Let the excuses begin

[jetpunk2000]

I guess they needed some way to explain that dreadful 6 minutes. I'm calling bull. Didn't Donovan do this once before...throwing up i mean.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/story/8176651

[DeToxRox]

Well, Brady's grandmother died during the week, so he had a lot on his mind too.

I don't buy it.

[Franklinnoble]

I call bullshit. He's just trying to ease the pain of his crucifixion by the Philly fans and media.

Personally, I'd suggest that Andy Reid needs to get fired.

[Joe]

yeah he puked in the Jax game a few years back

[hhiipp]

If it was really to that point and Andy Reid saw the seconds ticking away he should have gone to Detmer, imo.

[VPI97]

McNabb's still a butt nugget. He puked on the field in the '98 VT-Syracuse game and then threw the game winning touchdown pass with no time on the clock on the very next play. I'd be much happier if he would have choked then instead of on Sunday.

[NoMyths]

And just think of the many great quarterbacks who never got so nervous in big games that they threw up. This is not a mark in McNabb's favor, methinks.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

I call bullshit. He's just trying to ease the pain of his crucifixion by the Philly fans and media.

Personally, I'd suggest that Andy Reid needs to get fired.

He's not trying to do anything. It's the offensive lineman that is saying something. Donovan is not saying a word. Get your story straight before the BS starts flying.

Reid fired? Yeah, that crappy coach has taken a 3-13 team and made them 59-21 over the last 5 seasons (66-26 if you count the playoffs) and they are still at a point where there is no reason to believe that they can;t get deep into the playoffs again next season.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Personally, I'd suggest that Andy Reid needs to get fired.

You can't be serious... can you?

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

You can't be serious... can you?

Why not?

Bad coaching cost them the Super Bowl as much as McNabb's poor play.

They lost three title games in a row, and then lost a very winnable Super Bowl.

Who else do you blame?

Any of the last four Eagles teams could have beaten the AFC champion in the Super Bowl, and they either didn't get there, or lost when they did.

I think the new owner has more to do with the resurgence of the Eagles than Andy Reid does. But, whatever. I'm an idiot. Reid is a genius. So is Mike Martz. So is Brian Billick.

If I were an Eagles fan, I'd be sick of it by now. Their window won't be open forever. Eventually, the Giants, Redskins, and Cowboys are no longer going to suck, and they're not going to be a lock for the NFC East every season.

[Klinglerware]

And who do you suggest should replace Reid?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Why not?

Bad coaching cost them the Super Bowl as much as McNabb's poor play.

They lost three title games in a row, and then lost a very winnable Super Bowl.

Who else do you blame?

Any of the last four Eagles teams could have beaten the AFC champion in the Super Bowl, and they either didn't get there, or lost when they did.

I think the new owner has more to do with the resurgence of the Eagles than Andy Reid does. But, whatever. I'm an idiot. Reid is a genius. So is Mike Martz. So is Brian Billick.

If I were an Eagles fan, I'd be sick of it by now. Their window won't be open forever. Eventually, the Giants, Redskins, and Cowboys are no longer going to suck, and they're not going to be a lock for the NFC East every season.

This is ridiculous. There is no comparision between Reid and Martz. Reid has made great coaching decision after great coaching decision. Should he have gone to Detmer if McNabb was sick? Tough call. The clock management was atrocious, but if McNabb was sick. It is understandable. Reid has the highest winning percentage of any Eagles coach ever in his first four seasons. Reid is a great coach. Martz has continually made bad on the field calls. No comparision between the two. I'd rather have Reid than any other coach besides New England's coach.

[Leonidas]

Anyone catch the rant TO had after the game about what a great game he played and he couldn't have been selfish because he played such a great game. I guess the "My team just lost the Super Bowl" thing was a little over his head.

[brimick79]

Originally Posted by Klinglerware

And who do you suggest should replace Reid?

Is the trout option avialable?

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

Also, McNabb isn't making any excuses. He can't stop his teammate from revealing he was sick, if his teammate chooses to do so.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Klinglerware

And who do you suggest should replace Reid?

