Cactus Jack wrote:shawn_hemp wrote:the 2004 Eagles had one of the most forgotten about defenses of all time.
in many ways, our team mirrored the 2015 Panthers
except our secondary was by far the most stacked unit on the team whereas they had the edge in linebackers
the DLines were about equal
both Olines were suspect
terrible receivers and the only good ones (TO for Eagles, Benjamin for Panthers) had injuries that derailed their seasons. TO tried to play in the Super Bowl and still had a 100 yd game but you could tell he was hurt
Westbrook was a far better receiver out of the backfield than Johnathan Stewart, and probably a better rusher tbh. The thing about Brian Westbrook is that he almost never got tackled from the first guy who came at him. Ultimate turn nothing-into-something back.
That's what people dont get about Donovan McNabb, he wasnt a great QB when you really broke down the tape. Sure, his stats are great, and he's considered by many to be the best QB in franchise history because of the team's success, but he is not better than Tony Romo.
I have no stats on this, but I can assure you that Brian Westbrook is more responsible for a lot of McNabb's yards than youd think. A lot of the Eagles offense involved McNabb throwing screen passes to Westbrook, who proceeded to juke around 3-4 guys before getting about 7-10 yards he had no business getting.
It wasn't a bunch of pinpoint passes from McNabb to drive the team down the field, a lot of his throws wound up at the receiver's ankles tbh. Terrell Owens also killed it in YAC.
Idk, I dont hate McNabb, but I think the national perspective of not understanding why some Eagles fans dont really care for him is kind of frustrating. He really wasnt that special of a QB.
And I feel like Im objective about things (just gave Romo props fwiw), and I really tried to like McNabb, but he was just unlikable.
Cam Newton is a far better athlete but he is on a similar trajectory to McNabb atm IMO
That Eagles team should have won atleast one SB. I always thought of McNabb as somewhat of a choker in big games. How many NFC championship games did he end up losing? His effort against New England in the SB was inexcusable in my eyes & sealed his fate as a QB imo. Dude didn't seem to really care all that much. That would drive me crazy as a fan.
thats why a lot of Eagles fans took TO's side when the team split between him and McNabb
TO wanted to get paid more money since he was clearly the best receiver in the league but on a back-loaded contract (this is the NFL too, non-guaranteed), and wanted McNabb to publicly support him using his clout as the franchise QB (which he had done for other players in the past)
I think McNabb got kind of jealous at how Philly fans were in love with TO. McNabb was never a Philly guy. He took the draft day boos to heart and thought people genuinely didnt want him, when we were really just upset that the team passed on Ricky Williams.
TO played in the Super Bowl on a bum leg (fractured tibia and badly sprained ankle), while McNabb always came up small in big games (and according to several players who were on the team, was throwing up on the sidelines during the game)
I think McNabb was jealous of TO, and used his reputation as a team-ruiner against him in order to solidify himself as the team's unquestioned leader.
He made several comments about how the team "didnt need any one player" and eventually TO just reverted to his old ways and started doing sit ups in his driveway.
They go from 13-3 to 6-10 the next year because most of their starters either got removed from the team (TO), or were injured for at some point of the season.
honestly, the year after that (2006) was a great season. The Eagles were 5-5 at the end of Week 11 when McNabb gets hurt. So we plug Jeff Garcia into the starting spot and he goes 5-1 for the rest of the year for us to finish 10-6 and make the playoffs. There was a game against Dallas on Christmas Day that the Eagles won and Jeff Garcia was seen as a folk hero around here.
More importantly, Brian Westbrook had arguably the best season of his career, and the defense was still a juggernaut.
Maybe McNabb was right, we didnt really need any one player, INCLUDING HIM
Then, after beating a mediocre Giants team in the Wild Card round, we play the saints in the Divisional Round and Andy Reid cements his status as possibly having the worst clock management skills of all time. He chose to punt the ball from midfield back to the Saints with just under 2 minutes left when we were down by 3 and the Saints just had to get 1 first down and the game was over.
still remember the Reggie Bush hit in the Saints game though, possibly the loudest Ive ever heard a group of people get watching this game.
this wasnt the actual game broadcast but the video quality is better in this video.
2007 was a disappointing 8-8 year since the defense fell back a bit due to players like Jevon Kearse declining and the team getting rid of Jeremiah Trotter at MLB.
the offense actually managed to get worse and literally became the Brian Westbrook experience. Our top WRs were Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown. I know.
2009 was really the last gasp for the Andy Reid era to get a SB. That playoff run came out of nowhere (was the infamous tie game year that bumped us ahead of the Cowboys for the playoffs) and we lost to Kurt Warner and the Cardinals in the NFC championship game. Larry Fitzgerald owned us that game, and our defensive coordinator Jim Johnson died of cancer in the offseason which put and end to the great defenses we were used to.
the next year we lose to Dallas in the wild card round and McNabb was finally traded to Washington in the offseason.
after typing all of this, I dont feel bad about disliking McNabb at all. All he ever did was make things awkward but hey, he could throw a hell of a screen pass to Brian Westbrook.
