McNabb mess validates Eagles’ bold move

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The last time we convened to partake in our consecrated Friday ritual, I presented 11 coaches who might soon be dispossessed of their headsets. In the days which followed, plenty of readers and NFL front-office executives alike suggested I should have made it a dirty dozen.
Specifically, they felt that Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid could lose his job if his team fades in the second half of the season. Though Philly (4-3) is just a game out of first place in the NFC East – and Reid has been entrenched as the Eagles’ coach since 1999 – it’s true that the altered organizational power dynamics make a Big Red departure more plausible than in the past.

That said, as his team prepares to host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Reid should be feeling pretty secure about his overall reputation in league circles. When it comes to evaluating and managing quarterbacks, the man is on a remarkable hot streak, especially after the way things have deteriorated in recent days between Donovan McNabb(notes) and Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan.
After last season, Reid made the hard decision to trade McNabb, his starting quarterback during an 11-year run that included five NFC championship game appearances and a Super Bowl berth. When the Eagles had the gall to deal McNabb to the division-rival Redskins on Easter, the coach was essentially announcing to the football world that he didn’t think the six-time Pro Bowl selection could thrive without him – and that Reid had a better alternative on his roster.
It turns out he was right about the first part, and it’s possible that he was doubly correct about the second part.
For four months after the trade, Reid placed his faith in fourth-year passer Kevin Kolb(notes). Then the season started, and Kolb had one of the more miserable debuts imaginable.
Yet as the Kolb experiment was seemingly blowing up, another Philadelphia story was unfolding in dramatic and stunning fashion: the thrilling resurgence of Michael Vick(notes) as a potential superstar.
During the first month of the season, Vick was the most compelling player in pro football – until McNabb and the Redskins returned to Philly and another twist ensued: Vick got hurt and, after McNabb left Lincoln Financial Field with a game ball and an upset victory, Kolb got a second chance to start and proceeded to flash the promise that validated Reid’s faith in his abilities.
Now Reid has two quarterbacks who seem fully capable of leading the Eagles into contention – Vick, the one with the potential to be transcendent, will get the call against the Colts. Meanwhile, the passer on whom Reid passed last spring looks utterly lost without him, and it has become clear that McNabb’s run as the Redskins’ starter will almost certainly be a short-term arrangement.
For all of Shanahan’s clumsy attempts to avoid saying that McNabb’s performance has been poor, that’s essentially what the coach has concluded – and it’s why he inserted backup Rex Grossman(notes) into the final stages of last week’s defeat to the Lions.
According to a Redskins source, in fact, Shanahan informed McNabb five days before the game that he intended to start Grossman, citing McNabb’s sore hamstrings. The veteran quarterback pushed back forcefully enough to get Shanahan to change his mind, but things worked out so badly that a week later “cardiovascular endurance” had entered the NFL lexicon.

It’s been an awkward week for McNabb and the Redskins.
(Carlos Osorio/AP Photo)

This wouldn’t be quite as big an issue if the ‘Skins (4-4) hadn’t overachieved to remain in theoretical contention. Further, it’s possible that McNabb, after a bye week to rest his hamstrings, will upgrade his play next weekend, help keep his team in the playoff hunt and give the illusion of compatibility with his coach.
[Photos: See more images of Donovan McNabb]
The bottom line, however, is that this is a terrible fit. Shanahan’s offense is based on precision, detail and meticulous preparation; McNabb is a breezy, seat-of-the-pants playmaker who believes he can overcame any obstacle by dropping back and making something happen. Neither approach is necessarily wrong, but Shanahan has decided that McNabb’s way won’t work in his system, and the franchise will almost certainly move on at season’s end and find another quarterback.
Reid, meanwhile, may have another tough decision to make after the 2010 campaign, though he’ll undoubtedly try to coax another year of coexistence out of Vick and Kolb before being forced to choose. In the meantime, he has the luxury of making it up on the fly as he attempts to pull off an unlikely conference title run.
Come to think of it, that’s the same way McNabb operates. Perhaps that’s why he and Reid had so much success together – and why I think McNabb has a much better chance of losing his job after 2010 than his ex-coach does.


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