Last night on the NFL Network, Warren Sapp and Marshall Faulk called out both Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and Pro Bowl wide receiver DeSean Jackson.
At times both Sapp and Faulk said that Jackson should have kept his mouth shut and not gone public about the pressuring he had received from the Eagles offensive coordinator, but consistently the show host Rich Eisen insisted that there’s no way a coach should be pressuring a player to play, who had undergone a concussion.¬† He said again and again that surely he shouldn’t be doing it at this time.
Eisen emphasized the fact that Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner made it a point last year to say that they were going to be conservative about how they treated concussion injuries. They even made it mandatory that a player who sustained a concussion would have to miss the next game.
Remember how the Eagles were so careful with Brian Westbrook when he suffered a concussion, but according to Jackson and the following quote they didn’t treat him the same way.
‚ÄúI can remember we went up to New York (Week 14) ‚Äì that was a huge game for us. The week before, [the Giants had] beaten Dallas and I didn‚Äôt play (at Atlanta) because I had a concussion. It was iffy if I‚Äôd come back and play. Our offensive coordinator, Marty Mornhinweg, said some things, trying to question my toughness. I was like, ‚ÄòCoach, I just got a concussion. This is my brain. If it‚Äôs anything else, my shoulder, whatever, I‚Äôm going to play.”
It’s going to be interesting to see where this goes now.¬† It’s not just a magazine article any more.¬† It’s up on NFL.com.¬† It’s being talked about on the radio.¬† As I had mentioned, it was focused on last night on the NFL Network and you can believe that Jackson and Mornhinweg will be asked about the incident in the near future.
The fact that Jackson made this public doesn’t say much for his relationship with Mornhinweg.¬† How will they work with each other going forward?
I guess with McNabb gone, we will have articles on a daily basis on quotes,thoughts,actions of
D-Jax… Boy, this is going to be a long stretch until Summer Camp arrives…
The young guns! Is that in reference to shooting off their mouths?
People can say whatever they want about McNabb, but he handled more undeserved criticism and chaos than anyone in Philadelphia sports history, and he did so with class. Many say he should have gotten over it, but the guy was booed before he ever arrived and things only worsened afterwards.
I watched college students get drafted this year, many of whom broke down in tears because they had finally achieved the dream of their lives. Their talent and hard work were recognized by an NFL team through the draft. I can only imagine how it felt to build up to the biggest day in your life, only to be roundly booed.
I wonder, of those who say he should have gotten over it, how many have actually walked in McNabb’s shoes? It’s very easy to give advice or tell someone else how they “should’ feel. One needs to only open his mouth and form words. Any idiot accomplish that feat.
There’s so much more to this game than meets the eye. I have been reading all the articles about passing accuracy and yards after the catch, but I suspect that if Andy doesn’t change his play-calling, none of that will matter, because the defense will arrive in the backfield simultaneously with the ball.
Attitudes and accuracy could change quickly after a few games of getting pancaked while Andy continues to dial up pass after pass.
I’m going to say this again Desean needs to be coached up about how he handles interviews, if this pressuring did indeed take place then this is something that should have been handled in house not in the sporting news. Yes Paul I agree this is going to be a long long summer!!
It’s times like these when I question whether Garry Cobb wants the Eagles to succeed or not. Playing the blame (or fault) game is childish and unproductive. in fact it is destructive. This should be viewed as a learning opportunity for both Jackson and Mornhinweg. For Jackson to watch what he says – he’ll need to be reminded of that lesson throughout his public career, as any celebrity must be no matter how good at public speaking they may be. And for Marty to be aware of the recent progresses in understanding concussions and the implications for current coaches and how they handles players – hopefully he learns more about protecting peoples’ brains, at least he learns to avoid the PR mess. Either way, it’s destructive for Garry to pander the blame game and extend the potential for harm to the team.
Schiller, it’s being run on the NFL Network. How’s that GCobb’s fault?
