Donovan McNabb may be playing his final game today for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Two months ago, fans would have cheered the quarterback’s departure. Then again, Eagles fans once booed Santa. Now, McNabb is the pride of the City of Brotherly Love. Then again, sometimes the town is like Cain and Abel, sometimes it’s the Jonas Brothers.
“Winning cures everything. Winning cures everything,” McNabb said. “I’ve had fun since I’ve been here and I look to have more fun here. … I don’t worry about that outside stuff or worry about anything of that nature, but this is fun.”
Philadelphia (10-6-1) is considered the sleeper of the NFC after needing two other teams to lose their regular-season finales just to make the playoffs. The Eagles throttled Dallas 44-6 to grab the sixth seed, then won 26-14 at Minnesota last week. More importantly, Philadelphia hammered the New York Giants 20-14 on Dec. 15.
The NFC East rivals meet again in the NFC divisional playoffs after splitting the season series, but Philadelphia is the hotter team after winning five of its last six while New York (12-4) lost three of four. The Eagles seem ready to replicate New York’s 2008 run as a wild card to take the title.
The Eagles will need to rely heavily on McNabb to beat the Giants. Sure, Philadelphia running back Brian Westbrook seems back in all-star form after midseason injuries and the Eagles defense is the NFC’s best. But, it always comes back to McNabb.
“You’re talking about one of the all-time greats here that has ever put on an Eagles uniform,” coach Andy Reid said. “It’s all about him. I mentioned before, sometimes you just need to take a little bit of a step back and you can take a big step forward.”
That step back was a second-half benching in a 36-7 loss to Baltimore on Nov. 23 after throwing two interceptions. It didn’t last long, though. McNabb led Philadelphia over Arizona 48-20 and beat New York, Cleveland and Dallas over the final month while losing only to Washington.
Did McNabb turn a last chance into a second chance? He said the turnaround was coincidental, but Reid believes the benching stunned the entire team into playing better.
“I think [the benching] has a positive effect on everybody, coaches and players,” he said. “I think everybody stepped their game up an inch.”
After 10 years, McNabb knows this might be his last chance to win a Super Bowl.
“I don’t believe that [Super Bowl] rings solidify how great your career was,” he said. “Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl. Up until just a couple of years ago Peyton Manning never won a Super Bowl, never even been close.”
McNabb is three wins away.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com or e-mail [email protected].
