There is a ton of speculation surrounding whether McNabb will be traded this offseason.  The Eagles have a decision to make and they cannot keep delaying the inevitable.  Do they stick with #5 or do they move in a new direction and hand over the reigns to the quarterback that they surprisingly drafted with the 36th pick in the 2007 NFL draft?  I say the Eagles should go with Kevin Kolb and here’s why.

I’ve always been critical of Donovan McNabb.  He simply strikes a nerve with me.  It’s for all the obvious reasons: he has never won a Super Bowl after having several legitimate chances to do so, he has been injured way too many times, he doesn’t take the game seriously enough, and he is terribly inaccurate.  What bothers me the most is when he throws the ball straight into the ground or 10 feet over the receivers head on 3rd down and smiles and laughs about it.  That drives me absolutely nuts.

McNabb is far from a consistently accurate QB.  McNabb supporters will point to his interception to passing attempt ratio being amongst the best in the league.  That is a great characteristic of McNabb.  He rarely turns the ball over. That’s because he rarely gives the opposing team to opportunity intercept him because the majority of his passes are over- or under-thrown.  I would rather focus on his completion percentage.

In 2009, McNabb was 20th in the league — not even in the top half!  Alex Smith, Jay Cutler, David Garrard, and Jason Campbell all had better completion percentages then McNabb.  That is unacceptable!  This wasn’t just one isolated year.  In 2008, McNabb was ranked 18th in completion percentage.  Jason Campbell, Shaun Hill, Trent Edwards, and Jeff Garcia all ousted McNabb in the category.  McNabb beat out Ryan Fitzpatrick by a mere 0.8%.  In 2007, McNabb was ranked 20th.  Beaten by Joey Harrington, Brian Griese, Jon Kitna, Sage Rosenfels and Vince Young. In 2006, McNabb was ranked 23rd.  Again beaten by Joey Harrington and others such as Damon Huard, J.P. Losman, and Mark Brunell.  I could go on, but I think I made my point.  For the last 4 season, McNabb hasn’t even cracked the top 50% in completion percentage and his completion percentage was worse than Joey Harrington during 2 seasons.

I’ve made my case about McNabb.  Now what do I like about Kevin Kolb?  Everything.  I like Kolb’s work ethic, attitude, and most importantly his skills on the football field.  Kolb has the attitude of a winner.  You can see that he takes the game very seriously when he plays.  He plays the game with a passion that cannot be met by McNabb.  Kolb throws a beautiful football.  It’s usually a tight spiral delivered right on the money.  He rarely over and under-throws receivers like McNabb.  Unfortunately, we haven’t seen enough meaningful games from Kolb to have a perfect picture of his capabilities.  We have the previous season’s Ravens debacle and two games this past season against the Saints and Chiefs to judge him.

I don’t put any weight into the Ravens game.  If McNabb was playing awful against the Ravens on a full week of preparation, what makes anyone think that Kolb would do any better against the Ravens without any preparation?  Kolb at least was able to move the football and pick up first downs.  He just made a few stupid rookie mistakes against a pretty good safety by the name of Ed Reed.  A more telling story of Kolb is how he played against the Saints and Chiefs.  In both games, Kolb threw over 300 yards and had 2 TDs.

Another reason that I feel that the Eagles should choose Kolb as their starting QB next season and trade McNabb is because the Eagles have a young football team at the skill positions.  With DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Brent Celek, and LeSean McCoy all 25 years or younger, I think it’s better to have a young QB to grow and develop with them.  I think Kolb has a better rapport with those players.  Just look at how well the offense played together with Kolb against the Chiefs.  Granted, it was the Chiefs, but we got a glimpse of what the future offense would look like with Kolb and these great young players.  Bleeding Green Nation has reported that when the young players have a question about the offense, they tend to go to Kolb instead of McNabb.

I think it’s time for a new era in Philadelphia and that Kevin Kolb should be the Eagles starting quarterback next season.  Trade McNabb for a 2nd-round and a 5th-round pick.  Pick up an offensive lineman in the first round and then focus on building up the defense in round 2 and 3. It’s the Eagles blue print for success.