I dunno... what's the availability of these guys?:

* Jimmy Johnson
* George Seifert
* Jim Fassel
* Dan Reeves
* Mike Ditka

In all seriousness, I'm just saying, I don't think Reid is going to get them any farther than he already has. A new coach might be what the team needs at this point. I'm not impressed with his regular season record, which has been augmented by the fact that he has the most talent, by far, in a very weak division since he took over the team.

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

I dunno... what's the availability of these guys?:

* Jimmy Johnson
* George Seifert
* Jim Fassel
* Dan Reeves
* Mike Ditka

Haven't some of these guys reached the retread stage already? Most of these former superbowl coaches have been rehired to lead other teams in the past, and I don't think any of these guys won a superbowl with their new teams either, if I'm not mistaken. There's a reason why these guys are available.

[Eaglesfan27]

As an Eagle fan, I wouldn't want ANY of those guys for my team over Reid. There is nothing to suggest that he has taken them as far as possible. Sheesh, he just took them to the Super Bowl!

[Swaggs]

Isn't Franklin a Washington fan?

If so, it makes sense for him to want Reid gone.

[DaddyTorgo]

that's a pretty crappy excuse. Which playoff game was it (Pittsburgh methinks?) where Brady had the flu and had an IV in his arm up until an hour before the game and spent the day before the game totally unable to get out of bed? Jeezus...whether it's Donovan saying this through Fraley, or Fraley saying this, can't they just take the loss like men? To do otherwise is WEAK.

[SunDancer]

Interesting...

I think McNabb needs to learn to deal with these situations better, the pressure. A great quarterback is built on handling the pressure. If he wasn't feeling well, he should of spoke up to Reid.

As for the person who says Reid should be fired, please. The Eagles have made it to four straight NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl in today's era. They are just as good as the Patroits in what they have accomplished in today's era of the cap.

Should the Bills have fired Marv Levy because he couldn't make win the Big One (and the first one was winnable, but Scott North-right couldn't make the play when needed)? I'm not an Eagles or Andy Reid fan at all, but that is just dumb.

[yabanci]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

I dunno... what's the availability of these guys?:

* Jimmy Johnson
* George Seifert
* Jim Fassel
* Dan Reeves
* Mike Ditka

A bunch of old retreads like.....Joe Gibbs?

It's off the chart comical that someone would think that firing Andy Reid right now to hire Mike Ditka is a good idea. Way off the chart...

[Chubby]

McNabb puked at the end of the SU-Miami game his senior year as well then threw a pass that the shithead TE caught and got tackled at the 8 because he's too damn slow

[mhass]

I believe McScabb was puking. His performance seems to prove it. What I don't buy is that after two weeks off, in 60 degree weather, with not unusual pocket pressure he got "exhausted." It's the last damn game of the year. If he's not in shape enough by the freakin' Super Bowl, when, exactly, will he be? He was NERVOUS, not exhausted. The last six minutes of that game was awful quarterback play.

And you can't discount coaching either. The collective wisdom of this board knows that a five yard dump pass from your own six yard line is NOT the way to move the ball down the field in waning moments. Reid gets as much or more blame for that fourth quarter as anyone. Maybe not enough to lose his job, but that drive has no imagination and lacked basic football strategy (Worry more about finding "Sideline Routes" on that play chart and less about using it to prevent lip reading.) Philly's owner's coughed up a ton of money on Kearse and Owens. They should have expected more from the leftovers.

[brimick79]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

I dunno... what's the availability of these guys?:

* Jimmy Johnson
* George Seifert
* Jim Fassel
* Dan Reeves
* Mike Ditka

In all seriousness, I'm just saying, I don't think Reid is going to get them any farther than he already has. A new coach might be what the team needs at this point. I'm not impressed with his regular season record, which has been augmented by the fact that he has the most talent, by far, in a very weak division since he took over the team.

I think he was joking. Atleast about the possible replacement anyway.

[TazFTW]

Ditka would have beaten the Pats.

A team of mini Ditkas would have beaten the Pats.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by mhass

And you can't discount coaching either. The collective wisdom of this board knows that a five yard dump pass from your own six yard line is NOT the way to move the ball down the field in waning moments.

