It takes a lot of guts to get rid of your starting quarterback. It takes even more to do it when he was in the Pro Bowl last season. What, you thought I was going to talk about Marc Bulger?
No, this is about Donovan McNabb. The Philadelphia Eagles finally cut the cord with their franchise player after 11 years in green and white, and not a moment too soon for the ever−patient Philly faithful, though I am sure that Eagles fans are none−too−pleased with the fact that McNabb will be staying in the division and wearing a Redskins uniform next season.
It was a relationship that was doomed from the start. When Philadelphia drafted McNabb in 1999 with the second overall pick, the Eagles faithful booed the pick. (Unless they were shouting Boo−urns. That would make sense, too.) Why? The Philly fans wanted to draft Ricky Williams. You would have thought they were getting Mac or Dennis from the "Invincible" (2007) episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" instead of the best offensive player in the Big East.
All McNabb did in his tenure with the Eagles was lead the team to the playoffs every year in which he was healthy, outside of his rookie season, when he did not start until November. He helped the Eagles make the NFC Championship five times and the Super Bowl once as he grew into one of the league's stars. And to think, he was taken after Tim Couch.
But all that was not enough for the Eagles. The lack of a championship — and certainly instances such as the infamous "vomit−gate," or whatever you want to call it, from Super Bowl XXXIX — haunted him, as did his 9−7 playoff mark. The abysmal showing from the Philadelphia offense in a wildcard showdown with the rival Dallas Cowboys in January certainly did not help. In the end, the fans and the team embraced their inner Obama and felt it was time for a change. The easiest way to do that, of course, is to get rid of the face of the franchise, particularly when there's a replacement waiting in the wings.
But I am here to share with you a lesson I learned when I was a kid from the "Goosebumps" books: Be careful what you wish for. You know, because it might just come true. It was obvious in 2007 that this day was coming when Kevin Kolb was drafted in the second round of the draft. But now that it is here, Eagles fans are going to be sorry they don't have McNabb around.
Say what you want about his failures, but in a league in which the likes of Keith Null and Ryan Fitzpatrick actually started multiple games last season, you can't say that a quarterback isn't at a premium. Everyone knows you need a good QB to be successful in the NFL; it is why Sam Bradford is probably going to be the top pick in the draft to the St. Louis Rams. Having a player like McNabb is a luxury because you don't have a question mark at the most important position on the field. When he is on, McNabb is as good as any signal caller in the game.
That is not to say that Kolb won't play well now that he has a shot. I will even buy that a shakeup was needed in Philly. But does anyone really expect Kolb, who has just two starts under his belt, to lead this team to a Super Bowl anytime soon? You are sacrificing a shot to contend for the next few years. I mean, how often does a team make the playoffs like clockwork? Most teams would kill for that kind of success. The Eagles? They are giving it away.
So enjoy the Kolb era, Eagles fans. But if Philly is not in the playoffs next year, you won't have McNabb to blame this time around.
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Ethan Landy is a senior majoring in English. He can be reached at ethan.landy@tufts.edu.
