The win - lose thing, again, is not my construct. It's a general perception. Whenever the Eagles lost to the Bucs, the first thing I heard on Eagles radio and in the Inquirer was about how "Oh no, this is going to bring up the whole "Donovan can't handle pressure, he choked in the Super Bowl" stuff. I didn't write the stories. Again, don't shoot the messenger. I'm NOT rooting for McNabb to get hurt. Don't even try that crap. But there are people who want to see him fail, and if he gets hurt, well, that 'proves' they were right about his 'softness.' If you don't understand the zeitgeist, don't blame me. Unless you're one of those media types who thinks he creates the zeitgeist instead of reporting on it. I don't feel that way about my own work. I live fairly near Philly, and I hear people talk about this stuff every day. Tomorrow, it will be "Man, we should have paid T.O.," and "McNabb's soft." You can cover your ears if you'd like, I choose not to. Here's another criticism of the team that I already read in light of the McNabb injury: Why doesn't Reid give the backup QB's more reps in practice.
Losing makes everything stink, and winning deodorizes everything. We all know that. Let's not pretend otherwise, ok? I mean, we don't want to be, like, 12 years old or anything. McNabb has, and will continue to be, been called out due to the team's struggles the last two years. And it's only going to get worse. That's reality. Same way T.O. was getting grilled, correctly, when he dropped the pass against the Redskins. If they win, no big deal. But the Cowboys lost, so it's a huge story. The Eagles won't make the playoffs, barring a miracle. Owens (and others) criticized McNabb and the team. Without T.O., the team is failing. Was T.O. correct? That is and will be the story for the rest of the year unless the Eagles make a run with a backup QB.
You are correct, the Eagles losses have been close. And an average team loses about as many close games as it wins. The Giants meltdown, taken by itself, is an anomaly. Taken with the Bucs farce and the Jags games, it's a trend. The bottom line is, the Eagles are not that good. They're not horrible, they're just not that good. I didn't make it that way, the ownership (what are they, $13 million under the cap?) and the coach (Who needs to run?) did. Deal with it.
McNabb is damaged goods, and I'm not talking about physically. That's why a lot of his 'waterboys' dropped him last year. They got back on the bandwagon after the 3 - 1 start. Personally, I found that gratifying knowing how easy the schedule was up to that point. The lemmings got sucked back in. Now, with McNabb getting hurt, they'll have the excuse they need when the Eagles nosedive. But, like Culpepper and Minnesota last year, the slippage was already happening before the injury. I'm not saying McNabb's slipping, but the team was. If you don't want to believe that, that's up to you. Hoping and praying that this is the year that Westbrook can carry the load and not get hurt is just insane, given his track record. And when the season's over, it will be the second straight without going to the postseason for the Eagles, after 4 straight NFC Championship appearances. Those are facts, and a trend. Here's another fact: No T.O., no Super Bowl appearance for Philly, year # 2.
I don't write the movie, I just report what I saw on the screen. There might be different interpretations, but the key points are the same, no matter who's watching.