Exactly what I’ve been saying. Jackson needs to shut his mouth. He’s doing a whole lot of talking and he doesn’t realize how the media will now scrutinize everything he says. That’s what happens when you become big time. Especially in Philly and there’s no McNabb so Jackson is up. In this day and age, don’t you think it would have been common sense to not say anything about it? I mean unless you want to get your coach looked at my the Commish. Desean, please be quiet. For yours and the Eagles sake.
News flash….this happens in every NFL locker room on a week to week basis.
Just because Desean said something about it…who cares. If the NFL or whoever really want to tackle this issue then it’s not about singling out the Eagles or Mornhinweg or Desean. They should investigate every locker room and see how hush this concussion issue is.
The league has forced teams to stay quite on some concussion issues because a player automatically has to sit out for one game. So instead of a concussion you may get a “neck injury” or a “stinger”. It’s a way for NFL teams to keep their players on the field without the mandatory league one game sit out.
The issue regarding injuries and concussions will never be an issue resolved. The league has tried to regulate this issue. But in the end the decision comes down to the team trainers, team doctors (all paid by the team), coaches and the player himself. If the player doesn’t have the balls to say listen I think I need to sit out because this is my brain and I care what happens then the team or the NFL can’t be held responsible.
You have to give DJax all the credit because he stood up and said listen, this is the way it is. He didn’t try to do what the coaches wanted. The coaches will always want a player with his talent on the field if they think he has a chance to play. But do I fault Mornhinweg or blame him for “questioning his toughness”? No I don’t, because I would rather a coach question the toughness of a player and get the player to say he isn’t ready to go on any injury, not just concussion related, rather than players take advantage of the injury rest time.
drummer you are absolutely right about McNabb. While I would have liked him to “get over it” a long time ago but fans are in no position to tell anyone how they should feel. On the biggest day of his life when all his dreams were going to come true, you get booed crazy. Now we all know that it was only 30 guys from philly and they weren’t necessarily booing him, but the pick, but that still doesn’t change the fact. And he put up with a lot of crap from different media types and players and handled it with class. He didn’t always handle it the way I would have liked him to handle it but he did it his way and stayed true to his own character. People always talk about how sensitive he was, well you gotta have pretty thick skin, to take the constant criticism and play in front of lukewarm fans for 11 years.
You can’t expect Desean to “be quiet”. That’s not the guys style. It’s not who he is. Once you try to shut him up then that’s when the problem begins.
He is the type of player that will talk and most of the time what he says is the truth. Not only is it the truth, but it is spoke with confidence because he believes what he is saying.
You can’t disect everything he says as a controversy. That’s the problem. The problem isn’t Desean or how he acts or even what he says….the problem is the countless idiotic journalists that try to turn what he says into a controversy. Most people didn’t even read the Sporting News article, but they are so quick to offer their opinion one what they hear he said.
Yeah Schiller, it’s G’s fault for putting in on his own site when the NFL network are the ones talking about it. Oh yeah and WIP was talking about it yesterday and today but it’s G’s fault. He’s starting the controversy all by himself. No, Desean needs to shut the F up. He’s the one saying the stupid ish.
eaglesbeliever, I agree. That’s exactly why he needs to shut up. Because stupid journalists will twist everything he says. He has to learn what he should and should not say to the media period. I don’t care how outspoken a player is, there are somethings they need to know they shouldn’t say to the public. Is it strange to you that people are disecting everything he says the way everyone disected everything McNabb said? This should be no shocker and it will continue as long as he keeps saying stuff that the media can use.
Unfortunately, bad news/controversies,is what sells in this day and age…
And like most stories reported by the media,pop-culture and politics, the stories and particpants get beaten to death to the point where the average Joe eventaully gets tired of hearing about and tunes it out..
I would rather read about how players are rehabbing,progressing,learning,& perfoming, how about
some stories on the Coaches,the free-agent signings, the draft picks and veterans..
