For the past nine seasons, Donovan McNabb has been a lightening rod subject for the Philadelphia fan base. There seems to be no in-between when talking about the quarterback who’s led the team to the playoffs 6 times including four NFC Championship Game appearances and one Super Bowl.

Throughout his career McNabb has fought the perception that he is inaccurate, unemotional, and injury prone. So how do we define McNabb on the whole throughout his tenure as the starting QB in Philadelphia? To be honest it’s truly a futile exercise, because people’s opinions in Philadelphia are set in stone, and mine is no different.

In his time here, McNabb has dealt with excessive booing from the fan base, racial indignities from the media and teammates, and a proficient list of injuries that have marred his existence in Philadelphia.

The only thing Philadelphia cares about in terms of the starting QB is a Super Bowl win, and no, Donovan’s never delivered, and that’s generally where the argument ends. To me, however the argument is deeper than that.

In 1997, after receiving Madden 97 as a gift, my first duty was to create a better QB for my Eagles team. Rodney Peete just wasn’t cutting it. I created several forms of QB, one of myself, one of my dog, and a big fat guy I named Butch. All three were great, but it was just too easy. I was blowing out the computer and my friends with pin point accuracy, 80-yard bombs, and quarterback sneaks that covered 99 yards.

One day, after coming home from work, I tuned in the TV to find a Syracuse game. First play from scrimmage was a bootleg and this kid wearing number 9 just swept across the field and literally froze the defense as he raced in from about 25 yards, untouched, to the end zone.

And this is when I discovered Donovan McNabb. After watching the rest of the game I immediately turned on my Madden game and went to work, creating every detail as close to possible as I could to Donovan and placed him on my team. My only worry was that in two years, when he entered the draft, he would go so high that the Eagles would never have a chance to get him. At the time, the Eagles were coming off of their second playoff appearance under Ray Rhodes and looked like they would stay competitive for some time under his leadership.

Instead, the Eagles took a drastic U-turn and were completely futile.

So, now you now you know where I’m coming from with my opinion. I’ve invested a lot of time and emotion into rooting for McNabb. I followed the rest of his career at Syracuse as much as I could. I became more and more enamored with his talent the more I watched, and he never ceased to amaze me on a weekly basis. Although I had discovered some flaws in his game, I really felt he was the best thing coming out of college in a long time.

What I couldn’t understand was all the pining for Ricky Williams.

First, when you have a scrap of a franchise and have no defined QB to build on, you don’t draft a running back. Period. Unless there are no QB prospects at all, and there always are, you draft a quarterback. You’re not going anywhere without one unless you are extremely lucky and have the best defense in the league. Even then, you really can’t expect to go anywhere with someone that’s mediocre. If running back were the most important position, then Barry Sanders would have retired with 10 Super Bowl rings.

This apocalyptic need to draft Williams was all led by the on air radio personality, Angelo Cataldi from 610 WIP. Let’s quickly talk about Angelo here. Nice guy I’m sure, but talking sports with Angelo is the equivalent of talking fashion with Koy Detmer. It’s futile. He knows nothing about sports and I doubt he even watches games. Angelo is a pot stirrer and that’s all. He is a master at manipulating the lack of common sense in the Philadelphia fan base that listens to WIP in order to draw ratings (his is the only show that I can’t stand to listen to). His observations are based on weak, poorly thought out theories.

So, bring in a no name coach who wants to draft a QB and what does Angelo do? Gather 30 of Philadelphia’s finest white trash and head to Madison Square Garden in order to boo vociferously, any Eagles draft picks other then Ricky Williams. And thus, McNabb’s career begins. Nice job Ang.

I point this out because it is still a sore subject today, and the amazing thing is, that the media and many fans have actually turned this onto McNabb himself. Everyone wants him to get over the booing that day, and blame him for being bitter. Huh? I’m amazed at the abuse McNabb takes but even more bemused at the fans and medias reaction to him.

