The Eagles Are Effing Crazy!

When the news came across the wire last night that the Eagles had traded their franchise quarterback, Donovan McNabb, to their division rivals, the Washington Redskins, I felt sure it was a late April Fools prank. Surely the Eagles organization couldn't have been so brazen as to jettison a guy who had been so critical to their success over the last decade, to a team right up the road from them.....could they?

Well it turns out they could and they did.

After having a night to think on it I believe its time for me to throw around all the reasons I think this moves shows that the Eagles are effing crazy.

1. This move strengthens a division foe: There is no way you can deny that having Donovan McNabb on the roster immediately improves the Redskins' offense. Considering that over the last few years some commentators, not me however, have said that the only thing holding the Skins back was the erratic play of their quarterback Jason Campbell, those same pundits would now have to consider that hole filled.

Not only that but with new head coach Mike Shanahan running the show, you know Donovan will have something he never really had in Philly, a game plan that emphasises running the ball and takes the pressure off of him, literally as well as figuratively. I know some folks question the Skins signing Larry Johnson and Willie Parker to go along with incumbent Clinton Portis, but I would remind those people that Shanahan has historically done more with guys who were a lot less talented. As for the folks who will point to the offensive line as a weakness, I would remind them that

A) The Redskins didn't even have to send the Eagles their first round pick for McNabb so they are still picking #4 in a few weeks and will probably select a big time left tackle with that selection. And

B) The zone blocking scheme that Shanahan prefers doesn't require a bunch of Pro Bowlers to be successful. I asked a question last night for anybody to name the other 4 offensive lineman other than March Schlereth who blocked for Terrell Davis in Denver when he ran for 2000 yards. Several people answered but collectively they only came up with one other name, Tony Jones. Trust me, there's a reason for that and I believe Shanahan will be able to duplicate some of the things he has done in the past in DC this year.

Don't forget the impact that McNabb tends to have on wide receivers too. This is a guy who went to the Superbowl throwing to Freddie Mitchell and Todd Pinkston. Imagine how he might be able to reenergize Santana Moss's career and the connection he might have with Devin Thomas. And that isn't even to speak of Chris Cooley who is already a damned good tight end in his own right. That talent combined with Shanahan's offensive scheme could be a deadly combination.

Oh and as a reminder, the Redskins defense is VERY talented so if they get an offense that can actually score points.....


2. Because the Eagles traded him inside the division, this decision will be scrutinized heavily at least twice a year for as long as he remains in Washington: See its one thing to feel like its time to move on as a franchise, its another to have that decision on full display during the season. If the Eagles had traded McNabb to the Raiders then even if he had a great year it would have been pretty easy to not even notice what with Oakland being all the way cross country and not even being in the same conference. But with trading him to the Skins, fans will get to decide if the Eagles brass were geniuses or dumbasses twice a year. And don't think for a second that McNabb isn't going to try to make a statement in those games. After years of never being fully embraced in Philly even with all of the accomplishments and accolades he garnered, this will be his time to show that team and those fans EXACTLY what they are missing.

Simply put, if the Eagles lose twice to the Skins next year and McNabb decisively outplays his likely replacement in Kevin Kolb both games, is there a way that somebody in the front office doesn't get fired?

I don't think so.

One last note, by trading McNabb in the division then he gets the added benefit of seeing the same defenses and defenders he has seen over the course of his career, along with the defenders and defenses he has played against every week in practice.

3. I said likely starter Kevin Kolb a minute ago because there is one other issue that this trade created that a lot of people aren't focusing on, a quarterback controversy: Now it was pretty apparent last year that Michael Vick was itching to play more. But out of respect for McNabb and the fact that he helped get him the job in Philly Vick kept mum for the most part. But now, with McNabb gone, I can't see a scenario where Vick is happy being a backup to Kolb. Better yet, I can't see a scenario where Vick is quiet about being unhappy being a backup to Kolb. Out of all of the quarterbacks the Eagles could have traded, they got rid of the one guy who might leave a void that creates a divided locker room.

