Talon_60
12-13-2007, 04:12 PM
Painful to watch
Reuben Frank
Philly Burbs.com
It's time. Let's face it. If it wasn't obvious before, it's obvious now. It's time to make a change.
Donovan McNabb's final stats from Sunday's loss to the Giants don't look bad, but in a game the Eagles had to win to maintain their faint playoff hopes, he was about as ineffective as he's ever been.
Never looked down the field. Rushed throws. Made mistakes at pivotal points. No energy. No juice. No life.
Head coach Andy Reid can deny it all he wants, like he did at yesterday's press conference. But something is missing. It's undeniable. Something is wrong. Horribly wrong. It's there for us all to see, every Sunday afternoon.
When McNabb plays, the Eagles don't score touchdowns.
And without them, you can't win.
Forget the stats, forget everything. In nine of McNabb's 11 starts, the Eagles have scored two or fewer offensive touchdowns. In both of A.J. Feeley's starts, they scored at least three.
McNabb TDs by game: 1, 0, 8, 0, 1, 0, 2, 2, 5, 0, 1.
Feeley TDs by game: 2-4-3. And the two came in just a half.
Andy?
“That's just the way it worked out,” he said yesterday. “I'm not going to get into comparing the two.”
We are.
The Eagles have faced seven winning teams: Packers, Cowboys, Vikings, Seahawks, Patriots and Giants twice.
McNabb played five of those games and generated six touchdowns. Feeley played two of those games and generated seven touchdowns.
For all his interceptions, A.J. puts point on the board. And for all of his efficiency, Donovan doesn't.
On Sunday, McNabb faced a Giants team starting two rookie safeties, one an undrafted free agent, the other a seventh-round pick. And still he never glanced downfield. Greg Lewis threw deep more than McNabb.
Reid and McNabb both gave us some gobbledygook about Cover 2 and the Giants' blitzes and coverages limiting big plays.
Please. Don't insult us.
This team was built on big plays. McNabb faced plenty of blitzes and Cover 2 from 2000 through 2004 and put up a boatload of points, won a ton of games, dominated the NFC — with a worse cast of receivers and an inferior offensive line.
Let's be honest. The excitement, energy and explosion McNabb once brought is gone. And with each passing week, it looks more and more like it's not coming back.
The Eagles are 5-8, they've lost three straight, the season is over, and something has to change.
It's time to play Kevin Kolb.
Reid said yesterday he has no plans to turn to Kolb: “Dovovan's the quarterback right now.”
For the rest of the season? “Yes.”
That's a mistake. The future is Kolb, and the sooner he plays the better off the Eagles will be in the long run.
What about team president Joe Banner saying on Thursday that McNabb will be
back next year?
Fine. Bring him back and let him start out next season as No. 1. If he plays well — which he hasn't done consistently since 2004 — stick with him. If he struggles, then get Kolb in there before the 2008 season is lost. And by playing now, Kolb will have three games of regular-season experience to build on.
Kind of like McNabb a lifetime ago, replacing an ineffective Doug Pederson midway through the 1999 season and embarking on a half decade of brilliance.
By next year McNabb will be nearly 32 years old, four years removed from his last Pro Bowl or playoff appearance. It's not going to turn around. Maybe for a game here and there, but not permanently. It will never be like it used to be.
I've always been a huge McNabb guy. He never got enough credit for 2000 through 2004, winning 54 games and losing 18 and getting the Eagles to the conference semis five straight years, the NFC Championship Game four straight years and to a Super Bowl.
But that was a different guy. Reid has so little faith in McNabb now that he even called a running play on a critical third-and-5 with 2:19 left in the game Sunday and the Eagles 10 yards out of game-tying field goal range.
Are you kidding? Why even play McNabb if you don't trust him to throw the football five yards in a key situation against a battered secondary in your home stadium with your playoff hopes on the line?
Feeley gave the Eagles instant juice, firing passes vertically, getting the ball to his outside guys down the field, providing the offense with rhythm and tempo that's been absent with McNabb playing.
He's not the long-term answer, but Feeley showed how different the offense can look and feel when McNabb isn't out there.
So bring on Kolb, the hotshot rookie second-round pick. Three games remain, three games that are essentially meaningless. Let's give them some meaning. Let's take a look at the kid. Let's see what he's got. It's time to move on.
Reuben Frank is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times. E-mail him at rfrank@phillyBurbs.com.