My theory is that many of the people who wanted to draft Williams over McNabb will only feel vindicated if he does poorly. In essence, they can’t be seen as the uniformed morons who never played a sport, let alone football, as long as McNabb leaves town without a Championship. As soon as he wins one, it will confirm Angelo’s worst nightmare… he’s clueless and should never be allowed into a sports conversation as long as he lives. So in essence, the focusing on the small negatives, like under-throwing receivers on dump passes, fuels the naysayer arguments because they need to constantly point out that they may not have been right about Williams, but weren’t wrong about McNabb.

As his first year began, I waited impatiently as McNabb stood on the sidelines watching the immortal Doug Peterson take the snaps. Minus a few moments that Reid would allow McNabb in the game, there was little to build on until Reid unleashed McNabb for the 10th game of the season and inserted him as the starter.

By the time McNabb was shelved for the final game because of an injury, there was a lot of hope and reason to be optimistic heading into his second year. It was easy to see that, despite the struggles all rookies go through, this guy looked legit.

Starting with his second season, things began to really take off, and he began to bloom into the player I hoped he’d be. He led the Eagles back to the playoffs and they scored a huge upset of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round. They eventually lost to the NY Giants in the divisional round, but McNabb was cementing his position as a QB who would be around for a while.

In 2001, he again led the Eagles back to the playoffs and to the Conference Championship game for the first time since 1980. They faced the St.Louis Rams, an offensive juggernaut who were seemingly on their way to consecutive Super Bowl wins. But the Eagles played them tough. It ended with a McNabb interception in the last few minutes of the game, but this was further then anyone could have expected the team to reach at this point, and McNabb was shouldering the load offensively.

Then came 2002. It started as most Eagles seasons under Reid do. Slowly. But as the season wore on, it was obvious that this team and McNabb were close to making the next step, when he broke his leg in the first quarter of the 10th game of the season against Arizona. This was the first of many injuries for the star QB, and it was a defining moment in McNabb’s career and also a peek into the mental makeup of the Philadelphia media and fan base. In the 6 games that followed, the Eagle went 5-1 under the 3rd string QB, AJ Feely. Many fans clamored to keep AJ in during the playoffs. What the reasoning behind preferring a guy who never broke 200 yards passing in a single game, over someone who threw for over 300 yards and 4 TD’s on a broken leg, I’ll never know.

But in beating Atlanta in his first game back, it was easy to see he wasn’t the same. Still, the Eagles welcomed Tampa Bay into town with open arms for the NFC Championship Game. Going in, it was conceded that they would be on their way to their first Super Bowl in 22 years. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Tampa Bay finally figured them out after taking beat down the previous two seasons from the Birds.

The Eagles got spanked and it was all Donovan’s fault, at least according to the media and fan base alike. Granted, it was not one of his best games, but certainly not Donovan’s fault. I had more of a problem with Barry Gardner getting burned by Joe Juravicious then anything Donovan did that day, including the game sealer… a Rhonde Barber interception return. This loss was on the coaches.

The following year started where the previous season began, with a humiliating loss to those same Buccaneers and an even more horrendous loss to the Patriots. It was at this time that calls for Donovan’s head began in earnest. McNabb was playing with a broken thumb, and at this time, it probably was more feasible to go with a backup, and I agreed. At least until the thumb healed. Number 5 just couldn’t play well, but he persevered, and with a little help from a Brian Westbrook punt return for a TD against the Giants in week 9, the Eagles and Donovan, finally turned their season around.

But I started to get a sick feeling as they found their way back to the NFC Championship Game for the 3rd year in a row and met the upstart Carolina Panthers. A win for sure, most people rightfully thought. But no one considered the long list of injuries, including McNabb’s thumb, until Carolina got onto the field and started manhandling James Trash and Todd Stinkston for their lunch money.

