Reuben Frank interview with McNabb

[BigEd76]

Reuben Frank

Super expectations
By REUBEN FRANK
phillyBurbs.com


PHILADELPHIA — A few weeks ago, Donovan McNabb walked into the Eagles' locker room at the NovaCare Complex and looked up at the television over by the equipment office.

ESPN was on, and analyst Solomon Wilcots was talking about how McNabb needs to win back the locker room, needs to win back his teammates.

McNabb watched and laughed.

"People talk about me winning the locker room over like I have to become a janitor in the place and clean everybody's locker to win those guys back," he said.

Then came the obligatory video.

Dallas last year at the Linc. McNabb dropping back and throwing that ill-fated pass intended for Reggie Brown that Roy Williams intercepted and returned for a touchdown.

McNabb laughed again and as ESPN showed Cowboys linebacker Bradie James burying him with a block that effectively ended his season.

"It doesn't bother me at all," McNabb said. "Every time they bring up the Eagles, they show that last interception, me tearing my groin up. That was my last game."

McNabb played a few more snaps in the final seconds of that shattering loss to the Cowboys, then shut it down for the season, undergoing hernia surgery and beginning the long process of mental and physical rehab.

Today, McNabb says he's not haunted by anything that happened last year, including that interception, which has become a symbol for the dismal 2005 season.

"I was always taught, if you're in the game you have to give it all you have," McNabb said. "That's all I was doing. I was trying to make a play. He ran up under it, made a play, and ran it back for a touchdown. Things like that happen.

"Every quarterback in the league goes through it, it just may get magnified a little bit more here. You look at it, you learn from it, and you move on."

McNabb has moved on and this weekend will begin his eighth season with the Eagles when the team reports for training camp at Lehigh University.

He's been through a lot in the past 18 months — the Super Bowl loss, the Terrell Owens feud, the sports hernia, surgery and rehab. But he's now healthy, fitter than ever, and eager to play football again and prove that he's still the same Donovan McNabb that won 55 of 73 starts from 2000 through 2004 and led the Eagles to the playoffs five straight years.

McNabb recently sat down with the Coruer Times for a wide-ranging interview. Here are some excerpts.


Q: What do people say to you now about the whole T.O. mess?

A: I've received so much positive feedback on the whole situation, how I've handled it, just my approach to everything. I mean, you're going to have some people who are fans of his or people who talk about what happened last year and who feel I could have been the one to change it around. I've never said anything bad about him or the situation. I really didn't know what was going on. Never knew when it started. "Where did all this come from?' I never made an effort to find out because playing football you have to focus on your job. Hopefully, that's all in the past.


Q: How did last year affect you?

A: I'm not going to say it motivated me because I'm always motivated. But it makes you stronger mentally. Not everything that happened (with Owens) but just losing. I'm not a guy who accepts losing. I'm not a guy who accepts being second-best. I only accept being first. And the only way to do that is winning the Super Bowl.


Q: Can this team win the Super Bowl?

A: I think it's possible, definitely. I see the same attitude I saw after the 5-11 season (in 1999). Guys just working hard every day in here, guys communicating, guys motivated to turn things around. And that team - nobody expected anything of us, but we went from 5-11 to 11-5 and went to the second round of the playoffs. This year is the same thing. Everybody's talking about how powerful the Giants are or the taterskins signing (Antwaan) Randle El and (Brandon) Lloyd and (Adam) Archuleta, and the Cowboys and everything they've done, but no one really talks about the Eagles unless they talk about T.O. So we're kind of under the radar right now. I guess nobody will notice us until we start playing.


Q: Can you still improve as a football player?

A: I can be a better quarterback than I was in 2004. The sky's the limit. Every time I approach a new season I look for bigger and better things. As you continue to get older patience plays a bigger part of it. Giving a guy an opportunity to make a play. Put it in a position where he can react to it and catch it and make a guy miss and get big yards. I see that happening. Just understanding the offense more every year.


Q: Does this offense have enough weapons?