Jay should be making his case for why McNabb should return to the Eagles shortly.

This article is an interesting read.  We obviously all thought of the wildcat formation when we first heard of the Vick signing, but we also wonder about what other role he could serve on the team.  We even hoped that Vick could play a little TE after the injuries the Eagles have suffered.  Here are some other ways the Eagles could use Vick:

Maybe a few snaps at RB or in the slot.

Surprisingly, I don’t ever recall Vick taking the snap as a placement holder for field goals.  Add fake field goals into the list of possible ways to use Michael Vick.  If teams see Vick coming out for a field goal, they’ll have to burn a timeout to adjust their package as well.

Look for more two-point conversions with Michael Vick.  With Michael Vick, I’m sure you convert the majority, if not 90%, of your two-point attempts.  Just two yards, are you kidding me?  Do you know how much speed we have at QB, RB, and WR now?

Expect Vick to have an 8- to 10-play package.  Every hour defense coordinators have to prepare for Vick, an hour less that they get to prepare for DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Brian Westrbook, LeSean McCoy, Kevin Curtis, Donovan McNabb.  You get the picture.

It is clear that Donovan McNabb lobbied for Michael Vick to join the Philadelphia Eagles and I don’t think the move would have been made without McNabb’s blessing.  While I was listening to NFL Radio on Sirius XM, the radio hosts were saying how McNabb is just being an “organization man” by going through with the move and that he should be upset with the Vick signing. Those bozos should read McNabb’s latest blog where he talks about the Vick signing.  They even said McNabb should be upset that Vick is taking 5 snaps away from him. Are you serious?  You think McNabb will be upset that Vick is taking away 5 snaps if it gives his team a better chance to win?  Do your homework you bush-leaguers.

Here is an excerpt from McNabb’s blog:

Michael and I have known each other since the time I was asked to host him on his visit to Syracuse University. During that time, I had a chance to get to know Michael pretty well. And, although he decided to go to Virginia Tech, we kept in touch and remained friends.

I believe Michael is a changed person and that he deserves a chance at putting his life back together. In mid-July before training camp started, I asked Coach Reid if we would be interested in having Michael join the Eagles and explained why I thought it would be good for both Michael and the team.

I wanted Michael to come to Philadelphia and, in any way he can, help bring a Super Bowl championship to the City. There is no doubt he is a uniquely talented player that can add to our offensive weapons. I thank Andy for considering my suggestion.

There you have it, McNabb really did lobby for Michael Vick and I commend him for that. McNabb is a true friend and it really shows you the type of character he has. You can read the full blog here.

I’ve been busy over the last few days moving, so I haven’t been able to get into much Day 2 draft coverage, but I just wanted to post up some quick thoughts on it.

Another great day for the Eagles.  As I was awaiting NFL Draft updates on the NFL Channel on Sirius Sattelite Radio, I was getting rather upset when the Eagles kept trading down in round 3 and then eventually out of it.  I wanted them to grab their TE, but they kept passing.  Jared Cook was the best available TE and the Eagles passed on him to trade their pick to the Giants.  The Titans ended up taking Cook a few picks later.  I wasn’t worried since I thought the Eagles were really going after Chase Coffman. The Eagles then traded out of the third round when Coffman was available, so it didn’t look like the Eagles wanted him.  Coffman then went to the Bengals. I wasn’t going to be upset as long as the Birds landed Cook, Coffman, or Ingram and we landed Ingram in round 5.  When the Eagles kept trading down, I started getting an inkling that the Eagles wanted Cornelius Ingram, but there’s no way I thought he would fall to the Eagles by the time they were on the clock again.  Look at this guy, what a beast!  It looks like the knee injury kept enough teams away from him.  I expected Ingram to go in the 2nd round.  It’s a miracle he was taken by the Eagles in the 5th round.  I don’t know how they pulled that off after getting Maclin, McCoy, and Hobbs.  Great job by the Birds with their draft maneuvers that will add 2010 3rd-round pick and 5th-round pick.