Understand this, there are already guys in the Eagles locker room who feel like either Vick should be the starter or it should be an open competition. Andy Reid coming out and naming Kolb the starter without him having earned it probably will rub some of them the wrong way. So what do you think will happen if training camp starts and Vick out plays Kolb? Even if its only for a few days or for a few big plays. And remember, because starters get limited reps in the preseason it will be relatively easy for Vick to outshine Kolb numbers wise. Will the Eagles then hand the reigns over to Vick potentially pissing off they guy who they believe is their long term answer at quarterback? Or will they stick with Kolb come hell or high water and have the locker room imploding?

Whatever the outcome somebody won't be happy and with two guys who are starting caliber that is pretty much just asking for fireworks.

Now maybe the Eagles are in full rebuilding mode. You can certainly make the case that they are considering how many starters they have lost either by trading them away or releasing them since the season ended. But the timing seems to be off on this one. At the point where they finally get the offensive weapons that McNabb has always coveted is the time when they decide to just give up and start over? And in the process help a division rival get better?

Nothing about this trade makes any rational sense but of course with football you have to let it all play itself out on the field. Still I gotta say that on paper right now, considering how much worse the Eagles look versus how much better the Redskins look, I gotta say the Eagles are effing crazy for trading McNabb.

It is what it is.

Doubling Down On Fuckery

Last night's announcement that Michael Vick was signing with the Eagles brought a lot of different reactions. But one reaction in particular was particularly irritating to me. All of these people started weighing in saying that Donovan McNabb was going to be pissed about the signing and that there was no way they could coexist together. Mind you none of this is based on anything other than wild speculation. The going meme now is that McNabb was pissed off about Jeff Garcia doing well the year that he went down with a knee injury. Never mind that Garcia wanted a pay raise and a starting job, it seems that the story now is that McNabb somehow ran him out of town.

Seriously.

One of the outlets that really stood out for all the wrong reasons in this regard is Pro Football Talk whom I normally like reading. When the story first broke they created a meme and they were bound and determined not to let anything change it.

Now mind you they started off pretty reasonably if you ask me. Here is how they reported on it early on:

A case could be made that one giant housecleaning could leave Vick in town, with McNabb elsewhere, but it's hard to imagine the pairing lasting more than one year together.

There is a lot to dive into regarding Vick's signing (what about poor A.J. Feeley?), but the angle that McNabb should feel threatened this year seems likely to be overblown.

Philadelphia is giving Vick a chance to re-start his career, but in football terms he's a moderately priced insurance policy.

That's a pretty sound way of looking at the situation.

But then everything goes left when they get a "source" telling them that McNabb isn't happy about the signing.

According to a league source with intimate knowledge of the dynamics within the organization, McNabb isn't pleased with the development.

But McNabb can't say anything about it for now, due in part to the fact that the Eagles gave him a money-for-nothing contract adjustment and otherwise spent a lot of cash and first-day picks to improve the offense, at McNabb's urging.

So things will get very interesting if the Eagles struggle in 2009, since the option for the second year of Vick's contract will prompt speculation and/or popular opinion that the Eagles should dump Donovan and promote Vick.

If you want to know what that translates to, some jack ass that used to play in the league guessed that McNabb wouldn't like it if the Eagles signed Vick. That somehow gets translated into fact by PFT. Mind you this comes out while the Eagles are still on the field playing so its not like anybody could have already gotten McNabb's reaction to the signing when they published this post.

Ok fine well surely when McNabb speaks on it people will hear for themsleves his take on the situation right?

Uhmmm not so much.

I happened to catch McNabb at the podium after their preseason game with the Patriots and I heard him say all of the right things. Not only that, he also touched on having a personal friendship with Vick and most illuminating of all was that he said several times that he actually lobbied for the Eagles to sign Vick after he got out of jail. Now PFT themselves acknowledged in their earlier post that McNabb had said many things in support of Vick since he had been in trouble with the dog fighting ring. But in their post about McNabb's comments they didn't even include the fact that he said he lobbied for Vick to come to Philly.

Nope, this is how they characterized his remarks.

"There's no threat for me," McNabb said at a press conference after Thursday night's preseason game. "There's no threat for [Kevin] Kolb. It's an opportunity to add another weapon to our offense, and our team."