In addition to the poor receiver play, the Eagles were hindered by not having Brian Westbrook available due to an injury in the last game of the season against the Redskins. But even if he was there, Reid refused to run the ball despite the abusive coverage on receivers.

McNabb, along with Reid, was once again blamed. The blame should not have been directed at McNabb. He was credited with 3 interceptions that day, but was blameless for all of them. The receivers dropped at least 10 passes and caused all

three interceptions, by either dropping the ball into defenders hands or simply stopping short on routes so as not to take any more hits from Ricky Manning Jr. and the rest of the Panthers D.

I was furious at Reid for not having receivers with better capabilities then Thrash and Pinkston. I wanted a receiver with some heart, and I wanted a receiver that would fight back. This was the one good thing to come out of the. Reid could no longer deny the fact that they needed better receivers. So he went out and got the best. T.O.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Super Bowl. The fan base credited T.O. and T.O. only for the Eagles success on offense. If you read the papers, listened to the radio, or watched the news on TV that season, you’d believe that T.O. was not only catching the ball but throwing it to himself as well. McNabb was given credit, but it seemed begrudgingly for the most part. But hey, the Eagles were coasting and I loved T.O. as much as any player I ever followed.

Owens made the Eagles a much better team, but let’s face it, McNabb was as big a reason for the success as T.O. If he had not been benched for the final game and a half of the season that year to prevent injury, he would have easily surpassed 4,000 yards to go along with 31 TD’s against only 8 interceptions. His accuracy was suddenly no longer an issue, shooting up to 64%, mostly because T.O. didn’t drop balls. Amazing what happens to your passer rating when you get guys that can actually get their hands on the ball, run their routes well, and can do something after they actually catch it. Something the Eagles never had during McNabb’s tenure, and still lack today.

This time, the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl with a resounding win over Atlanta in the Championship game.

The Super Bowl that year against the New England Patriots was one of many unremarkable oddities. From the flutter pass that slipped out of McNabb’s hands and into New England’s possession on the goal line in the first quarter. To the slow pace exhibited by the offense during the two-minute drill. There was also the issue of T.O. playing on a broken leg himself, and the mystery of whether or not McNabb was puking during in the huddle in that last ditch effort to comeback and win.

In the end, McNabb threw for the 4th most total yards from scrimmage in a Super Bowl, ever. He also threw 3 of most amazing TD’s in any game. If you watch the video, the thread he weaved on his 3 TD passes was simply amazing. But he also was credited with 3 interceptions.

I break them down this way… First interception… a duck… Donovan never should have thrown it anyway, as his intended receiver Brian Westbrook was blanketed.

The second one came with the Eagles driving down the field and followed a huge catch and run by T.O. in the 3rd quarter. If you watch it closely… McNabb’s eyes are on Dorsey Levens as he crossed the field about 8 yards in front of McNabb. The ball flew right over Leven’s head (who never even turned towards the QB, like he should have), and sailed right into Teddy Bruschi’s arms. This one is on Levens. That was a first down, and it is the one that really killed the birds.

The 3rd interception was a deflection off the hands of an Eagle receiver, which landed nicely in Rodney Harrison’s hands to end the game. So by my count, he threw 1 interception, 357 yards, 3TD’s, and some fertilizer for the field in Jacksonville.

Also note that had Owens never been injured, he certainly would have been able to cut back on his two long receptions and easily scored on both, making the outcome far different and possibly changing the entire tone of this article. It’s amazing how no one has ever pointed this out. Owens does not run out of bounds, especially in Big games. But because of the crews that were inserted, it prevented him from making sharp cuts on the turf. He physically could not do it. What the Eagles should have done at this point is guaranteed the remaining two years on his contract.

To quickly rehash what happened in 2005 without getting too deep. T.O. decides to pick on McNabb in order to get cut or traded away from the Eagles so he can get a new contract. The Eagles don’t bite. Owens, continues to slander McNabb. McNabb dislocates his sternum in the first game of the season and is mercilessly put on injured reserve after a disastrous performance against Dallas.