What were the Pats thinking getting rid of Ellis Hobbs for a mere two 5th-round picks?  I don’t think this move has much to do with the Sheldon situation either.  Sheldon will report to camp, he will not make much of a fuss about his contract, and he’ll play.  I agree with Andy — you can never have enough good CBs in this league.

For all the fools who still don’t like the Maclin pick, I don’t know what their logic is: saying he’s nothing but another DeSean Jackson, still obsessing about trading the 21st pick pick for Anquan instead, who knows.  I like Maclin in the Eagles lineup even better than Boldin.  He’s faster and I think he’s a better fit for this offense.  Take it from this guy.  Our receivers have a ridiculous amount of speed.  Plus, if the Eagles hadn’t traded up to 19.  Guess who would have gotten him at 20?  No, not the Lions, but the Giants, who worked out a trade with the Lions contingent on Maclin being available at 20.  The Giants even rated Maclin above Crabtree as the best WR in the draft.  In fact, 18 teams had Maclin as the highest rated receiver (yes, even over Crabtree).  This guy is going to be amazing.  I’m extremely excited about what this offense will be capable of with him in the lineup.

Oh, and if you missed Donovan’s McNabb blog, you can read that here.  Looks like the “I have to wait to see what the Eagles do before I consider re-signing” won’t be an issue anymore after this offseason’s moves. Here is what McNabb had to say:

You’ll notice that I am ready to move forward. I’m the first to admit that you must learn from your failures, I also believe that you cannot change the past. It’s time to focus on the future.

As with every minicamp since I’ve been in the league, I’m excited about meeting my new teammates, getting to know them and working together on the field. We now have a lot of new, young skill position players and it will be exciting and interesting to see how they become acclimated to what we do here. If they can come in here and take their game to the next level, they will be productive pros and we can achieve great successes together. I want to welcome the new rookies and am excited to get to work with them.

I haven’t taken the time yet to welcome some of the veteran free agents to the team. I’m looking forward to working with a new set of bookends on the o-line. Stacey Andrews and Jason Peters are young, athletic and physical. They will help in both the passing and running game. The same can be said for fullback Leonard Weaver. As for the additions on defense – Ellis Hobbs, Rashad Baker, and Sean Jones – I can’t wait to see how Jim Johnson uses all the talent he has at his disposal.

I want to congratulate all the newcomers and let them know that I am excited to be working with them and taking the first step towards moving forward and getting something accomplished.

As I read articles like this one from Les Bowen as well as watch clips of NFL Live on ESPN, I’m tired off this meeting between McNabb and Banner/Reid being blown way out of proportion.  Everyone is reading way too much into this.

Here is what’s going on in my opinion: McNabb has two years left on his current contract, McNabb has stated that he wants to retire an Eagle, McNabb would like an extension that would pay him nicely and keep him in Philadelphia for the remainder of his career.  The Eagles are possibly using his age/injury history as leverage to give McNabb less money.  McNabb, upset with the way the front office is playing ball, decides to return the ball back to the front office’s court and uses his latest statements to give him the leverage in the contract negotiation.  McNabb is saying before he considers signing an extension, he wants to see how the Eagles improve the team.  If the Eagles don’t improve the team, McNabb will either demand a trade or not sign the extension and wait until he is a free agent in two years.

What I’m sick of is this “poor McNabb hasn’t gotten any weapons from the Eagles front office.”  Did the Eagles attempt to acquire Randy Moss last year?  Yes, but Moss took less money to stay with Brady.  Did the Eagles attempt to trade for Tony Gonzalez last year?  Yes.  They didn’t get him because the Chiefs would not listen to any offers.  Did the Eagles not draft DeSean Jackson, arguably the best rookie wide receiver out of the class of 2008?  Yes, he is amazing.  Why is he not being mentioned as a weapon for McNabb and why is the front office not getting any credit for drafting him?  Could the Eagles do more for the offense and McNabb?  Sure they can.  Last year, there were no premier WR free agents.  This year, they have a shot at acquiring T.J. Houshmandzadeh.  If that doesn’t work, they could attempt to trade one of their first-round picks for Anquan Boldin, but I’m sure the Cardinals would balk at any offer.  They would be stupid to trade Boldin when he’s locked into the best offense in the league for two more years.  As a last resort, the Eagles could get Marvin Harrison on the cheap to please McNabb, but I wouldn’t expect more than 40 receptions, 500 yards, and 4 TDs from the veteran.   At least it’s a band-aide solution for one to two years.