Um... I doubt Westbrook was the primary reciever on that play. As you said yourself, it was a 'dump' pass.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

I dunno... what's the availability of these guys?:

* Jimmy Johnson
* George Seifert
* Jim Fassel
* Dan Reeves
* Mike Ditka

In all seriousness, I'm just saying, I don't think Reid is going to get them any farther than he already has. A new coach might be what the team needs at this point. I'm not impressed with his regular season record, which has been augmented by the fact that he has the most talent, by far, in a very weak division since he took over the team.

Let's just dig up Lombardi.

[Raiders Army]

I believe the punk was sick. If I wasn't feeling well, I'd call a huddle instead of going no huddle, like he did on their second to last drive. The question is, why was he sick? When they showed Pinkston going to the locker room for dehydration, the first thing I thought was, "too much partying". Maybe McNabb and Kearse were the same way.

[CraigSca]

But if this is McNabb's M.O. (as I've read, many Eagles players have said he's done this is multiple games), isn't that at the least troubling? The person who's supposed to be leading the offense can't keep his pancakes down and the 2-minute offense suffers for it on multiple occasions.

This almost, ALMOST, sounds like Steve Blass/Rick Ankiel disease: quarterback version. I say ALMOST because McNabb is still a serviceable quarterback during these periods while the pitchers most certainly were not.

[bhlloy]

Maybe he was feeling a bit sick after he saw the replay of the ball he threw straight to Tedy Bruschi a few minutes earlier.

Seriously though, it seems bizarre in an age where countless athletes have played through illness (hell Jordan couldn't get out of bed and scored 40 points) with the help of modern medicine that this could be an illness issue. I'd agree with everyone who said that it looks like Donovan has severe nervousness issues. Kinda like Jamie Foxx in Any Given Sunday.

Either way, I don't think this reflects any better on McNabb. He either doesn't have the stomach for the big occasion, or he should have managed what appears to be a common cold better.

[mhass]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Um... I doubt Westbrook was the primary reciever on that play. As you said yourself, it was a 'dump' pass.

Obviously the pattern wasn't a series of 5-yard routes. But why is there ANY 5-yard route when you need to move 95 yards in 58 seconds?

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by brimick79

I think he was joking. Atleast about the possible replacement anyway.

Yeah, he's probably joking. But the point stands: there are no legitimate alternatives to Reid...

[mhass]

Originally Posted by Klinglerware

Yeah, he's probably joking. But the point stands: there are no legitimate alternatives to Reid...

I'd say there were at least two: Crennel and Weis.

[rkmsuf]

Why the f*ck does Frank Haley feel the need to speak for McNabb.

Assmuncher.

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by mhass

I'd say there were at least two: Crennel and Weis.

Let's see if they can turn around their respective new teams first.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by mhass

Obviously the pattern wasn't a series of 5-yard routes. But why is there ANY 5-yard route when you need to move 95 yards in 58 seconds?

Because if you send everybody deep, all of the defense goes deep too. The whole point of the 2-minute offense is to spread out the receivers so there is always someone that can move you down the field. You have to keep a safety valve short for emergencies, and that safety valve may very well catch the ball with nobody within 20 yards of him. While he is running down the field, the linemen and the deep receivers can all race back to him and be close to the line for a new play as soon as he goes down.

The bad decision isn't to have a 5-yard route run. The bad decision comes when you decide to throw to him when he as a defender right on him. If the receiver can't get any yards after the catch, then it becomes smart to throw the ball away and start over.

[flere-imsaho]

I blame the Campbell's Chunky Soup.

[mhass]

Originally Posted by BrianD

The bad decision isn't to have a 5-yard route run. The bad decision comes when you decide to throw to him when he as a defender right on him. If the receiver can't get any yards after the catch, then it becomes smart to throw the ball away and start over.