A: I get upset when people say we don't have any weapons. I mean, although we don't have a household name, these are guys that work hard every day and guys that can make big plays for us. It's not like you're trying to put a lot of pressure on anybody to be like T.O. You give everybody an opportunity to do what they're capable of doing. Todd Pinkston coming back healthy can help us out. Reggie (Brown), (Jabar) Gaffney, Greg Lewis, Todd Pinkston, (Matt) Schobel, (Brian) Westbrook, Ryan Moats — give them opportunities to make plays and they'll do that. We won a lot of games doing that. I take pride in spreading the ball around. Even when (Owens) was here, he would have seven or eight catches, Todd would have four catches, L.J. (Smith) would have three, Westbrook might have three, so now we can pick and choose any receiver we want to go to. Freddie (Mitchell) was even catching some. Not enough, according to him (laughs). But we've been doing that for years. It was just taking what the defense gives us and we won a lot of games that way.


Q: What are your expectations for this year?

A: If you don't win the Super Bowl, nobody cares. Nobody cares about second place. If you lead the league in passing, get MVP, whatever, if you don't win the Super Bowl, who cares? Peyton (Manning) would say the same thing. We've talked about this a lot. You want to win the Super Bowl, but if you don't, it's a failure.


Q: How do you react to the notion that after the T.O. situation you're too fragile or too sensitive?

A: That's what kills me. Now I'm fragile. Everything that I've been going through for the last eight years and now because one person said whatever I'm fragile? I'm fine. Really there's no way of answering the questions people have. Even if I go out and play well, somehow they're going to compare what he's done over there to what we've done over here. If we're playing well and they're not playing well, they're going to talk about him blowing up down there — "When he was with the Eagles." It's not going to stop. And I've told this to a lot of guys. Don't think that this is over. It's not over. Everything's fine and dandy now. Keep practicing through. Maybe during training camp, maybe during the season, something is going to come up. You can't ignore it because you get asked the questions. Everyone's going to be asked the questions. They're going to see it on TV. They'll hear about it. It doesn't bother me, I just keep doing what I'm doing, but I don't want them to feel like it's affecting me because they've heard it. Maybe I should just write a book of my own and put everything in there that's really happened (laughs).


Q: You've heard all offseason the theory that you need to win the locker room back.

A: There's a lot of stuff that's been said that's pretty funny and you just move on. I don't pay too much attention to it. I've always felt the best way to give people an opportunity to get to know you is to be yourself. I'm not going to change for anybody. I'm just going to be myself. Do it on the field. That's always been my attitude. I could be the nicest guy in the locker room. If I'm not making plays on the field, none of it matters.


Q: This is your eighth year in this offense. What's your comfort level like in this system now?

A: I know what to expect, I know what I need to do, I know where everybody is. I get stronger and stronger mentally every year. Watching guys like Brett (Favre), Dan Marino, John Elway — when you get older playing for the same team, you have a feel what play the coach is calling and what he wants to do with it, what he expects, and if it doesn't work, you have Plan B and Plan C. People talk about me maybe not getting out of the pocket, but I feel like I've grown mentally each year where it's not, "Go through one and two then go.' Maybe it's, "One, two, move, maybe three, move, maybe four, then go." Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that last year like I'm used to.

[Magical_Retard]

great interview.


at end of the day its all talk right now...what owens says, what ppl who think mcnabb is fragile say, and even what mcnabb says. thats why the offseason, even training camp, and esp the pre season sucks. cant wait till the reg season where hopefully mcnabb can shut ppl up on the field.

[Feva]

It's almost to the point where I hate to see any McNabb interviews because all everyone is going to do with this article is pick apart everything he says.  He didn't say this right... He should have said this... blah, blah, blah.

Let's just get the season going so McNabb can get this team to where it needs to be.

[Feva]

It's almost to the point where I hate to see any McNabb interviews because all everyone is going to do with this article is pick apart, complaining about everything he says.  He didn't say this right... He should have said this... blah, blah, blah.

Let's just get the season going so McNabb can get this team to where it needs to be.

[rjs246]

Nothing in this interview makes me feel any better about anything.

[General_Failure]

I'm glad McNabb finally admitted he's fragile. Now we can all move on.

[Father Demon]

Nothing in this interview makes me feel any better about anything.

Nor worse.

September can't get here quick enough.

[shorebird]

Nothing in this interview makes me feel any better about anything.

Thats a real shocker.

I've grown mentally each year where it's not, "Go through one and two then go.' Maybe it's, "One, two, move, maybe three, move, maybe four, then go." Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that last year like I'm used to.

Thats because he was getting his ass canned, and the team ended up paying for it when he was injured. Hopefully upgrades on the offensive line and no injuries means Dmac will be back to his pro-bowl form.