Bottom Line: Start recognizing the genious of the front office to go out and draft the best wide receiver in the 2008 draft class, DeSean Jackson!

Let’s see what’s going on in Eagles Nation.  First you have McNabb saying that before he even considers a new deal, he’ll have to see what the Eagles do to improve the team through free agency, which begins this Friday at midnight, and the draft.

Stay tuned for Eagles to sign Brian Dawkins and Tra Thomas soon.  The Eagles also locked up Joselio Hanson for 5-years, $21 million.  Great move!  The secondary is set and Lito Sheppard is now expendable for whatever we can get for the guy, 3rd-round pick perhaps?  I’m sure the Lions or Chiefs will want/need him.

The news from the Combine: Wake Forest LB Aaron Curry whooed the hell out of scouts with his workout and he may go as high as #3 to the Chiefs; Andre Smith, the highly coveted Alabama OT, who was set to be a top-10 lock, had a mental/physical meltdown and left the combine without telling anyone, thus killing his stock and his paycheck dramatically; there’s an impressive list of 40 times from WRs, so the Eagles have some solid options outside the first round, and the RBs (notably Beanie Wells and even Knowshon Moreno) posted poor 40 times.

But the big buzz lately is Marvin Harrison.  The Colts cut Marvin Harrison and Harrison will be a free agent.  Yes, he’s 36 and his production has declined after his knee injury, but a return to his hometown with his college quarterback is the feel-good story floating around and the Eagles need another WR to make McNabb happy.  He’s a cheaper option that Houshmandzadeh, so this may work out quite well.  Here’s some supplemental reading on Marvin Harrison/Eagles talk:

Eagles Rumors: Marvin Harrison homecoming? [Recliner GM]

Eagles Would be Smart to Make Push For Harrison [Eagles Gab]

Schefter predicts Marvin Harrison to the Eagles? [Bleeding Green Nation]

Oh, and Ray Lewis want to play for the Cowboys.

First order of business: Get well Jim Johnson!  Jim was unfortunately diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer in his spine.  The good news is that the treatment is going well and Jim and doctors remain optimistic.

If you’re a frequent reader of the site, you know that my bread and butter is covering free agent signings and the draft for all sports.  Before I get into some draft talk, I want to give you my quick thoughts on the Arizona game.

Great second half by the Eagles, but you can’t beat a team by playing 30 minutes in a 60 minute game.  After the miserable first half, I thought the game was all but over, but DeSean Jackson gave us hope by taking the lead 25-24 before the Cardinals milked the clock with a seven-minute drive to take back the lead.  As usual, Philly fans start the blame game.  Some people say it was Donovan’s fault for playing like crap in the first half, others want to blame the defense.  Still, some want to put the blame on Reid.  I say it’s no one on the Eagles sideline who is at fault.  I’ll give credit where credit is due.  The Cardinals are a great team.  They have an incredible veteran quarterback and the best wide receiver in the league: Larry Fitzgerald, who is only 25 years old and I can guarantee you that this will not be his last Super Bowl.  They also have a tremendous defense.  That secondary of theirs is up there with any secondary in the league.  They may have the best safety tandem next to Dawkins/Mikell with Adrian Wilson and Antrel Rolle.  With corners Rod Hood and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who is coming along as a rookie, that’s about as solid a secondary that you can ask for.  Well, enough about the Cardinals.  The point I am trying to make is the Eagles can compete next year with the team they have.  They aren’t “a player away” from being a Super Bowl team, but picking up a solid piece or two in the draft certainly won’t hurt.