I’m despondent over the season, as I just can’t believe what McNabb had to go through with. I don’t disagree with how the Eagles handled Owens… but they never should have let it get to this point. They should have guaranteed the rest of his contract after the Super Bowl. He earned it by risking his career. But what I was concerned and amazed at how a nut case like Owens could so easily destroy McNabb’s career.

In 2006, they signed Jeff Garcia as their back up and AJ Feeley returned to his old #3 position on the depth chart. McNabb starts the season out blazing in glory, putting together the greatest 4 games to start a season then any QB in the history. Over the next four games however, opposing defenses give up on the run and focus solely on the pass. Effectively shutting McNabb down. People start calling for Feely once again, in hopes that his penchant for 100 yard passing games will propel the Eagles back to the playoffs. Instead, McNabb is pushed out of bounds by the Tennessee Titans and never gets up. Gone for the season with torn ligaments. Jeff Garcia is inserted to the dismay of all of Philadelphia. I actually predicted what would happen next. Garcia will pump his fists and Philadelphia will love him forever.

Against the Indianapolis Colts, Garcia is horrible. The following game, against Carolina on Monday Night Football, The fans cheer as he lay on the ground injured. He comes back in the game, pumps his fists after a ten-yard completion, and promptly leads the team to victory. Apparently, this is all Donovan’s ever had to do to get the fans and media on his side. Over the next two-month’s Garcia regaled for the fist pumping vigor he brings to the game. It’s enough to overlook the 2 turnovers per game average he provides while riding Brian Westbrook and Brian Dawkin’s coattails to the playoffs. Garcia did a nice job when he was here and I appreciated his time. But people, Garcia is no Donovan.

Last year, upon his return to action about 8 weeks sooner then was thought possible, Donovan ran around like he was wearing a pair of Jordache Jeans from 1985. He had no speed, dexterity or cutting ability and it led to an 8-8 season. It should be pointed out that the Eagles were 8-5 in the games that McNabb started, however. When he returned from a two game absence to finish off the last 3 games of the season, he looked more like his old self.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what you think of McNabb. The fact is, when he’s healthy, the Eagles win. Is he incapable of dumping a pass off from 3 feet in front of him? Yes, but he’s more then capable from any other distance. If you look at his stats, you could argue that with a competent receiver and his health, he would have broken the 4,000-yard mark on more then just one occasion. McNabb just produces and wins.

Going into the 2008 campaign, he looks healthier then ever and his movement is back to what you would expect. Kevin Kolb is waiting in the wings, so McNabb needs to show that he is over the injuries. The Eagles receivers look just a little better then any of the crew they’ve assembled since T.O. left town. Will they be good enough? I doubt that. But they’re better then at any time in McNabb’s career minus that infamous season with T.O. The D looks very solid and O-Line is always steady. Desean Jackson and Will Demps instantly improve the special teams and with the lack of competition in the NFC, the Eagles should be there at the end of the race, with a shot in the playoffs.

Personally I have been disappointed in McNabb’s career, but not because of the player or person he is. I’m disappointed at the loss of opportunity afforded him and the way he’s been treated in Philadelphia. I was always proud of the Booing. We booed players who didn’t put forth effort, like Derrick Coleman and Travis Lee. We booed players who were collecting paychecks, like Matt Geiger and Glenn Robinson. We booed those who were completely inept, like Rich Kotite and John Felskie. We never booed players that put forth effort both on and off the field. That’s what we’ve done here with McNabb.

I do believe in the silent majority. I realize that most of the booing and clamoring for the backup comes from the same trash that booed McNabb at the draft in ’99. But to me, there has been no player that epitomizes what a pro athlete should be, and once again, as it did with Mike Schmidt, Charles Barkley, and others that have passed through town, the fans and media truly don’t understand the gem they have in McNabb. So cheers to you #5, and don’t break a leg