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In Philadelphia, McNabb Endures Love-Hate Relationship
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The battle has worn on so long that it almost seems it would be best for everyone if he went somewhere else, started somewhere new and left Philadelphia to someone else.
McNabb will not consider such thoughts publicly. When asked, he always says he expects to be back.
"I don't think he has to leave," Vermeil said. "I think he needs to win some games."
He has won four of his past five and probably should have won the one he lost -- 10-3 to the Redskins -- but his receivers kept dropping passes that evening. And the final play looked like a game-tying touchdown -- a pass that Reggie Brown caught on the edge of the goal line, only to be knocked back by LaRon Landry and Fred Smoot of the Redskins as time ran out. Still, that does little for Philadelphia. When McNabb mentioned, after the Redskins game, that "I'm playing great" statistically, someone took that to the team's offensive coordinator, Marty Mornhinweg, asking how McNabb could think such a thing after a loss. Mornhinweg declined to answer.
On the day McNabb faced the media for the first time after the overtime comment, he was asked about a perception that lingered around town that he didn't care about winning. He furrowed his brow and mumbled: "That's unbelievable."
Asked to respond, he shook his head.
"There's no reason for me to sit up here and answer every question someone has about me," he said. "I've learned that through my whole career, I've learned that growing up. For me to say they don't like the way I walk, talk, smile, play, it doesn't matter. That's not something I try to entertain, to move people to my side. The only thing I can do is do my job and do my job at a high level."
And so now the Eagles go to the playoffs, which no one could have imagined six weeks ago, and suddenly McNabb is loved again. Not that anyone expects that to last.
"He's streaky," Vermeil said. "There are times when he throws balls that are unbelievable. And there are ones he throws in which the receivers are acrobats. But he only gets judged on those throws where his receivers are acrobats. He doesn't get judged on the others. You have to do both."