Still, McNabb used words like "adversity" and "ordeal" when talking about the presence of Vick on the team, which in our view weren't used accidentally.

You will note that they have now updated the post to include the fact that McNabb said he lobbied for Vick. They updated it of course with out noting the update so people would think it was always there. But I saw it last night and it wasn't there. Not only that, check out the first comment on the blog.

BroadStreetBully9286 says:
August 13, 2009 11:30 PM
How come you're not highlighting his repeated assertion that he has lobbied for this?!

Now if you read the thread you can see that PFT in general and Mike Florio in particular is getting bashed over their characterization of McNabb's words. So what do they do? Yes they pull a switcheroo and slip the line in the post about McNabb lobbying for Vick, but then they turn around and double down on their "McNabb is pissed" meme.

So with everyone in Philly who has a vested rooting interest in seeing Armageddon not unfold in the locker room prepared to accept without reservation Donovan McNabb's assertion that he "pretty much lobbied" the team to sign Vick (something that, interestingly, the head coach didn't mention), we ask you this: Would you like to buy the Ben Franklin Bridge?

Reid lied, multiple times, about not wanting Vick. Why? To make the rest of the league (and everyone else) think Reid didn't want Vick until Reid decided he did.

That fact alone should prove to anyone who follows the NFL that nothing anyone says can be automatically believed.

McNabb, as we pointed out last night when explaining that he's actually pissed about the acquisition of Vick, had no choice but to sit there and smile and act like everything is fine, despite likely muttering internally all the while, "Serenity now."

At this point, these guys just come off as major dicks quite honestly. This is why professional athletes have such a disdain for some of the members of the media. They will decide what a story is and then discard any evidence to the contrary. It doesn't matter to them that Andy Reid himself talked for a long time about how long McNabb and Vick had been friends, all the way back to when McNabb hosted Vick on his recruiting trip to Syrause. Nah, see since they already have this "McNabb is pissed" story, they just look over that and move on to trying to imply that McNabb was lying about lobbying for Vick since Reid didn't come out and blatantly say he did.

What is worse about this from my perspective is that there are fans out there who will read PFT and ASSume that they have some kind of special inside knowledge of what's going on. Doesn't matter that PFT had been running around for the last week or so claiming to have a list of who will and who won't sign Vick and were totally caught flat footed when he signed with the Eagles.

Above and beyond that, when was the last time you heard a story line about a white quarterback being threatened by another white quarterback coming in? I remember vividly Brett Favre rejecting the notion that he would mentor Aaron Rodgers. But did any sports news outlets frame the story the way they are framing this one? I don't think so.

Hopefully at some point they will go back to their more reasoned take on the situation from early on and drop this McNabb versus Vick story line. But I am not going to hold my breath.

Update: After the press conference today and after the acknowledgement of how instrumental Donovan McNabb was in bringing Mike Vick to Philly, Pro Football Talk ought to retract every statement they made yesterday about McNabb being upset.

Vick To The Iggles!

Michael Vick has just signed a two year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Quarterback Michael Vick has signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, his agent, Joel Segal, confirmed to ESPN.com.

Vick arrived in Philadelphia Tuesday morning and remained there Wednesday evening. The Eagles will hold a news conference on Friday morning to announce his signing. The first year of the deal is for $1.6 million deal with an option for the second year at $5.2 million, FoxSports.com reports.

Vick was the No. 1 draft pick in 2001, and once the highest-paid player in football. But he has not played since 2006 when his career came tumbling down. He was convicted in August 2007 of conspiracy and running a dogfighting operation, sentenced to 23 months in federal prison and suspended indefinitely by the NFL.

But after serving his time and being released from home confinement July 20, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell conditionally lifted Vick's suspension, allowing him to sign with a team.

Vick can immediately take part in preseason practices, workouts and meetings and can play in the final two preseason games.

Now if Andy Reid can fit him into some kind of package where he can get 10 or so plays a game, this might make a HUGE difference in the NFC East. But understand something, if Vick is starting games for the Eagles this year then that means their season has gone TERRIBLY wrong. So please keep that in mind before anybody goes off half cocked talking about a quarterback controversy or something. Vick is there to help McNabb as one of his weapons, not the other way around.