OK, it’s time to talk draft.  Mel Kiper released his Mock Draft v. 1.0 and if that’s how the real draft ended up, I would be 100% satisfied.  If you missed it, Kiper has the Eagles taking Ohio State RB Chris “Beanie” Wells with the Eagles first, first-round pick and then just a few picks later, he has the Eagles going for OT Michael Oher.  That may be a bit generous, but I love it!  The Eagles need to get one amazing OT with one of their first two picks.  With the other, add an offensive weapon: a RB like Wells or a TE like Pettigrew.  The Pittsburgh RB, LeSean McCoy, would be a good pick too, but I would be thrilled to have Wells.

Wells is a hell of a back.  I thought he was overrated until I watched the Fiesta Bowl.  Wow!  And he fits the Eagles need for a big back.  The good news is that most teams needs at RB are set.  My boy, Knowshon Moreno, Kiper has going to the San Diego Chargers.  LT v. 2.0 would be a great pick for them.  I can’t wait to see where he goes.  Even better is that could set up the Eagles to take NFL Draft Countdown’s #1 RB in this year’s draft: Chris Wells.  Wells, at 237 lbs., is  a punishing back and he has some speed to boot.

I would also love it if Brandon Pettigrew, the Ohklahoma St. TE, would fall to the Eagles.  Most mock drafts have Pettirgrew going to the Bills at #11.  There’s a great chance of that happening, but if they pass, there’s a chance he may fall down the board since most teams after the Bills don’t have TE needs, but have other huge needs.

The bottom line: Wells would be sick.

Do you think he could be an Eagle?

Watching Material:

The Cardinals beat the Eagles to move onto the Super Bowl.  Yeah, it sucks big time, but I’m trying to attempt a little humor to lighten the mood.  Here are the top 5 reasons the Eagles lost to the Cardinals.

1.) Kurt Warner loves Jesus more than McNabb.

2.) McNabb picking up the phone on the Giants sidelines last week was bad karma.

3.) The non-call on Kevin Curtis on the Eagles last drive was just totally bogus.

4.) Larry Fitzgerald is a complete freak of nature. Larry is a player that is just born to play in the Super Bowl.  You have to admire his talent and he is relatively modest for the position that he plays.  Good for Larry.

5.) The flight out West and playing the early game killed them in the first half. I don’t get why this game was scheduled at 3 pm EST, 1 pm MST.  Why couldn’t the NFL switch the starting times with the Pittsburgh game?  I guess perhaps these things are prescheduled and then you have to deal with the TV Networks, but there’s no question that the Cardinals have a tremendous advantage at home playing an east-coast team.

Any Reid finally got the memo to run the ball and look at what happened.  Brian Westbrook had 4 TD’s.  Of course the Cardinals defense isn’t anything close to the Ravens defense, but I’m just saying that Donovan McNabb is only as good as his running game.

I, among most others, threw Donovan McNabb under the bus after the Bengals game.  Four turnovers in that game, another three turnovers to boot in Baltimore.  That’s seven turnovers in seven quarters of football.

Was it all Donovan’s fault?  No.  The playcalling was terrible, the offensive line played poorly, the Eagles had no running game, and the wide receivers were dropping passes and not getting open.  That still doesn’t take away the fact that Donovan McNabb should have won that game against the 23rd ranked defense. That was the worst game from McNabb that I have ever witnessed.  Balls were thrown right to defenders, balls were thrown right into the ground 20 feet shy of a receiver.  Balls were thrown 15 feet over receivers heads.  Donovan was terrible.

Things didn’t improve much the next week at Baltimore and Andy decided to light a fire under McNabb’s ass to get him playing better.  If McNabb still played at this poor level, there’s a young guy that we drafted #1 that we could throw in there.

The McNabb I saw against the Cardinals is someone I haven’t seen play all season long.  He wasn’t the careless player who laughs when he makes a terrible throw.  He had a little hustle in his step.  Instead of being a statute in the pocket like he has been most of the year, he actually tried moving around a little bit and look at the results.  McNabb finally played like his job was on the line.  If there’s anything positive that came out of the benching of McNabb it’s that the pressure of losing his job is making him play with more passion and pride.  That’s something that should have been in his head from the start.

