Andy's Press Conference / Injuries / Player Interviews

[Beermonkey]

Found this on another board & didn't see it here yet. I thought it was new take on the Eckel story, that the rest of the media has blindly suckled off of like parasites.

From my experience, Cobb is one to tell it like it is & not hold back his comments to avoid hurting the franchise.

GCobb.com:MCNABB STORY IS OVERBLOWN BECAUSE IT'S MCNABB

I talked to a source close to Donovan McNabb yesterday and mentioned the article by Mark Eckel in the Trenton Times and there was immediate laughter. In fact, I was told, "Donovan was anxiously looking forward to getting back on the football field and proving he's still one of the game's best quarterbacks". The source said there was no truth to him being upset or troubled about anything. I was told that this whole thing is about nothing and that McNabb wasn't even aware of anything being wrong.

I must admit that I find it hard to believe that McNabb would be concerned about being backed up by a quarterback who doesn't even have an arm strong enough to break a window pane with a rock standing from point blank range. Anyway, didn't I hear Andy Reid say that the Eagles were Donovan McNabb's team last week?

I know Mark Eckel is a credible reporter and he's not the kind who would make something up, but his article is part reporting and part commentary, just like what you're reading. Eckel wrote that, "McNabb may also be getting a vibe that some in the organization prefer Garcia over him". This is the opinion of this source or Mark's but is that news. (McNabb may) is not a quote but an opinion. I could write that Jeff Garcia may be unstable because of the way he was crying after losing to the Saints. That would be an opinion and a stupid one. This has turned into national news because somebody wrote McNabb may. If he wrote McNabb is getting the vibe that some in the organization prefer Garcia over him then that would be news, especially if accompanied by the source's statements corroborating it. A number of newspapers took Mark's opinion and put up on the top of the story like that opinion was fact. I didn't see one quote of the source saying McNabb felt the organization preferred Garcia over him.

As far as I'm concerned, all of the talk about Donovan being insecure about Jeff Garcia's success is overblown. This is the reason I thought it was foolish of Andy Reid to cancel Donovan McNabb's news conference last week, because now media persons can write the story themselves. Everybody knows it's a slow sports news time in Philly with the Sixers and Flyers both stinking to high heaven, so you know any comments about McNabb are big news.

Why don't any of the reporters ever try to get gossip and stuff on the other Eagles players? If I go in the Eagles lockeroom I run into things that might be considered good gossip but I don't normally mention it unless I think it's really newsworthy.

Here's an example. On the day after the Eagles were eliminated by the Saints, one of the Eagles defensive players approached me in the lockeroom after he had viewed the video of the game, and started talking about how he thought Jeremiah Trotter played terribly in the game. He told he thought Jeremiah was a backstabber because he said the defensive line was too small to stop the run, even though, he Trotter, wasn't doing anything to stop it. The player also told me he didn't appreciate the comments by Trotter earlier in the season about looking into the eyes of the other defensive players and not seeing any life.

This conversation made me go back and look at the Saints video and focus on Trotter and I must admit, the other player was right. He didn't play well in fact most of Sean Payton's attack was aimed at him, the supposed Eagles All-Pro middle linebacker. Also I did have to admit that coming out in the middle of the season and saying your defensive line is too small would be regarded as backstabbing when I played. Also the comment about not seeing life in the eyes of your teammates would be regarded as backstabbing. In fact when I played you'd better get ready for a fight, if you made those comments about your teammates. RAY DIDINGER SAID LAST SATURDAY THAT HE DIDN'T THINK THE EAGLES WOULD INVITE TROTTER BACK THIS YEAR. Why would he say something like that? I haven't read any of the other guys who cover the Eagles mention much about Trotter's struggles.

Jeremiah Trotter gets a pass here in Philly as do nearly everybody else on the team. If Donovan McNabb had said my receivers are too slow or too small or the offensive line isn't good enough he would be called on the carpet, but Trotter can say things without accountability. That's the problem I have with the Philly sports media. Why wouldn't any of the writers in town ask other players how they felt about Trotter saying the defensive line was too small or he didn't see any life in the eyes of the defensive players? Reporters don't stir up controversy unless it's McNabb.

I must admit if I hadn't been approached by the Eagles player and then checked out the treatment of McNabb I wouldn't have even mentioned this conversation or made a big deal about it.

Would it have been overlooked if Donovan McNabb had started crying like a little girl after the Eagles lost to the Saints, the way Jeff Garcia did? He was on ESPN just crying, uncontrollably. Yes a grown man here crying like that after a loss in front of a tough town like Philly. Could you imagine what would have been written and said if McNabb had started crying like that after a loss? There is no doubt that the treatment is different.

The thing that has gotten me outraged is how the sports media goes after McNabb about lesser things. They parse his every word but what gives Trotter and Garcia a pass. I hope they start putting all the other big names on the team under the same microscope.

[Feva]

^ Beautiful.

[General_Failure]

I knew Garcia was a ticking effeminate timebomb. Get rid of him!

[Eagaholic]

I knew Garcia was a ticking effeminate timebomb. Get rid of him!

He's 36 yrs old and peri-menopausal, so lay off