Seriously, you guys need to get off your Jackson “man-crush”. He needs to be quiet. Don’t try to take up for him and act like he can do or say whatever he wants. He’s just like any other player and sometimes need to stay in-house. Anyone with common-sense would have known they should not have said that unless that were intentionally trying to get someone in trouble or they were on a different team. Otherwise there was no good reason to mention it at all. Now he looks like the loud mouth of the team. This is going to be lil T.O.
It’s not even going to be an issue when the season starts. And you know how you make all of these stories go away, and all over the “he said she said” crap disappear. It’s pretty simple. It’s a three letter word called….WIN!
Win and the rest of the league will shut up about the he said she said crap. That’s all it is…crap. Do you think anyone on the Eagles team cares what GCobb or Rich Eisen say about them? No, they are they to do one thing and that is win football games. So this pitter patter about Desean and what he said is just a bunch of nonsense that means nothing once the games start.
Frankly, i’m sick of coming on this site and seeing it year after year after year. Same old story from the same sorry sack of journalists who NEED a STORY.
“The fact that Jackson made this public doesn‚Äôt say much for his relationship with Mornhinweg. How will they work with each other going forward?” – yeah, the story is on other sites, I’m not saying Garry created it or made it public. But that’s his quote I just pasted. And the way in which he framed this article – ‘who’s fault’. That’s what I was referring to.
Schill I do agree that people go overboard with this crap but your initial response of a “learning experience” would imply that there was a mistake made. Usually these are circumstances where we chalked them up as learning experiences. So the question G is asking is who made the mistake. Now whether we disagree with if he should be asking that, that’s a different story than who made the mistake. By your response, both would be to blame since they both would need to learn. But you went a little overboard with “it‚Äôs destructive for Garry to pander the blame game and extend the potential for harm to the team”. Extend harm to the team? You overestimate the power of gcobb.com. What about the harm that a player could cause by keep opening their mouths? Only players and personnel can actually do harm to the team. They either let the outside affect them or they ignore it.
All of a sudden, everybody is on the concussion train. Before last year, we loved the go get em types that you couldn’t hold back. Now it’s the mean ol world of football and rotten coaches, owners, etc. who send our young warriors to be injured in a far away land. Cut the crap! Eisen sounds like a do good liberal to me. This is FOOTBALL!
Just another example FS1960 of the continued “Puss_ifcation” of the United States of America and everything that it used to stand for…
f djax
d jax in for a a bust yr wo d5
Wonder how many 20 year olds were “concussed” storming the beaches of Normandy or raising the flag on Iwo Jima only to rise and still continue on towards victory..The young men of this time and era are absolute pussies..who wear mascara to clubs and are completely feminized.
Disregard everything I just posted..I just caught my wife with a male stripper.
Jimmy mac, LOL!!!
My father used to say that “America once had men of steel and ships of wood, and we now have ships of steel and men of wood.”
I don’t necessarily agree, but the more important point is that times are different.
Some time ago, Cobb said that DJack would probably be the “media guy” once McNabb was gone, and it looks like he was right. Hopefully, the kid will learn quickly that, in Philly, it’s best to keep your mouth shut. As soon as he has a bad game, all of those quotes will be come back to haunt him.
On the NFL Network, one the first responses to Jackson’s quotes about McNabb was that Jackson disappeared in the two Dallas games (at the end of the season, when the real NFL football players show up). Of course, they quoted Jackson as saying that he’d “float like a butterfly and stang they _ _ _ like a bee.” My bad. The guy that said that, actually backed it up.
drummerwinslow:
Your comments about McNabb could most easily been applied to Ron Jaworski. NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, took as much abuse from Eagles’ fans as he did. He was almost universally abused! As his body was being seperated from his body by Mike Hartenstine of the Bears (Buddy’s years) he was standing in the pocket looking downfield. And he only described his time here as being tough. He was bounced around like a rag doll because he was a pocket QB, and he got booed most every game. I know because I was there. Jaworski deserves our true respect and homage, not McNabb. McNabb was one hell of a QB, and there was always a sea of 5 jerseys around town. We did not, by and large, boo McNabb. He was treated comparatively well.