Nope. There were three bad decisions there. One was for Westbrook to be in the middle of the field, not near a sideline. Two: for McNabb to throw it to him with a linebacker in colo-rectal position. Three: for Westbrook to catch the ball. The first two are entirely on Reid and McNabb. If you think the safety-valve route is a good option for that situation, you're counting on the fact that the secondary can cover all your deep receivers. Going in to the game, Philly's big hope was to exploit a suspect secondary and one more safety went down in the game. You're saying Reid had conceed even the deep part of the field and considered that drive the same as any other long drive throughout the season. It's a poor decision. A jump ball at the 50 at least allows for the chance that your receivers can outplay NE's backs. The best that happens on a safety-valve is Westbrook scampers 20 yards (tick, tick, tick) and then heads out of bounds. Poor, poor choice against a defense that does not make big mistakes in big games.

[rkmsuf]

It's not Westbrook's fault for that route. His role on that play was to chip and release and be the safety valve. He's never going to be assisgned to run 50 yards and go for a jump ball.

You can argue they should have just went empty I guess.

Bottom line it was a classic brain fart by McNabb mostly. All he had to do was throw a normal pass and it would have sailed over his head incomplete. Suddenly he got accurate.

[mhass]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

It's not Westbrook's fault for that route. His role on that play was to chip and release and be the safety valve. He's never going to be assisgned to run 50 yards and go for a jump ball.

Right. But he should know not to catch the thing. Draw a linebacker, chip a rusher, etc. But don't catch the ball smack dab in the middle of the field with a guy looking in your ear hole.

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Bottom line it was a classic brain fart by McNabb mostly. All he had to do was throw a normal pass and it would have sailed over his head incomplete. Suddenly he got accurate.

[CraigSca]

Philadelphia stations are talking today that the McNabb was winded the final minutes of the game because he is not in the best shape, not because he's sick. For some reason, WIP continues to gloss over this fact. I've heard Howard Eskin say ad nauseum that the 2-minute drill's failure is not the reason they lost the game - it's the 4 turnovers.

HOWEVER - isn't anyone out there at least a LITTLE incensed that a guy they're paying multiple millions of dollars to play quarterback can't get himself into good enough shape to play 4 quarters of a Superbowl?! I've heard on the radio today that this happened a lot of times in the past for McNabb and the excuse is, "he's not in the best of shape." You're a professional athlete - isn't it your job as a QUARTERBACK to be in great shape?!

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Philadelphia stations are talking today that the McNabb was winded the final minutes of the game because he is not in the best shape, not because he's sick. For some reason, WIP continues to gloss over this fact. I've heard Howard Eskin say ad nauseum that the 2-minute drill's failure is not the reason they lost the game - it's the 4 turnovers.

HOWEVER - isn't anyone out there at least a LITTLE incensed that a guy they're paying multiple millions of dollars to play quarterback can't get himself into good enough shape to play 4 quarters of a Superbowl?! I've heard on the radio today that this happened a lot of times in the past for McNabb and the excuse is, "he's not in the best of shape." You're a professional athlete - isn't it your job as a QUARTERBACK to be in great shape?!

They are wrong if they think the 2 minute isn't the reason they ultimately lost.

I've maintained that given a properly run offense in the last 8 minutes they had a great shot.

[mhass]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

You're a professional athlete - isn't it your job as a QUARTERBACK to be in great shape?!

Yeah. And not throw interceptions in the Super Bowl.

[Eaglesfan27]

McNabb is supposed to be on SportsCenter in a bit (unless I missed it already) talking about his side of what happened.

[Solecismic]

So, is McNabb the first black quarterback to retch the Super Bowl?

And why aren't the newspapers making more of this?

[Cap Ologist]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

So, is McNabb the first black quarterback to retch the Super Bowl?

And why aren't the newspapers making more of this?

The third to start at least, I think Rodney Peete was a backup last year for Carolina. The newspapers aren't making a big deal about it because it's not that big of a deal to the 18-35 year old demographic now. We didn't grow up believing that a black qb couldn't win or wasn't smart enough.

[Solecismic]

Sigh. I retched a lil' too far for that one.

[VPI97]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Sigh. I retched a lil' too far for that one.

[Cap Ologist]

I guess I can't read. Definitely missed that one.