Do I still want Kevin Kolb as the QB of this team?  Let’s look at the facts.  Yes, McNabb was incredible in 2004, but we can’t keep living in the past.  It’s 2008 going into 2009 and since 2004, McNabb has suffered two very serious injuries, is now 32, has gained a bit of weight, has lost his best asset (his mobility), and hasn’t had a single season that’s close to earning him a trip to the Pro Bowl.

I’m willing to give Kevin Kolb a mulligan.  Andy Reid threw him to the wolves.  He had to go in  relatively unprepared against the NFL’s best defense.  If you expected him to go in there and play like Joe Montana, that’s delusional.  Kolb made two bad interceptions and a critical one in the endzone, but let’s give Ed Reed a bit of credit.  He is the best safety in the NFL and if I was playing Madden and saw Reggie Brown come across the endzone, I probably would have made the same call.  Throughout that drive, Kolb was looking sharp and looked like he had a good grasp of the West Coast Offense.  Kolb throws a very nice ball, he’s more mobile, but his decision making is obviously poor due to inexperience.  I don’t think he’s going to end up being a bust.  Kolb will be a very good player one day.

The Bottom Line: The Eagles are 6-5-1, which is last place in the NFC East, and unless they win every single game on the remainder of their schedule, they will not make the playoffs, something that McNabb has gotten to since 2004.  Remember who the QB was the last time the Eagles made the playoffs?  That would be Jeff Garcia.  McNabb: 5-5.  Garcia: 5-1.  Garcia clinched a playoff spot, beat the Giants in the first round, and then lost to the Saints in the next round.  The Saints loss wasn’t Garcia’s fault.  He played great.  The Eagles run defense lost that game.  If the 2008 Eagles defense played on that 2006 team, the Eagles could have played the Colts in the Super Bowl.

I’m tired of McNabb costing us a playoff spot season after season.  McNabb plays very good at times, but performances like last night are few and far between.  Westbrook won that game for the Eagles, not McNabb.  Unless McNabb can miraculously get the Eagles a playoff spot, the Eagles need to go in a new direction.  I still love McNabb.  He’s given us many great memories, but let me define insanity to you.  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  McNabb hasn’t led the Eagles to the playoffs since 2004 and his time is running out.  The Eagles need to take a new direction and that means a change at QB and at head coach.

If the above statement were true, then I would have to conclude that the majority of Eagles fans who wish to have Donovan McNabb benched are idiots. If you people who hate on #5 have anything to be thankful about this Thanksgiving, it should be that you were blessed to have on your team, one of the most revered and dominant QBs to play in the NFL in the past 25 years. In his 10^th season as lead Bird, D-Nice still throws nearly 32 times a game to horrendous receivers, and until recently, puts up jaw dropping numbers. What we as true Eagle fans should be doing is orchestrating a coup to overthrow the Eagles front office and management. I, along with hopefully some of you, have been kicking and screaming for the front office goons to sign a #1 wide receiver (or at least a #2) since the beginning of the season. If you as a reasonable, logical and rational Eagles fan can’t see how the absence of a #1 wide receiver is the single most destructive variable in the Eagles demise over the past 4 years, then you are nothing short of delusional. In 2004, with the help of just one big time wide-out (who will remain anonymous) McNabb was able to pass for more than 30 TDs on nearly 4,000 yds passing with a ridiculous passer rating of 104.7. Both Donovan and the anonymous wide out thrived and put up career numbers since both were the key ingredients in catalyzing the infamous Eagles heavily pass oriented west coast offense we still use to this day.

So you see my friends, the problem does not lie with our franchise QB, it lies with the front office final decision makers. I am insulted that Donovan McNabb was benched last Sunday, I’m insulted that my friend, colleague, and co-owner of this site wrote some anti-McNabb article and then went ahead and posted it, and most of all I’m insulted that the front office of my team stands steadfast to their commitment to sign players like Greg Lewis year after year, while shutting the door on available #1 receivers. I don’t buy the, “We offered him a contract” excuse anymore when I know for a fact that we can offer/buy any receiver with the shat-load of money the Eagles can currently allocate.

“GET ME A RECEIVER OR GIVE ME DEATH IN THE FORM OF KEVIN KOLB”

– Jay Vaidya