Reuben Frank
Philly Burbs.com
It's time. Let's face it. If it wasn't obvious before, it's obvious now. It's time to make a change.
Donovan McNabb's final stats from Sunday's loss to the Giants don't look bad, but in a game the Eagles had to win to maintain their faint playoff hopes, he was about as ineffective as he's ever been.
Never looked down the field. Rushed throws. Made mistakes at pivotal points. No energy. No juice. No life.
Head coach Andy Reid can deny it all he wants, like he did at yesterday's press conference. But something is missing. It's undeniable. Something is wrong. Horribly wrong. It's there for us all to see, every Sunday afternoon.
When McNabb plays, the Eagles don't score touchdowns.
And without them, you can't win.
Forget the stats, forget everything. In nine of McNabb's 11 starts, the Eagles have scored two or fewer offensive touchdowns. In both of A.J. Feeley's starts, they scored at least three.
McNabb TDs by game: 1, 0, 8, 0, 1, 0, 2, 2, 5, 0, 1.
Feeley TDs by game: 2-4-3. And the two came in just a half.
Andy?
“That's just the way it worked out,” he said yesterday. “I'm not going to get into comparing the two.”
We are.
The Eagles have faced seven winning teams: Packers, Cowboys, Vikings, Seahawks, Patriots and Giants twice.
McNabb played five of those games and generated six touchdowns. Feeley played two of those games and generated seven touchdowns.
For all his interceptions, A.J. puts point on the board. And for all of his efficiency, Donovan doesn't.
On Sunday, McNabb faced a Giants team starting two rookie safeties, one an undrafted free agent, the other a seventh-round pick. And still he never glanced downfield. Greg Lewis threw deep more than McNabb.
Reid and McNabb both gave us some gobbledygook about Cover 2 and the Giants' blitzes and coverages limiting big plays.
Please. Don't insult us.
This team was built on big plays. McNabb faced plenty of blitzes and Cover 2 from 2000 through 2004 and put up a boatload of points, won a ton of games, dominated the NFC — with a worse cast of receivers and an inferior offensive line.
Let's be honest. The excitement, energy and explosion McNabb once brought is gone. And with each passing week, it looks more and more like it's not coming back.
The Eagles are 5-8, they've lost three straight, the season is over, and something has to change.
It's time to play Kevin Kolb.
Reid said yesterday he has no plans to turn to Kolb: “Dovovan's the quarterback right now.”
For the rest of the season? “Yes.”
That's a mistake. The future is Kolb, and the sooner he plays the better off the Eagles will be in the long run.
What about team president Joe Banner saying on Thursday that McNabb will be
back next year?
Fine. Bring him back and let him start out next season as No. 1. If he plays well — which he hasn't done consistently since 2004 — stick with him. If he struggles, then get Kolb in there before the 2008 season is lost. And by playing now, Kolb will have three games of regular-season experience to build on.
Kind of like McNabb a lifetime ago, replacing an ineffective Doug Pederson midway through the 1999 season and embarking on a half decade of brilliance.
By next year McNabb will be nearly 32 years old, four years removed from his last Pro Bowl or playoff appearance. It's not going to turn around. Maybe for a game here and there, but not permanently. It will never be like it used to be.
I've always been a huge McNabb guy. He never got enough credit for 2000 through 2004, winning 54 games and losing 18 and getting the Eagles to the conference semis five straight years, the NFC Championship Game four straight years and to a Super Bowl.
But that was a different guy. Reid has so little faith in McNabb now that he even called a running play on a critical third-and-5 with 2:19 left in the game Sunday and the Eagles 10 yards out of game-tying field goal range.
Are you kidding? Why even play McNabb if you don't trust him to throw the football five yards in a key situation against a battered secondary in your home stadium with your playoff hopes on the line?
Feeley gave the Eagles instant juice, firing passes vertically, getting the ball to his outside guys down the field, providing the offense with rhythm and tempo that's been absent with McNabb playing.
He's not the long-term answer, but Feeley showed how different the offense can look and feel when McNabb isn't out there.
So bring on Kolb, the hotshot rookie second-round pick. Three games remain, three games that are essentially meaningless. Let's give them some meaning. Let's take a look at the kid. Let's see what he's got. It's time to move on.
Reuben Frank is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times. E-mail him at rfrank@phillyBurbs.com.