage for not standing up for himself when the going got tough. However, McNabb deserves credit for essentially not saying anything to fight back with Owens. And why should he?
Now in his seventh season in the league, McNabb has successfully built a reputation that has preceded him wherever he goes. McNabb will never take direct shots at any player or coach. Instead, as we’ve seen a number of times, when speaking to the media, the star quarterback focuses solely on what his team should be doing to get ready for the next game. Unlike “Terribly Obnoxious”, McNabb will never bash his teammates or call out his coaches for not calling the right plays, or even lambaste the Eagles Powers That Be for not wanting to renegotiate his contract.
McNabb is the model citizen in an NFL land decimated with overbearing egos and me, me, me personalities. Give him the props he deserves.
McNabb is on his way to winning another battle off the football field, an unwelcome fight he’s dealt with most of his career.
In 1999, after the Eagles drafted McNabb, a local radio host along with a few Eagles brethren in attendance, reacted negatively to the selection of McNabb as the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft, since most diehard Eagles fans, at the time, were lobbying heavily for the team to select runningback Ricky Williams. Heck, even our beloved governor Ed Rendell campaigned against McNabb’s favor.
Four years later, Williams was out of football after he decided to smoke marijuana for a full season rather than perform on the field. All McNabb did was lead his team to four straight NFC Championship games during that time, and made one trip to the Super Bowl.
In 2003, after the Eagles began the season 0-2, political journalist and radio host Rush Limbaugh, on a football pre-game show, stated that McNabb was overrated and was only revered in the NFL because he was a mobile black quartback. McNabb had every right to defend himself by vilifying Limbaugh, but chose instead to barely even acknowledge such asinine comments. McNabb just smiled and moved on to talk about his team’s next game.
Classy.
Now liken McNabb’s off the field behavior to that of Mr. Owens. You decide, who is the real victim.
Perhaps the one comment McNabb made that fans and media construed as shooting-from-the-hip, came after the Eagles lost to the Redskins on Nov. 6. McNabb finally had enough of hearing about “Terribly Obnxious”.
“It’s always tough to lose a player of that caliber,” McNabb said in regards to Owens, “but we might be better off without him.”
Are the Eagles a better team without Owens? That remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure: Donovan McNabb is the better man.